Age effects in first language attrition: speech perception by Korean-English bilinguals

This article has been awarded Open Materials and Open Data badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/B2478 and at https://osf.io/G4C7Z. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.This study investigated how bilinguals’ perception of their first language (L1) differs according to age of reduced contact with L1 after immersion in a second language (L2). Twenty-one L1 Korean-L2 English bilinguals in the United States, ranging in age of reduced contact from 3 to 15 years, and 17 control participants in Korea were tested perceptually on three L1 contrasts differing in similarity to L2 contrasts. Compared to control participants, bilinguals were less accurate on L1-specific contrasts, and their accuracy was significantly correlated with age of reduced contact, an effect most pronounced for the contrast most dissimilar to L2. These findings suggest that the earlier bilinguals are extensively exposed to L2, the less likely they are to perceive L1 sounds accurately. However, this relationship is modulated by crosslinguistic similarity, and a turning point in L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of phonology appears to occur at around age 12.This research was supported by funding from the Ph.D. Program in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland. The funding source was not involved in the design of the study, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. We thank Dr. Youngkyu Kim at Ewha Womans University for his substantial support and Ms. Irene Jieun Ahn (formerly at Ewha Womans University and currently at Michigan State University) for her help during data collection in Korea. (Ph.D. Program in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland

THE USE OF SEGMENTATION CUES IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

This dissertation project examined the influence of language typology on the use of segmentation cues by second language (L2) learners of English. Previous research has shown that native English speakers rely more on sentence context and lexical knowledge than segmental (i.e. phonotactics or acoustic-phonetics) or prosodic cues (e.g., word stresss) in native language (L1) segmentation. However, L2 learners may rely more on segmental and prosodic cues to identify word boundaries in L2 speech since it may require high lexical and syntactic proficiency in order to use lexical cues efficiently. The goal of this dissertation was to provide empirical evidence for the Revised Framework for L2 Segmentation (RFL2) which describes the relative importance of different levels of segmentation cues. Four experiments were carried out to test the hypotheses made by RFL2. Participants consisted of four language groups including native English speakers and L2 learners of English with Mandarin, Korean, or Spanish L1s. Experiment 1 compared the use of stress cues and lexical knowledge while Experiment 2 compared the use of phonotactic cues and lexical knowledge. Experiment 3 compared the use of phonotactic cues and semantic cues while Experiment 4 compared the use of stress cues and sentence context. Results showed that L2 learners rely more on segmental cues than lexical knowledge or semantic cues. L2 learners showed cue interaction in both lexical and sublexical levels whereas native speakers appeared to use the cues independently. In general, L2 learners appeared to have acquired sensitivity to the segmentation cues used in L2, although they still showed difficulty with specific aspects in each cue based on L1 characteristics. The results provided partial support for RFL2 in which L2 learners' use of sublexical cues was influenced by L1 typology. The current dissertation has important pedagogical implication as findings may help identify cues that can facilitate L2 speech segmentation and comprehension

Intonational Cues to Segmental Contrasts in the Native Language Facilitate the Processing of Intonational Cues to Lexical Stress in the Second Language

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.This study examines whether second language (L2) learners' processing of an intonationally cued lexical contrast is facilitated when intonational cues signal a segmental contrast in the native language (L1). It does so by investigating Seoul Korean and French listeners' processing of intonationally cued lexical-stress contrasts in English. Neither Seoul Korean nor French has lexical stress; instead, the two languages have similar intonational systems where prominence is realized at the level of the Accentual Phrase. A critical difference between the two systems is that French has only one tonal pattern underlying the realization of the Accentual Phrase, whereas Korean has two underlying tonal patterns that depend on the laryngeal feature of the phrase-initial segment. The L and H tonal cues thus serve to distinguish segments at the lexical level in Korean but not in French; Seoul Korean listeners are thus hypothesized to outperform French listeners when processing English lexical stress realized only with (only) tonal cues (H* on the stressed syllable). Seoul Korean and French listeners completed a sequence-recall task with four-item sequences of English words that differed in intonationally cued lexical stress (experimental condition) or in word-initial segment (control condition). The results showed higher accuracy for Seoul Korean listeners than for French listeners only when processing English lexical stress, suggesting that the processing of an intonationally cued lexical contrast in the L2 is facilitated when intonational cues signal a segmental contrast in the L1. These results are interpreted within the scope of the cue-based transfer approach to L2 prosodic processing

An exploratory study of foreign accent and phonological awareness in Korean learners of English

Communication in a second or multiple languages has become essential in the globalized world. However, acquiring a second language (L2) after a critical period is universally acknowledged to be challenging (Lenneberg, 1967). Late learners hardly reach a nativelike level in L2, particularly in its pronunciation, and their incomplete phonological acquisition is manifested by a foreign accent—a common and persistent feature of otherwise fluent L2 speech. Although foreign-accented speech is widespread, it has been a target of social constraints in L2-speaking communities, causing many learners and instructors to seek out ways to reduce foreign accents. Accordingly, research in L2 speech has unceasingly examined various learner-external and learner-internal factors of the occurrence of foreign accents as well as nonnative speech characteristics underlying the judgment of the degree of foreign accents. The current study aimed to expand the understanding of the characteristics and judgments of foreign accents by investigating phonological awareness, a construct pertinent to learners’ phonological knowledge, which has received little attention in research on foreign accents. The current study was exploratory and non-experimental research that targeted 40 adults with Korean-accented English living in the United States. The study first examined how 23 raters speaking American English as their native language detect, perceive, describe, and rate Korean-accented English. Through qualitative and quantitative analyses of the accent perception data, the study identified various phonological and phonetic deviations from the nativelike sounds, which largely result from the influence of first language (Korean) on L2 (English). The study then probed the relationship between foreign accents and learners’ awareness of the phonological system of L2, which was measured using production, perception, and verbalization tasks that tapped into the knowledge of L2 phonology. The study found a significant inverse relationship between the degree of a foreign accent and phonological awareness, particularly implicit knowledge of L2 segmentals. Further in-depth analyses revealed that explicit knowledge of L2 phonology alone was not sufficient for targetlike pronunciation. Findings suggest that L2 speakers experience varying degrees of difficulty in perceiving and producing different L2 segmentals, possibly resulting in foreign-accented speech

