Vowel dynamics in the acquisition of L2 English – an acoustic study of L1 Polish learners

Schwartz, Geoffrey; Kaźmierski, Kamil

doi:10.1080/10489223.2019.1707204

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Relatedly, it could be the case that acoustic cues that were not examined in the study, such as vowel inherent spectral change (VISC), voice quality, and pitch are necessary to better characterize L1-L2 similarities. VISC seems a particularly relevant aspect for L2 English vowel production (Schwartz & Kaźmierski, 2020), though the present study did not probe into it due to its complexity and in the interests of space (but see Yazawa (2022)). Turning to L2LP, while the model's prediction that all L2 categories can become optimal was upheld, it must be noted that a sizable number of speakers did not arrive at optimal L2 implementation.…”

Section: Spectral Implementationmentioning

confidence: 75%

Spectral and temporal implementation of Japanese speakers’ English vowel categories: A corpus-based study

Yazawa

Konishi

Whang

et al. 2023

Laboratory Phonology

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This study investigates the predictions of second language (L2) acquisition models — SLM, PAM-L2, and L2LP — on how native (L1) Japanese speakers implement the spectral and temporal aspects of L2 American English vowel categories. Data were obtained from 102 L1 Japanese speakers in the J-AESOP corpus, which also includes nativelikeness judgments by trained phoneticians. Spectrally, speakers judged to be less nativelike showed a strong influence of L1-L2 category assimilation, except L2 /æː/ whose dissimilarity from L1 categories likely triggered new category formation, in accordance with SLM and PAM-L2. However, more nativelike speakers showed vowel spectra similar to those of native English speakers for all vowels, which aligns better with L2LP. Temporally, although speakers tended to assimilate the phonetic length of English vowels to Japanese phonemic length distinctions, segment-level L1-L2 category similarity was not a significant predictor of the speakers’ nativelikeness. Instead, implementation of prosodic-level factors such as stress and phrase-final lengthening were better predictors. The results highlight the importance of suprasegmental factors in successful L2 category learning and also reveal a weakness in current models of L2 acquisition, which focus primarily on the segmental level. The use of speech corpora for L2 research is discussed.

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Section: Spectral Implementationmentioning

confidence: 75%

Spectral and temporal implementation of Japanese speakers’ English vowel categories: A corpus-based study

Yazawa

Konishi

Whang

et al. 2023

Laboratory Phonology

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“…Qualitativamente, são realizadas avaliações de oitiva, acompanhadas ou não de inspeção de gráficos como espectrograma de banda larga (VAISSIÈRE, 2011) que permitem a inferência do posicionamento dos articuladores e contornos de frequência fundamental para avaliação de padrões entoacionais (FARIAS, 2013) e, quantitativamente, são realizadas mensurações de parâmetros acústicos de frequência, duração e intensidade. Em relação à qualidade dos segmentos fônicos, medidas de frequência dos formantes (F1, F2 e F3) e duração (GEORGETON et al, 2014) entre outras, são pertinentes (OH et al, 2011;SCHWARTZ;KAŹMIERSKI, 2020). Em relação aos aspectos prosódicos, medidas de frequência fundamental, duração, intensidade, espectro de longo termo, entre outras, são amplamente utilizadas (MIXDORFF; MUNRO, 2013).…”

Section: Revista Da Abralinunclassified

Proficiência oral em Português Brasileiro: cenário, contextos de avaliação e de instrução e questionamentos

2020

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Os movimentos migratórios de grandes proporções, que ocorreram no passado e continuam ocorrendo no presente, tornam o Brasil um país multilíngue com demanda para o investimento em instrução formal em Português como Língua Estrangeira. Neste cenário, importa considerar questões relacionadas à formulação de políticas educacionais, à formação de profissionais aptos para o ensino de Português como Língua Estrangeira, à elaboração e aplicação de exames de proficiência linguística e à facilitação de acesso de estrangeiros à instrução formal em língua portuguesa. No presente artigo, abordamos questões relacionadas ao ensino de Português como Língua Estrangeira e aspectos da avaliação da Parte Oral do exame de proficiência em língua portuguesa aplicado no contexto brasileiro, o Celpe-Bras. Também descrevemos algumas das dificuldades relativas à percepção e à produção de sons do Português Brasileiro por falantes de outras línguas maternas. Nosso objetivo é apontar as contribuições que uma perspectiva foneticamente embasada, que considera o vínculo direto que se estabelece entre a percepção das distinções entre sons e a formação de categorias novas em L2, pode trazer para o desenvolvimento e a avaliação da proficiência oral em Português como Língua Estrangeira diante do impacto que um forte sotaque estrangeiro pode causar na inteligibilidade, na compreensibilidade e na avaliação atitudinal do falante. Em relação à avaliação da proficiência oral, defendemos a necessidade de formulação de critérios foneticamente embasados que balizem os avaliadores a considerar o que é uma pronúncia com características que prejudicam a interação.

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“…A practical reference guide to teachers is given as it is anticipated that the comparison between English and learners' own language would make easy for teacher to understand the problems their students have (Swan & Smith, 2001). Vowels acquisition is also researched from different perspectives like generative linguistics (Slabakova, 2016) and across varieties of English as a second language (Bohn, 2017;Schwartz & Kaźmierski, 2019). The variation in speech, inherently multidimensional and varying across time has been studied for vowel variation (Roettger et al, 2019).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, every language specifies the number of sounds to make higher units and so, is recognized from through a particular accent. Phonological proficiency in second language (English) involves the mastery of patterns of vowels (Schwartz & Kaźmierski, 2019). English and Pashto are two different languages and therefore, have different phonological systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustic Analysis of English Long Vowels Produced by Pashto Speakers

Ahad

Rahman

Hamid

2020

Lib. Arts Soc. Sci. Int. J.

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The present study investigates the acoustic properties of English long vowels produced by Pashto speakers by highlighting the problematic areas for Pashto speakers learning English. The data was collected from ten Pashtun learners of English through tape recorder. The data was analyzed using PRAAT software. The spectrograms produced by the software helped us in specifying the acoustic values (formant frequencies of F1 and F2) of target vowels compared with the production of the same vowels by native speakers of English. The analysis of the collected data revealed the problematic areas of English long vowels for Pashtun learners of English. The study proved that English long vowels like /I:/ and /a:/ were more problematic for Pashtun learners. A significant difference was seen in both the height and backness of the target English vowels produced by the subjects. The English vowels like /e:/ and /o:/ produced by subjects were like those produced by the native speakers. Similarly, target vowel like /u:/ was pronounced by subjects like native speakers of English. The study recommends that Pashto speakers should be given proper training for acquiring correct pronunciation of English.

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Vowel dynamics in the acquisition of L2 English – an acoustic study of L1 Polish learners

Cited by 7 publications

References 59 publications

Spectral and temporal implementation of Japanese speakers’ English vowel categories: A corpus-based study

Spectral and temporal implementation of Japanese speakers’ English vowel categories: A corpus-based study

Proficiência oral em Português Brasileiro: cenário, contextos de avaliação e de instrução e questionamentos

Acoustic Analysis of English Long Vowels Produced by Pashto Speakers

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