The effect of experience on the acquisition of a non-native vowel contrast

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• 作者：Ellen Simon ; ^{Ellen.Simon@UGent.be} ; Tijs D’ ; Hulster ^{Tijs.Dhulster@UGent.be}
• 关键词：Experience ; Instruction ; L2 phonology ; Vowels ; SLM ; PAM
• 刊名：Language Sciences
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：80_03880001
• 类别：soc
• 出版时间：May, 2012
• 卷：34
• 期：3
• 页码：269-283
• 文件大小：657 K

摘要

This study examines the effect of second language experience on the acquisition of the English vowel contrast /蔚/-// by native speakers of Dutch. It reports on the results of production and perception tasks performed by three groups of native Dutch learners of English in Belgium, differing in experience with English, as measured through study choice and progress. Whereas experience has often been defined in terms of 鈥楢ge of Acquisition鈥?or 鈥楲ength of Residence鈥?in studies on L2 immersion in, for instance, immigrant settings, in traditional foreign language contexts experience needs to be defined in terms of amount of instruction and (non-)naturalistic exposure. The results revealed an asymmetry in production and perception: all learners seemed to have created a new phonetic category for English //, but failed to phonetically implement it in a native-like way. No new category for the vowel /蔚/ was created, but learners who had opted for English studies at tertiary level produced a clear contrast between the two English vowels. All learner groups performed well on a discrimination and identification task involving the vowels /蔚/ and //. The results are discussed in light of currently used speech learning theories, such as , Best鈥檚 Perceptual Assimilation Model for na谋篓ve listeners (; ) and its adaption for learners in an Second Language Acquisition context (). It is argued that predictions formulated within these models also hold for learners in a Foreign Language Acquisition context.