The effects of place of articulation and vowel height in the acquisition of English aspirated stops by Spanish speakers

Yavaş, Mehmet; Wildermuth, Renée

doi:10.1515/iral.2006.011

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…An analysis of the VOT durations revealed that average VOT values as a function of PoA of the stop consonant and vowel quality of the following vowel conformed to VOT values reported in the literature (e.g. Flege, Frieda, Walley, & Randazza, 1998;Yavaş & Wildermuth, 2006). That is, the further back in the oral cavity the stop closure occurred, the longer its VOT was (/p/</t/</k/).…”

Section: Production Of Voiceless Oral Stopssupporting

confidence: 77%

“…The target words had a pre-vocalic voiceless oral stop in the onset of a word-initial stressed syllable (Table 1). Because VOT varies with the PoA of the stop consonant (/p/</t/</k/) and the quality (high vs. nonhigh) of the following vowel (Yavaş & Wildermuth, 2006), the 12 target words in Spanish and in English included four tokens of each target oral stop (3 PoAs Â 4 tokens) and half of these stops appeared before a high vowel and half before a non-high vowel (/i/ and /a/ in Spanish and /iː/ and /ae/ in English). PoA differences in VOT in English stops appear to be relevant for Spanish-speaking learners of English because they may realise English stops with varying degrees of accuracy as a function of the size of the VOT difference between English and Spanish stops, which will be larger for velar stops, for example, than for labial stops.…”

Section: Materials and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mimicking accented speech as L2 phonological awareness

2013

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This study investigated Spanish-speaking learners' awareness of a non-distinctive phonetic difference between Spanish and English through a delayed mimicry paradigm. We assessed learners' speech production accuracy through voice onset time (VOT) duration measures in word-initial pre-vocalic /p t k/ in Spanish and English words, and in Spanish words produced with an English accent. In addition, the second language (L2) English words and the English-accented Spanish words were rated, respectively, by first language (L1) English and L1 Spanish listeners on 9-point accentedness scales. Spanish-speaking learners were found to modify their native short-lag laryngeal timing patterns significantly, producing longer VOT durations in L2 English and, crucially, in their production of English-accented Spanish words, than they did in the production of L1 Spanish words. This was taken as evidence of learners having developed tacit phonological awareness of the cross-language VOT difference between Spanish and English voiceless stops.

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Section: Production Of Voiceless Oral Stopssupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Materials and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mimicking accented speech as L2 phonological awareness

2013

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“…/k/) often display longer values than labial (/p/) and dental (/t/) stops (e.g. Yavaş & Wildermuth, 2006), the cut-off value for /k/ was established at 40 ms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of language distance and language status on the acquisition of L3 phonology

Llama

Cardoso

Collins

2010

International Journal of Multilingualism

101

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“…Alfa, São Paulo, 59 (1): 2015 minimal pairs (bit -pit; dick -tick; gill -kill), each pair starting with a different place of articulation, followed by a high vowel (YAVAS;WILDERMUTH, 2006). In order to guarantee the quality of the audio stimuli, each speaker was asked to record their word list three times, so that the best tokens could be chosen for the perception tests.…”

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confidence: 99%

Percepção E Produção Dos Padrões De Vot Do Inglês Por Aprendizes Brasileiros: O Papel De Múltiplas Pistas Acústicas Sob Uma Perspectiva Dinâmica

Alves

Zimmer²

2015

Alfa, rev. linguíst. (São José Rio Preto)

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• ABSTRACT: In this study, departing from a dynamic conception of L2 phonetic-phonological acquisition, we investigate 34 Southern Brazilian learners' perception (identification and discrimination) and production of VOT patterns of initial stops in English. We initially hypothesized that, especially among learners with a basic level of L2 proficiency, VOT was not the main acoustic cue employed in the perception of voicing distinctions. Our results show that, regardless of the learners' proficiency level (basic or advanced), VOT is not a sufficient cue for the distinction between /p/, /t/, /k/ and /b/, /d/, /g/. These results, which have an influence on the lower VOT values found in our production data, conform with a dynamic view of L2 acquisition, according to which multiple acoustic cues play a role in language acquisition, forcing learners to tune in to the most important cue(s) in the target language.• KEYWORDS: VOT. Second Language Acquisition. Acoustic Cues. IntroductionThe process of learning phonetic-phonological aspects of a second language (L2) 1 is complex and dynamic, for many variables, acting conjointly, are fundamental to understand this process. Regarding the perception and production of the target language sounds, multiple acoustic cues are at play in establishing the functional differences among the sounds to be acquired. In that respect, learning an L2 implies the learner's skill not only to perceive the acoustic cues which are productive in the target system, but also to use them in order to establish phonological differences in the foreign language system.As an example to the challenges to be faced by learmers, we may consider the task Brazilians undertake when learning English Voice Onset Time (VOT) patterns. In English, voiceless plosives /p/, /t/, /k/ are produced with a long VOT interval, which is also called Positive VOT (aspiration). This is the main phonetic cue employed in the distinction between voiceless and voiced stops (SCHWARTZHAUPT; ALVES; FONTES, 2013). However, in a previous pilot study, Alves and Zimmer (2012) suggested that among Brazilian learners VOT duration did not seem to be a fundamental cue for the distinction between voiced and voiceless stops in English, contrary to what is observed among native speakers of that language. Brazilian Portuguese speakers seem to pay more attention to other acoustic cues, such as burst intensity and the F0 value of the vowel following the stop, when establishing functional differences between voiceless and voiced plosives in English. This might also account for the fact that Brazilian learners, even in advanced levels of proficiency, are not able to produce VOT patterns similar to the ones found among natives (ALVES; SCHWARTZHAUPT; BARATZ, 2011).In other words, following the hypotheses raised in the pilot study carried out by Alves and Zimmer (2012), it is possible that Brazilian learners do not use VOT as their main cue in distinguishing voiceless from voiced stops in the target language. This considered, it might be the case that o...

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The effects of place of articulation and vowel height in the acquisition of English aspirated stops by Spanish speakers

Cited by 20 publications

References 12 publications

Mimicking accented speech as L2 phonological awareness

Mimicking accented speech as L2 phonological awareness

The influence of language distance and language status on the acquisition of L3 phonology

Percepção E Produção Dos Padrões De Vot Do Inglês Por Aprendizes Brasileiros: O Papel De Múltiplas Pistas Acústicas Sob Uma Perspectiva Dinâmica

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