Rapid neural processing of grammatical tone in second language learners

The present dissertation investigates how beginner learners process grammatical tone in a second language and whether their processing is influenced by phonological transfer. Paper I focuses on the acquisition of Swedish grammatical tone by beginner learners from a non-tonal language, German. Results show that non-tonal beginner learners do not process the grammatical regularities of the tones but rather treat them akin to piano tones. A rightwards-going spread of activity in response to pitch difference in Swedish tones possibly indicates a process of tone sensitisation. Papers II to IV investigate how artificial grammatical tone, taught in a word-picture association paradigm, is acquired by German and Swedish learners. The results of paper II show that interspersed mismatches between grammatical tone and picture referents evoke an N400 only for the Swedish learners. Both learner groups produce N400 responses to picture mismatches related to grammatically meaningful vowel changes. While mismatch detection quickly reaches high accuracy rates, tone mismatches are least accurately and most slowly detected in both learner groups. For processing of the grammatical L2 words outside of mismatch contexts, the results of paper III reveal early, preconscious and late, conscious processing in the Swedish learner group within 20 minutes of acquisition (word recognition component, ELAN, LAN, P600). German learners only produce late responses: a P600 within 20 minutes and a LAN after sleep consolidation. The surprisingly rapid emergence of early grammatical ERP components (ELAN, LAN) is attributed to less resource-heavy processing outside of violation contexts. Results of paper IV, finally, indicate that memory trace formation, as visible in the word recognition component at ~50 ms, is only possible at the highest level of formal and functional similarity, that is, for words with falling tone in Swedish participants. Together, the findings emphasise the importance of phonological transfer in the initial stages of second language acquisition and suggest that the earlier the processing, the more important the impact of phonological transfer

Production and Perception of Swedish Word Accents by Somali L1 Speakers

In this thesis, the production and perception of Swedish word accents by Somali L1 speakers is investigated. The Feature hypothesis, stating that it is easier to acquire a phonological feature in an L2 if the same phonological feature is used in the L1 will be the framework used. Somali is a language that also makes us of word accents. Therefore, the two languages are placed in the same level of the Tonal prominence hierarchy and the L2 acquisition of Swedish word accents by Somali L1 speakers is suitable to test. The production is tested by analyzing read speech, with elicited target words in focal position with either accent 1 or accent 2. The perception is tested with a discrimination test of the two word accents, and two different Swedish varieties are used: Central Swedish and South Swedish. Two groups are tested. One consists of Somali L1 speakers with Swedish L2 and one consists of speakers with both Somali and Swedish L1. The results show that the L2 group does make the distinction between A1 and A2 in the production test, but the result for the 2L1 group is less clear and can be interpreted as that they did not make use of the Swedish word accents. In the perception test, none of the two groups performed better than chance and had significantly lower scores than a Swedish L1 control group. The findings in this thesis confirm the Feature hypothesis in the production part, but contradict it in the perception part

An analysis of global and local crosslinguistic influence in L1 Mandarin-L2 English learners of L3 Spanish

