Delayed use of fundamental frequency (F0) rise in non-native speech segmentation

Abstract

Research has shown that second/foreign language (L2) speech segmentation is less efficient than native language (L1) segmentation, because L2 learners cannot suppress L1 segmentation routines. This study uses visual-world eye-tracking to determine whether English learners of French can learn to use F0 for locating word-final boundaries in French. F0 rise is often word-initial in English but often word-final in French. Native French speakers and English learners of French heard sentences where lexical competitors were created between the target noun and the following adjective (stimulus: chat grincheux ‘cranky cat’; target: chat ‘cat’; competitor: chagrin ‘sorrow’). The target was either accented or unaccented, and the stimuli were either natural or resynthesized (swapped F0 between accented and unaccented targets). Participants selected the word they heard from given options (target, competitor, distracters), and fixations were recorded from target-word onset. Accuracy (word selection): learners, but not natives, were more accurate for target words with F0 rise than without it. Fixations: natives, but not learners, showed higher differential proportions of target and competitor fixations for target words with F0 rise than without it. Proficiency did not interact with the variables. This suggests that L2 learners’ use of F0 rise is delayed compared to that of natives.