Phonetic drift

This chapter provides an overview of research on the phonetic changes that occur in one’s native language (L1) due to recent experience in another language (L2), a phenomenon known as phonetic drift. Through a survey of empirical findings on segmental and suprasegmental acoustic properties, the chapter examines the features of the L1 that are subject to phonetic drift, the cognitive mechanism(s) behind phonetic drift, and the various factors that influence the likelihood of phonetic drift. In short, virtually all aspects of L1 speech are subject to drift, but different aspects do not drift in the same manner, possibly due to multiple routes of L2 influence coexisting at different levels of L1 phonological structure. In addition to the timescale of these changes, the chapter discusses the relationship between phonetic drift and attrition as well as some of the enduring questions in this area.https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eQbh17Z4YsH8vY_XjCHGqi5QChfBKcAZhttps://drive.google.com/open?id=1eQbh17Z4YsH8vY_XjCHGqi5QChfBKcAZhttps://drive.google.com/open?id=1eQbh17Z4YsH8vY_XjCHGqi5QChfBKcAZAccepted manuscriptAccepted manuscrip

The phonetics of second language learning and bilingualism

This chapter provides an overview of major theories and findings in the field of second language (L2) phonetics and phonology. Four main conceptual frameworks are discussed and compared: the Perceptual Assimilation Model-L2, the Native Language Magnet Theory, the Automatic Selection Perception Model, and the Speech Learning Model. These frameworks differ in terms of their empirical focus, including the type of learner (e.g., beginner vs. advanced) and target modality (e.g., perception vs. production), and in terms of their theoretical assumptions, such as the basic unit or window of analysis that is relevant (e.g., articulatory gestures, position-specific allophones). Despite the divergences among these theories, three recurring themes emerge from the literature reviewed. First, the learning of a target L2 structure (segment, prosodic pattern, etc.) is influenced by phonetic and/or phonological similarity to structures in the native language (L1). In particular, L1-L2 similarity exists at multiple levels and does not necessarily benefit L2 outcomes. Second, the role played by certain factors, such as acoustic phonetic similarity between close L1 and L2 sounds, changes over the course of learning, such that advanced learners may differ from novice learners with respect to the effect of a specific variable on observed L2 behavior. Third, the connection between L2 perception and production (insofar as the two are hypothesized to be linked) differs significantly from the perception-production links observed in L1 acquisition. In service of elucidating the predictive differences among these theories, this contribution discusses studies that have investigated L2 perception and/or production primarily at a segmental level. In addition to summarizing the areas in which there is broad consensus, the chapter points out a number of questions which remain a source of debate in the field today.https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uHX9K99Bl31vMZNRWL-YmU7O2p1tG2wHhttps://drive.google.com/open?id=1uHX9K99Bl31vMZNRWL-YmU7O2p1tG2wHhttps://drive.google.com/open?id=1uHX9K99Bl31vMZNRWL-YmU7O2p1tG2wHAccepted manuscriptAccepted manuscrip

L1 Vowels of Multilinguals: The Applicability of SLM in Multilingualism

Although L1 has been treated as a rigid system which is more likely to act as a sender than a receiver of CLI in bilinguals and multilinguals, recent studies have provided some evidence of the influence of both L2 and L3 on L1. The study is aimed at shedding further light on how Lns can influence the native language and how these changes can be explained by means of the Speech Learning Model. The first and second formant of L1 Polish vowels of three groups of multilinguals were compared. Evidence of a systemic influence of L2 on L1 was observed in the raising and backing of L1 Polish vowels due to L2 English and lowering and backing or fronting of L1 Polish vowels due to L2 German. No systemic influence of L3 on L1 was observed. The predictions derived from equivalence classification of SLM were tested for the Polish vowel /ɛ/ and the closest vowels from Lns. The majority of predictions regarding the convergence or divergence of the particular diaphone were supported by the data

First language phonetic drift during second language acquisition

Despite abundant evidence of malleability in speech production, previous studies of the effects of late second-language learning on first-language production have been limited to advanced learners. This dissertation examines these effects in novice learners, finding that experience in a second language rapidly, and possibly inexorably, affects production of the native language. In a longitudinal study of Korean acquisition, native English-speaking adult learners (n = 19) produced the same English words at weekly intervals over the course of intensive elementary Korean classes. Results of two acoustic case studies indicate that experience with Korean rapidly influences the production of English, and that the effect is one of assimilation to phonetic properties of Korean. In case study 1, experience with Korean stop types is found to influence the production of English stop types (in terms of voice onset time and/or fundamental frequency onset) as early as the second week of Korean classes, resulting in the lengthening of VOT in English voiceless stops (in approximation to the longer VOT of the perceptually similar Korean aspirated stops) and the raising of F0 onset following English voiced and voiceless stops (in approximation to the higher F0 levels of Korean). Similarly, in case study 2, experience with the Korean vowel space is found to have a significant effect on production of the English vowel space, resulting in a general raising of females' English vowels in approximation to the overall higher Korean vowel space. These rapid effects of second-language experience on first-language production suggest that cross-language linkages are established from the onset of second-language learning, that they occur at multiple levels, and that they are based not on orthographic equivalence, but on phonetic and/or phonological proximity between languages. The findings are discussed with respect to current notions of cross-linguistic similarity, exemplar models of phonology, and language teaching and research practices

