Acquiring dynamic coarticulatory information

Abstract

This paper investigates the acquisition of dynamic coarticulation information in French [du] by native English speakers. English [du] characteristically shows a concave-downward trajectory, while French [du] shows a concave-upward transition. As an index of coarticulation degree, an absolute understoot measurement [i.e., difference between the undershoot F2v (the F2 frequency at the steady state of the vowel) and the estimated target value] is potentially problematic since F2 transitions with the same F2v values would be treated as equivalent even when their dynamic natures are quite different [C. S. Crowther, UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics 88, 127–148 (1994)]. The learning effects of the dynamic coarticulatory information were quantified by calculating the value of the second derivative of the F2 transition curve and comparing the values of their English and French transition curve. The preliminary results showed (i) the dynamic coarticulatory information can be acquired by L2 learners; (ii) the advanced learners showed closer approximation to the native speakers in the value of the second derivative for F2 transition curve than the beginning learners. The results suggest that the L2 learners are sensitive to the detailed acoustic parameters and could progressively acquire the L2-specific dynamic patterns of coarticulation.