Abstract
Feature-based approaches to acquisition principally focus on second language (L2) learners’ ability to perceive non-native consonants when the features required are either contrastively present or entirely absent from the first language (L1) grammar. As features may function contrastively or allophonically in the consonant and/or vowel systems of a language, we expand the scope of this research to address whether features that function contrastively in the L1 vowel system can be recombined to yield new vowels in the L2; whether features that play a contrastive role in the L1 consonant system can be reassigned to build new vowels in the L2; and whether L1 allophonic features can be ‘elevated’ to contrastive status in the L2. We examine perception of the oral–nasal contrast in Brazilian Portuguese listeners from French, English, Caribbean Spanish, and non-Caribbean Spanish backgrounds, languages that differ in the status assigned to [nasal] in their vowel systems. An AXB discrimination task revealed that, although all language groups succeeded in perceiving the non-naïve contrast /e/–/ẽ/ due to their previous exposure to Québec French while living in Montréal, Canada, only French and Caribbean Spanish speakers succeeded in discriminating the naïve contrast /i/–/ĩ/. These findings suggest that feature redeployment at first exposure is only possible if the feature is contrastive in the L1 vowel system (French) or if the feature is allophonic but variably occurs in contrastive contexts in the L1 vowel system (Caribbean Spanish). With more exposure to a non-native contrast, however, feature redeployment from consonant to vowel systems was also supported, as was the possibility that allophonic features may be elevated to contrastive status in the L2.
Highlights
The segmental component of a second language (L2) is rarely acquired to native-like levels of proficiency by adult learners
In all three of these studies, we suggest that the differences observed between oral and nasal vowels may have arisen from misperception of an illusory nasal consonant (N) in the latter case, that is, where the nasal vowel (V)̃ was misidentified as a VN sequence
Note that since we focus on categorical differences between France French (FFR) and Québec French (QFR), the symbols provided for the nasal vowels in both dialects reflect the traditional transcription of these vowels and generalize away from their phonetic and/or positional complexity
Summary
The segmental component of a second language (L2) is rarely acquired to native-like levels of proficiency by adult learners. The presence of a given feature in the L1 may not be enough to ensure successful acquisition of segments that employ this feature in the L2 This is because a feature may function contrastively, allophonically or phonetically in the segmental system of a language, which will impact both what features are present in stored forms and the nature of the formal mechanisms (rules and/or constraints) responsible for generating surface forms. It follows that the predictions of feature-based approaches to segment acquisition will differ depending on the role that a given feature plays in both the L1 and L2 grammars
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