On the cognitive basis of contact-induced sound change: Vowel merger reversal in Shanghainese

This study investigated the source and status of a recent sound change in Shanghainese (Wu, Sinitic) that has been attributed to language contact with Mandarin. The change involves two vowels, /e/ and /ɛ/, reported to be merged three decades ago but produced distinctly in contemporary Shanghainese. Results of two production experiments showed that speaker age, language mode (monolingual Shanghainese vs. bilingual Shanghainese-Mandarin), and crosslinguistic phonological similarity all influenced the production of these vowels. These findings provide evidence for language contact as a linguistic means of merger reversal and are consistent with the view that contact phenomena originate from cross-language interaction within the bilingual mind

SPEECH PRODUCTION AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERCEPTION IN A 'NON-NATIVE' SECOND LANGUAGE CONTEXT: A SOCIOPHONETIC STUDY OF KOREAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH IN THE PHILIPPINES

Master'sMASTER OF ART

Backward transfer of Glaswegian English on Indian English and Hindi: a case of simultaneous bilingual and bidialectal contact and interaction in Indian immigrants in Glasgow

In the wider context of Second Language Acquisition, much evidence has been found for phonological backward transfer across languages, but there are still various facets of it that remain unknown. This thesis investigates three such aspects: (1) the role of systemic similarity between linguistic varieties in affecting backward transfer, (2) differences between backward transfer across languages and backward transfer across dialects, and (3) the role of multiple sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic factors in affecting backward transfer. To this end, this study examined the first-generation bilingual adult Indian immigrant community in Glasgow ‘Glaswasians’ (n = 38), who were bilingual in Hindi and Indian English prior to arriving in Glasgow and are now in contact with the dominant host variety in Glasgow, Glaswegian English. In addition to Glaswasians, two control groups were recruited: ‘Glaswegians’ (n = 34), native speakers of Glaswegian English who reside in Glasgow, and ‘Indians’, (n = 31), native speakers of Indian English and Hindi, who reside in India and have never been in contact with Glaswegian English. To investigate the first aspect, an XAB similarity judgement task was carried out to determine if in addition to typological similarity, Indian English is also perceptually more similar to Glaswegian English as compared to Hindi, and therefore more vulnerable to transfer from Glaswegian English. The two control groups participated in this task and the results did not indicate a pattern of consistent similarity between Indian English and Glaswegian English phones, as compared to Hindi phones. To examine phonological backward transfer across languages versus dialects, the three speaker groups participated in a speech production task. Multiple phone categories were examined for various phonetic cues: (1) /l/ for F2-F1 difference, (2) GOOSE vowel for F1, F2, F3, (3) /t/ for Voice Onset Time (VOT), (4) Voiced stops /b d g/ for VOT, Voicing During Closure (VCD) and Relative Burst Intensity (RBI). The results, which were mixed, were interpreted with respect to Flege’s Speech Learning Model (1995b; Flege & Bohn, 2021) and its predictions of assimilation and dissimilation. Out of the three occasions of differences in the amount of transfer exhibited by Hindi and English, English underwent quantitatively more assimilation than Hindi on two occasions (VOT in /t/ and /d/), whereas Hindi underwent quantitatively more dissimilation than English on one occasion (F2-F1 difference in /l/). Finally, to examine the role of sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic factors in affecting backward transfer, data was collected from Glaswasians. A questionnaire task was used to collect data on gender, age of entry and length of residence in Glasgow, language proficiency and dominance, contact and identity, perceived discrimination. Multiple psychometric tasks were used to collect data on language switching ability and inhibitory skills. The results indicated that most of these factors influenced backward transfer and had a general effect across phones and corresponding features. For instance, higher Age of Entry and Length of Residence in Glasgow, Indian Identity, Indian Contact and higher inhibition were generally associated with more native-like or exaggeratedly native like shifts, whereas higher Glaswegian Contact and Glaswegian Identity were related to shifts towards Glaswegian English. There were, however, exceptions to the general effects of these predictors, such as for the phone categories /t/ and /g/. This finding is discussed in relation to the salience of these categories in the respective native and host linguistic varieties. The results of this study are discussed with reference to patterns of transfer and influence of factors found in previous research. Additionally, their implications about the nature of the adult bilingual-bidialectal system, its flexibility and the apparent lack of strong correspondence between perceptual similarity and backward transfer effects, are discussed. These findings also contribute to the knowledge on transfer effects across languages versus dialects and add to what was previously known about Indian English, Hindi and Glaswegian English. A model of backward transfer, the ‘Proximity Modulated Transfer Hypothesis’, is proposed to understand the manner of interaction between Glaswegian English and Hindi and Indian English in this situation of simultaneous bilingual and bidialectal interaction in relation to backward effects discovered across the various phones and corresponding features