The present study investigated L3 phonetic crosslinguistic influence (CLI) in L1 Mandarin-L2 English-L3 Spanish speakers. The objective was to determine whether the L1 or the L2 was a stronger source of CLI in trilingual speakers of three typologically distinct languages, and to examine the extent to which L2 and L3 proficiency play a role. Two analyses were performed. In the global analysis, Spanish-speaking judges (N=22) listened to passages read by L1 Mandarin-L2 English-L3 Spanish speakers (N=17) with varying levels of L2 and L3 proficiency and attempted to identify the speakers’ native language. In the local analysis, the L3 production of the Spanish trill was examined, with the goal of determining whether the L1 or L2 was a more frequent source of transfer. The two analyses revealed that both the L1 and L2 were possible sources of transfer, although the L1 was a stronger source overall. L2 and L3 oral proficiency were not significant factors, revealing that other factors may be better predictors of the source of transfer. These findings are discussed in reference to their compatibility with the Typological Primacy Model and the L2 Status Factor Model.The present study investigated L3 phonetic crosslinguistic influence (CLI) in L1 Mandarin-L2 English-L3 Spanish speakers. The objective was to determine whether the L1 or the L2 was a stronger source of CLI in trilingual speakers of three typologically distinct languages, and to examine the extent to which L2 and L3 proficiency play a role. Two analyses were performed. In the global analysis, Spanish-speaking judges (N=22) listened to passages read by L1 Mandarin-L2 English-L3 Spanish speakers (N=17) with varying levels of L2 and L3 proficiency and attempted to identify the speakers’ native language. In the local analysis, the L3 production of the Spanish trill was examined, with the goal of determining whether the L1 or L2 was a more frequent source of transfer. The two analyses revealed that both the L1 and L2 were possible sources of transfer, although the L1 was a stronger source overall. L2 and L3 oral proficiency were not significant factors, revealing that other factors may be better predictors of the source of transfer. These findings are discussed in reference to their compatibility with the Typological Primacy Model and the L2 Status Factor Model. O presente estudo investigou a influência fonética interlinguística (CLI) em falantes de mandarim como L1, inglês como L2 e espanhol como L3. O objetivo foi determinar se a L1 ou a L2 era uma fonte mais forte de CLI em falantes trilíngues de três línguas tipologicamente distintas, e examinar até que ponto a proficiência de L2 e L3 desempenham um papel. Duas análises foram realizadas. Na análise geral, juízes hispânicos (N = 22) escutaram passagens lidas por falantes de mandarim como L1, de inglês como L2 e de espanhol como L3 (N = 17) com diferentes níveis de proficiência da L2 e da L3, e tentaram identificar o idioma nativo dos indivíduos. Na análise local, a produção da vibrante múltipla alveolar da L3 foi examinada, a fim de determinar se a L1 ou a L2 foi uma fonte mais frequente de transferência. As duas análises revelaram que tanto a L1 quanto a L2 foram possíveis fontes de transferência, embora a L1tenha sido uma fonte mais forte no geral. A proficiência oral de L2 e L3 não foi um fator significativo, revelando que outros fatores podem ser melhores preditores da fonte de transferência. Essas descobertas são discutidas em referência à sua compatibilidade com o Modelo de Primazia Tipológica e o Modelo do Status da L2 como fator.El presente estudio investigó la influencia fonética interlingüística (CLI) en hablantes de mandarín como L1, inglés como L2 y español como L3. El objetivo fue determinar si la L1 o la L2 eran una fuente más fuerte de CL1en hablantes trilingües de tres lenguas tipológicamente distintas e investigar hasta qué punto el dominio de L2 y L3 tiene un papel en el aprendizaje. Para ello, se realizaron dos análisis. En el análisis general, oyentes hispanohablantes (N = 22) escucharon producciones leídas por hablantes de mandarín como L1, de inglés como L2 y de español como L3 (N = 17) con diferentes niveles de dominio de la L2 y de la L3, e intentaron identificar el idioma nativo de los individuos. En el análisis local, se observaron solamente las producciones de la L3 para determinar si la L1 o la L2 fue una fuente más frecuente de transferencia. Los dos análisis revelaron que tanto la L1 como la L2 fueron posibles fuentes de transferencia, aunque la L1 haya sido una fuente más fuerte en general. El dominio oral de L2 y L3 no fue un factor significativo, lo que revela que otros factores pueden ser mejores predictores de la fuente de transferencia. Se discuten esos hallazgos a partir de su compatibilidad con el Modelo de Primacía Tipológica y el Modelo del Status de L2 como factor

Ocke-Schwen Bohn and Murray J. Munro (eds) (2007): Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning: In Honor of James Emile Flege, Language learning and language teaching monograph series, volume 17, Amsterdam, John Benjamins

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Training Non-tonal Speakers in the Perception and Production of Mandarin Tones in Disyllabic Words

