Mandarin learners' ESL fricatives

Abstract

Although English interdentals have been much studied in L2 acquisition, other English fricatives have not received comparable attention. The assumption is that the other fricatives, e.g., [s] which often have L1 counterparts do not pose a problem for ESL learners. However, it is now well understood that similarity between L1 and L2 counterparts may be more problematic in perpetuating an L2 accent. To gain insights into the issue, Mandarin speakers’ production of both ESL and native fricatives and their perception of the ESL fricatives is collected and analyzed. The results show that the lack of a problem is true for perception which shows ceiling performance. Production-wise, all ESL voiceless fricatives, not just [θ], are problematic for the Mandarin speakers, judged by a native speaker and measured acoustically on spectral moments and peak. Typically, these fricatives are not on target, but are produced more or less in the L1 fashion. A surprise finding is also made that an L1 counter part may not be the choice of a match; e.g., English [s] which has a close Mandarin counterpart is found replaced with [θ] or [ʃ] by some participants. The paper also discusses the production-perception relation over the findings on the fricatives.