Phonetic Contrast in New York Hasidic Yiddish Vowels: Language Contact, Variation, and Change

This study analyzes the acoustic correlates of the length contrast in New York Hasidic Yiddish (HY) peripheral vowels /i/, /u/, and /a/, and compares them across four generations of native speakers for evidence of change over time. HY vowel tokens are also compared to English vowels produced by the New York-born speakers to investigate the influence of language contact on observed changes. Additionally, the degree to which individual speakers orient towards or away from the Hasidic community is quantified via an ethnographically informed survey to examine its correlation with /u/-fronting, a sound change that is widespread in the non-Hasidic English-speaking community. The data for this study consist of audio segments extracted from sociolinguistic interviews with fifty-seven New York-born speakers representing three generations; and from recordings of Holocaust testimonies by thirteen survivors from the Transcarpathian region of Eastern Europe, the ancestral homeland of most contemporary Hasidim. The duration and first and second formant frequencies of the vowels were extracted and analyzed statistically. The results show that while the contrast among European-born (first generation) speakers is relatively weak overall, there is a significant increase in both the durational and qualitative distinctions of the long-short counterparts of the high vowel pairs (/i/ and /u/) between the first and second generations. These vowels continue to diverge in quality across subsequent generations, with the short vowels becoming lower and more centralized in phonetic space. Based on these findings, I hypothesize that the length contrast in the pre-war Yiddish of the Transcarpathian region was changing and possibly on the verge of collapse. In the high vowels, contact with English reversed or inhibited a merger, with a remapping of length differences on a quality plus quantity dimension parallel to American English {/i/-/ɪ/} and {/u/-/ʊ/}. However, contact did not have the same effect on the low vowels, since there was no parallel low vowel contrast with which inherited HY {/aː/-/a/} could be associated. Furthermore, a cross-linguistic comparison of the HY vs. English vowel systems shows that while the short high vowels of second-generation speakers are more centralized relative to their HY counterparts, younger speakers exhibit increasing convergence of their HY and English vowels. These results are interpreted with reference to models of second language acquisition, emphasizing differences in language input that might result in the acquisition of different systems. Moreover, the patterns uncovered in the cross-linguistic analysis suggest that contact-induced phonetic drift may account for the changes observed in HY. Finally, there is evidence that /u/ is fronting in post-coronal contexts. However, unlike the changes in the short high vowels, this change is not correlated with generation. Rather, statistical modeling shows a significant effect of Hasidic orientation, with outwardly oriented individuals showing a greater tendency for /u/-fronting than those who are maximally oriented towards the Hasidic community. HY is an organically developing dialect caught between the opposing pressures of a traditionalist religio-cultural ideology that supports it and a majority language that competes with it. This study identifies some of the cognitive forces that may underlie sound change in a minority language under bilingual contact and uncovers locally significant factors that are implicated in the propagation of such change. It also highlights the dynamicity of Hasidic culture and provides linguistic evidence of its interaction with mainstream American culture, thereby presenting an expansive view of the Hasidic community that counters narratives portraying it as anti-progressive and static

The Complexities of Learning Arabic in the 21st Century

Of four levels of difficulty and of hundreds of languages spoken worldwide, Arabic is considered a category 4, which means it is among the most difficult languages to learn. While Modern Standard Arabic (Fusha) is most frequently taught, no one really speaks Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), but rather one of the many regional dialects (Amiyya). Due to its linguistic complexities, educators are divided on how to teach Arabic in domestic language programs in the United States and in study abroad programs in the Arab world. An investigation into programs catering to Americans learning Arabic as a foreign language revealed a heavy emphasis on reading and writing in MSA, but scant attention given to speaking and listening in the real language of the people--dialects. Recommendations are made for improving pedagogy and materials so that students can gain genuine communicative competence in Arabic, which means not only understanding MSA, but also speaking and listening in an appropriate dialect