Vowel duration as a cue for coda voicing and the perception of second‐language vowel quantity

Abstract

When acquiring the phonology of a second language (L2), a learner may have to dissociate a perceptual cue from what it marked in the first language (L1) and attach it to another linguistic entity. This study examined the acquisition of Czech vowel quantity by native speakers of American English. In Czech, vowel duration is reserved for cuing short/long vowel (V/V:) contrasts, while in English it is an important cue for coda obstruent voicing. It is not certain whether in Czech, as in many other languages, voiced codas lengthen the preceding vowels; if they do, a vowel should be more likely to be perceived as short before a voiced obstruent and as long before a voiceless one. A perceptual V/V: categorization experiment showed that for Czech listeners (n=54) the V/V: boundary came slightly (3.3 ms) but consistently (p<0.001) later before a voiced coda. If English learners transfer L1 perceptual strategies to their L2 Czech, the V/V: boundary shift should be even larger. However, this study found no significant effect of coda voicing on the perception of vowel quantity for the non‐native listeners. It is concluded that the learners redefined the value of vowel duration as a perceptual cue.