Speech perception and production as constructs of action: Implications for models of L2 development

Felipe Flores Kupske,Reiner Vinicius Perozzo

doi:10.5380/rvx.v16i5.81296

Abstract

Speech production involves an intricate set of actions. Its underlying cognitive mechanisms are thus historically seen as distant from those of speech perception, usually assumed to be a passive process. However, dynamic perspectives on language congregate grammar and language use, approximate phonetics and phonology, and value the role of speech perception in language development. Recent studies argue that speech production and perception are overlaying or at least highly interacting. Some scholars claim that the link between these two processes surpasses the acoustics, as studies have revealed that action also has a role in language comprehension. Phonic gestures are not just mechanisms by means of which one experiences speech production, but are supporting to perception. In this perspective, models interested in L2 development face a twofold challenge: to amalgamate speech perception and production, and to consider that speech transcends the acoustics, since - in a dynamic frame of reference - phonetic-phonological representations are auditory, gestural and general. This paper aims at presenting evidence for a gesture-driven perspective to L2 speech development in which the gesture is a phonological primitive that pervades and connects speech perception and production. By emphasizing a gesture-driven point of view, this work presents congruent and incongruent tenets among some hegemonic models for L2 speech development and an ecological/dynamic account.

Highlights

Speech production is a complex sensorimotor activity, as it involves a highly intricate set of actions regarding the coordination of various parts of the human body
Dynamic perspectives to language, such as the ones proposed by Albano (2001, 2020) and Beckner et al (2009), congregate grammar and language use, approximate phonetics and phonology, and, as a natural consequence, value the role of speech perception in language development, variation and change
To Beckner et al (2009), language development entails complex and probabilistic analyses of the language of the environment. For those who take language as a dynamic system, as we do in this work, language development rests on the estimation of patterns of a specific speech community by means of the experiences perceived by our cognitive machinery, psychomotor capacities, as well as by the dynamics of social interaction itself (BECKNER et al, 2009)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Speech production is a complex sensorimotor activity, as it involves a highly intricate set of actions regarding the coordination of various parts of the human body. A number of studies, immersed in what Albano (2020) names as the pragmatic turn in the study of language and mind, have revealed that action goes beyond the construction of the phonetic-phonological signifiers and has a role in language comprehension In this perspective, phonic gestures1 - the actions in speaking - are not just mechanisms by means of which we experience speech production, but are supporting to perception. Phonic gestures1 - the actions in speaking - are not just mechanisms by means of which we experience speech production, but are supporting to perception In this perspective, models interested in L2 development - our focus in terms of this theoretical paper - face a twofold challenge: to amalgamate speech perception and production, and to consider that speech development goes beyond the acoustics, since phonetic-phonological representations, in a dynamic frame of reference, are auditory, gestural and general (non-linguistic).

Original text