What is in the Final Stage of Inter-Language? Tone Errors and Phonological Constraints in Spontaneous Speech in Very Advanced Learners of Mandarin

Abstract

AbstractFollowing the research direction proposed in Zhang (Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association 45(1):39–65, 2010, The second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones by English, Japanese and Korean speakers. [Doctoral Dissertation], University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2013, Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones—Beyond first language transfer, Brill, 2018), this study examines the tone errors and substitution patterns in spontaneous connected speech produced by L2 learners who have progressed further into advanced or superior levels of proficiency. Based on the distinct patterns of errors and substitution patterns in their speech samples, effects of phonological universals in the format of constraints, including tone markedness scales (TMS), tone-position constraints (TPC) and the obligatory contour principle (OCP), are studied. Comparisons are made between the findings about tonal acquisition made in previous studies on lower-level learners and the higher-level learners in this study. With these error data, analyses and comparisons, I argue that some effects of the above-mentioned universals are still visible (TMS and T4-T4 OCP) while others are masked. It is a special configuration of the coarticulation rule applying to T2-T4 and T2-T1 combinations that really distinguishes the tonal system found in these very advanced learners from that of the other learners and that of the native speakers of Mandarin. Pedagogical practices that are designed to re-configure this rule will allow learners at this stage of tone acquisition to proceed into native-like speech production.KeywordsPhonological constraintsTone errors in productionAdvanced L2 learners