The effect of second language experience on lexical encoding of segments and tones

Abstract

While previous studies generally find that increasing second language (L2) experience contributes to more accurate phonetic perception of L2 sounds, whether it leads to more proficient lexical encoding remains an empirical question. The current study examines lexical encoding of Mandarin segments and tones by English speakers at different proficiency levels. Eleven English speakers naïve to Mandarin, fifteen intermediate and nine advanced L2 learners participated in a word-learning experiment. After learning 16 Mandarin disyllabic words, they judged the matching between sound and meaning pairs, with half of the pairs being complete matches while the other containing segmental or tonal mismatches. The results showed that all groups were more sensitive to segmental than to tonal mismatches. The two learner groups outperformed the Naïve group in detecting segmental mismatches, but the three groups were equally inaccurate in rejecting tonal mismatches. The reaction times revealed, however, that the learners but not the Naïve group attended to tonal variations. These findings suggest that L2 experience has a clearer benefit for L2 segmental encoding than for tonal encoding, probably due to learners’ non-tonal language background. Experience in a tonal L2 enhances learners’ attention to the tones, but does not necessarily improve their accuracy in tonal encoding.