A Longitudinal Study of Voice Onset Time Development in L2 Spanish Stops

Recent longitudinal approaches to second language (L2) pronunciation development have prioritized developmental trajectories, highlighting individual variation in phonetic learning over time. Aligning with this research paradigm, the present study examined voice onset time (VOT) production in Spanish/b/and/p/ over two semesters of elementary language instruction. Twenty-six native speakers of English who were novice learners of Spanish completed two L2 production tasks five times and an English production task once, designed to ascertain the frequency with which they prevoiced English voiced stops. Growth curve modeling revealed that linear and quadratic functions most accurately captured participants’ L2 VOT development insofar as more gains occurred during the first half of the study. Speakers’ propensity to prevoice in the native language also predicted prevoicing in L2 Spanish/b/. However, individual results varied, including near-native learners and asymmetrical developers, individuals who improved their production of /p/but not/b/. These results are interpreted within the frameworks of the Speech Learning Model and L2 Perceptual Assimilation Model

Individual Differences in Non-Native Phonological Contrast Learning: The Role of Perceptual Sensitivity to Sub-Phonemic Variation in Native Categories

The current study explored individual differences in sensitivity to sub-phonemic variation of acoustic cues in the perception of a native language (L1) category in order to test the hypothesis that second language (L2) learners’ different sensitivity to the L2-relevant acoustic dimension in L1 perception could explain individual variability in nonnative phonological contrast learning. In addition, this study also investigated whether the modified High Variability Phonetic Training (HVPT) paradigm could aid in nonnative phonological contrast learning. The cue-attention switching training was added to the typical HVPT paradigm with multiple talkers, expecting to reallocate learners’ attention away from the less relevant acoustic dimension to the more informative acoustic dimension in the perception of the target nonnative contrast(s). The present study targeted two groups of learners with different L1 backgrounds: naïve adult English learners of Korean and intermediate adult Korean learners of English. The multiple HVPT sessions trained English learners of Korean on a Korean three-way laryngeal contrast in stop (/p’/-/p/-/ph/) and trained Korean learners of English on three English vowel contrasts, /i/-/ɪ/, /ɛ/-/æ/, and /ʊ/ -/u/.The Visual Analogue Scaling (VAS) task measured English adult listeners’ sensitivity to sub-phonemic acoustic details in the perception of English stop voicing contrast with a stimuli continuum of English voiced and voiceless stops (/b/-/p/) varying in VOT and f0 at vowel onset. For Korean adult listeners, the AXB oddity task quantified learners’ sensitivity to within-category differences induced by spectral and duration cue changes, using a set of stimuli belonging to the Korean /i/ vowel but with different spectral and duration properties. The results of the HVPT training in experiments 1 and 3 revealed that in both groups, L2 learners with higher sensitivity to L2-relevant acoustic cues in L1 perception had an initial advantage in L2 contrast learning and showed more nativelike cue utilization during and after the HVPT. On the other hand, learners with less sensitivity to the “right” acoustic cues failed to systematically use those cues in perceiving the target L2 contrast(s). Learners who received the modified HVPT with the cue-attention switching training with L1 stimuli in experiments 2 and 4 demonstrated more native-like use of acoustic cues in L2 perception than learners who received only the typical HVPT with multiple talkers. English learners of Korean with relatively less sensitivity to f0 cues in the perception of English voicing contrast performed similarly to those with relatively high sensitivity to f0 cues. For Korean learners of English, the benefit of the cue-attention switching training was observed in learning the English /i/-/ɪ/ contrast, but not in more challenging /ɛ/-/æ/ and /ʊ/ -/u/ contrasts. Korean learners of English with the cue-attention switching training showed more reliance on spectral than duration cues like English native listeners. This study showed the relation between individual differences in sensitivity to sub-phonemic acoustic details in L1 and the nonnative novel phonological contrast learning and a possible type of training to overcome disadvantages due to the individual differences. The results suggest the transfer of L1 cue sensitivity to L2 cue utilization. That is, how successfully L2 learners progress to become more nativelike listeners can be predicted in terms of to what degree they have sensitivity to the L2 informative acoustic cue in L1 speech perception. This implies that individual differences in the L2-relevant cue sensitivity may determine the initial stage of learning and to what extent learners can benefit from L2 training. Moreover, this study emphasizes the importance of considering individual differences to predict L2 learners’ learning outcomes and provide appropriate L2 training to learners whose perceptual abilities may place them at a disadvantage. The VAS and AXB oddity tasks showed possibilities as pretraining assessments to predict the acquisition of L2 phonological contrasts and L2 cue-weighting strategies

Exploring Cross-linguistic Effects and Phonetic Interactions in the Context of Bilingualism

This Special Issue includes fifteen original state-of-the-art research articles from leading scholars that examine cross-linguistic influence in bilingual speech. These experimental studies contribute to the growing number of studies on multilingual phonetics and phonology by introducing novel empirical data collection techniques, sophisticated methodologies, and acoustic analyses, while also presenting findings that provide robust theoretical implications to a variety of subfields, such as L2 acquisition, L3 acquisition, laboratory phonology, acoustic phonetics, psycholinguistics, sociophonetics, blingualism, and language contact. These studies in this book further elucidate the nature of phonetic interactions in the context of bilingualism and multilingualism and outline future directions in multilingual phonetics and phonology research

Second Dialect Acquisition of North Korean Refugees in Seoul

The current study examines second dialect acquisition of North Korean refugees living in Seoul. A total of 14478 stops were measured from each of 22 Pyongyang North Korean standard (NK) and Seoul South Korean (SK) speakers. First, stops of NK and SK have been directly compared to each other by measuring VOT, F0, and H1-H2. In addition to providing acoustic analyses of stop production in NK and SK, effects of various sociolinguistic factors on stop production have been statistically investigated. Moreover, topic-based style shift and interlocutor effects on their production have examined. First, NK and SK stops were significantly different in terms of VOT and F0. The NK speakers still primarily rely on VOT as a cue to distinguish the stops, unlike the SK speakers. In addition, three different speech conditions significantly influenced the NKs’ stop production. Specifically, in reading nonce word task, the NK speakers produced more NK-like stops. However, in a conversation with a SK interviewer, they produced more SK-like stops. Acquisition of SK stops were also significantly related to sociolinguistic factors. Other than age of acquisition and length of residence in Seoul, Identification and Language attitudes were significant predictors in producing SK-like stops. The more they identified themselves as South Korean, the more they produced SK-like VOT patterns. Moreover, the more positive attitudes they expressed towards SK, the better they produced SK-like F0 patterns. Topic-based style shift of NK speakers was also uncovered. Topic itself did not influence the NKs’ stop shifting; however, topic x stance effects significantly affected their stop production. When they talked about North Korea negatively, they performed SK identity, by producing more SK-like stops. Finally, interlocutor effects were also significant. With the SK interviewer, they used clear speech strategy, by enhancing both VOT and F0 cue in stop production. In contrast, with the NK interviewer, their VOT and F0 were less differentiated, showing more casual stop production. This study highlights the process of acquiring new manner of stops in SK and predictors that influence better SK stop production, by providing speech data from more vulnerable and marginalized population in a society