[[abstract]]This thesis aims to address the theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical issues of tonal acquisition in a second language (L2). The present study investigated the effects of three training approaches on the perceptual and production learning of the four Mandarin lexical tones by groups of non-tonal beginning learners. The experiment employed a pretest-posttest paradigm. Fifteen non-tonal learners of Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan received two weeks of training as extracurricular activities. Based on learners’ choices, one group (the A Group, n=5) received perceptual training only with auditory feedback involving four-way forced choice identification tasks with immediate feedback. A second group (the AM Group, n=5) received perceptual training with auditory and meaning-bearing feedback (i.e., corresponding pictures and English equivalents of the stimuli) involving the same identification tasks during training. A third group (the AV Group, n=5) received perceptual and production training with auditory and visual feedback showing pitch contours with which trainees can compare their own productions. The same training stimuli were used in the three training approaches. Following training, a posttest and a generalization test were administered immediately. Pretest, post-test, and generalization test data in perception and production were collected from the three groups and were compared for effectiveness of the three training procedures. Percent correct scores, perceptual sensitivities and production accuracy to each tone, and tonal confusions were also analyzed. The results at post-test showed that the three training groups improved significantly in perceptual accuracy of Mandarin tones as compared with a control group (the C Group, n=6) and perceptual learning also generalized to new stimuli by a new speaker. The three training groups’ production accuracy of Mandarin tones also improved significantly at posttest. More importantly, trainees who received the auditory-only feedback (i.e., the A and AM groups) showed a greater perceptual and productive improvement in identifying Mandarin lexical tones than those who were trained with the audio-visual feedback (i.e., the AV group). The results indicated that the three training approaches are effective and laboratory based training techniques can be implemented in extracurricular activities. These findings imply that the A and AM training approaches employed in the current study facilitate the learning of Mandarin tones and promote tonal modification of listeners’ tonal properties of L2 tones. It is also suggested that training only in perception with auditory-only feedback is sufficient for improvement in both perception and production of Mandarin tones.

Acoustic Realization and Perception of English Lexical Stress by Mandarin Learners

The acquisition of English lexical stress by Mandarin L2 learners was examined. An acoustic study focusing on the implementation of mean F0, max F0, duration, intensity, and F2 in stressed and unstressed vowels in noun-verb word pairs contrasting in stress location (e.g. object-object) was conducted. The results indicate that native English speakers use all correlates in nouns but rely mostly on duration in verbs. The learners use these cues more consistently across different contexts. A perceptual study utilizing the disyllabic nonword 'dada', with resynthesized max F0, duration, and vowel quality indicates that full vowels induce stronger stress perception in all listener groups. Beginning listeners relied on duration, advanced listeners focused on max F0, while native listeners used both in perception. The similarities and differences in prosodic systems between Mandarin and English, as well as the possible discrepancies in production and perception data from second language learning research were discussed

Preschool children learning a foreign vowel through a two-day listen-and-repeat training

This thesis concentrates on second language learning during childhood. The theoretical part of the thesis examines different kinds of second language learning theories from the perspective of foreign language learning in children. The empirical part of the study utilises the theories and models presented in the theoretical part in determining the theoretical framework for the study to shed light on the questions around second language learning during childhood in the best possible way. The aim of this thesis is to study how listen-and-repeat production training affects children’s ability to perceive and produce a non-native vowel, which is theoretically as challenging as possible. The non-native vowel was embedded in a pseudo-word context. The stimuli used in the study were two semisynthetic pseudo-words, /tʉ:ti/ and /ty:ti/. Primary interest was pointed to the pseudoword /tʉ:ti/, as it contained the target vowel /ʉ/ which is phonemically irrelevant in Finnish, but relevant in Swedish. The participant group consisted of 12 Finnish preschool girls, aged 6–7. The participants participated in the study on two consecutive days which consisted of two training and two recording sessions. The recorded productions were analysed acoustically to find out the first two formant frequencies of the target vowel /ʉ/ and the non-target vowel /y/. The values were then statistically analysed. The results revealed that the participants learned to produce the non-native vowel in two days, after four training sessions. The results support earlier research on foreign language speech sound learning by children. Children are fast learners and benefit from listen-and-repeat training in learning foreign language speech sounds