Within-organ contrast in second language perception: The perception of Russian initial /r-l/ contrast by Chinese learners.

Abstract

This study examined the perception of the Russian initial /r-l/ contrast by Chinese learners in an attempt to extend the Perceptual Assimilation Model with the Articulatory Organ Hypothesis (PAM-AOH) to second language (L2) perception. Results of a perceptual assimilation task and a discrimination test showed that the assimilation pattern of Russian /r-l/ relative to Mandarin was uncategorized categorized, the discriminability of this within-organ contrast, however, was only moderate even for the more advanced Chinese learners of Russian. These findings suggest that L2 perception could be susceptible to both the L1/L2 assimilation patterns and the contrast types as suggested by PAM-AOH.