The Effect of Language Immersion on the Acquisition of Second Language Suprasegmentals

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of language immersion in an English-speaking environment on the production of suprasegmental features (fundamental frequency (f0) range, speech rate, duration of the final foot, pause duration and the F0 difference between two phrases) in English sentences. It was hypothesized that a Korean group who had been immersed in the English language as children would have suprasegmental features bearing a greater resemblance to that of native English speakers than a non-immersed group of Korean speakers, who, aside from immersion age, shared a similar level of proficiency in English. Sixty subjects in three groups?20 Korean adults in the immersed group, 20 Korean adults in the non-immersed group, and 20 native English speakers?took part in the experiment. The immersed group was more native-like by having a wider F0 range, a faster speech rate, and a comparatively longer duration in the final foot as well as smaller pause duration between two phrases. However, regarding adjacent phrases, the immersed group, like non-immersed group, exhibited difficulty in controlling F0 variations. These results suggest that the acquisition of second language (L2) prosody is affected by immersion in an L2 environment. The degree of suprasegment acquisition, however, was shown to vary by subdomain, in which some F0-related cues proved to be hard to acquire.