The Effect of Phonetic Training on the Perception and the Production of L1-Related Difficult Sounds in ESL

A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the influence of first languages’ phonological features in pronunciation of a second language. While it has been accepted that pronunciation is one of the most significant aspects in the acquisition of a second language, many studies have not considered whether explicit phonetic training in pronunciation would help English as Second language Learners to improve their pronunciation on particular English sounds that can be confused due to L1 influence. The present study will explore whether Korean ESL learners are able to perceive the particular pairs of the different phonetic sounds (i.e., /p/-/f/, /b/-/v/, /s/-/ ʃ/ , and /r/-/l/) and whether giving Korean ESL learners explicit phonetic training in pronunciation would lead to more accurate perception and production on the targets sounds. A group of twelve Korean ESL learners took a pre/post-test to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment, an explicit phonetic training. The phonetics class taught the phonological features of the particular pairs of L1-related difficult sounds of English for two hours by emphasizing the characteristics of each sound in terms of place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing. The results showed that there is no significant difference between pre-test and post-test. Thus, the explicit phonetic training was not an effective means of improving pronunciation of ESL learners

The perception of Spanish lexical stress in yes/no questions and exclamations by Japanese-speaking late learners: evidence for the effect of context of learning

Whereas the acquisition of Spanish lexical stress by English-speaking learners has received some attention (Face, 2003; Lord, 2001; 2004; Marasco, Steele, Sunara, & Colantoni, 2012), very little is known about the perception of Spanish lexical stress by Japanese-speaking learners (Atria, Kimura, Sensui, Takasawa & Toyomaru, 2012). Specifically, little is known about the perception of Spanish lexical stress in interrogative and exclamative sentences by Japanese-speaking learners. The language pairing is novel and lends itself well to the study of perception of stress because whereas Spanish is a stress-accent language, Japanese is a pitch-accent language, where stress is acoustically realized differently in each language. This study has three goals. First, it seeks to make an empirical and a theoretical contribution to the field of second language phonology by examining the perception of Spanish lexical stress by advanced Japanese-speaking learners of Spanish. In particular, it aims to examine and compare the perception of paroxytone (limite; he limits) and proparotytone (límite; limit) words in sentence-final and non-final position of both yes/no questions and exclamations. Subsequently, it will determine, how the L1 (first language) Japanese prosodic system may interact with the variation in the realization of F0 peak displacement in the latter contexts in Spanish. The study also examines the effect of context of learning as well as type of words. The participants consisted of 45 advanced Japanese-speaking late learners of Spanish (20 in Bogotá and 25 in Japan). Their ages varied between 22 and 50 years old. The control group consisted of 20 native Spanish speakers of Bogotá Spanish. The three groups were required to participate in a stress identification task. Nine sets of 3 syllable accentual minimal triplets with each having an oxytone (e.g., nabidó), a paroxytone (e.g., nabido) and a proparoxytone (e.g., nábido) were used. The participants listened to the target words in five different contexts: isolation (e.g., medico), final position of yes/no questions (e.g., ¿él dijo límite?), final position in exclamations (e.g., ¡él dijo válido!), non-final position of yes/no questions (e.g., ¿él dijo medicó ayer?), and non-final position of exclamations (e.g., ¡él dijo medico ayer!). Results show that learners have difficulty perceiving the Spanish lexical stress, indicating that the interaction of the Japanese and Spanish prosodic systems lead to the misperception of lexical stress. The recorded stimuli produced by a native speaker of Bogota Spanish are analyzed acoustically and the variation in F0 peak displacement in different prosodic contexts is discussed as a potential factor for miscuing the learners. Moreover, results show an advantage for the Bogota L2 (second language) group, who had been immersed in Colombia in comparison with the Japan L2 group, who had received classroom instruction in Japan. Furthermore, there was no effect of type of word (i.e., real vs, nonce word). The study has implications for models of L2 speech learning as well as pedagogical implications

Phonological Factors Affecting L1 Phonetic Realization of Proficient Polish Users of English

Acoustic phonetic studies examine the L1 of Polish speakers with professional level proficiency in English. The studies include two tasks, a production task carried out entirely in Polish and a phonetic code-switching task in which speakers insert target Polish words or phrases into an English carrier. Additionally, two phonetic parameters are studied: the oft-investigated VOT, as well as glottalization vs. sandhi linking of word-initial vowels. In monolingual Polish mode, L2 interference was observed for the VOT parameter, but not for sandhi linking. It is suggested that this discrepancy may be related to the differing phonological status of the two phonetic parameters. In the code-switching tasks, VOTs were on the whole more English-like than in monolingual mode, but this appeared to be a matter of individual performance. An increase in the rate of sandhi linking in the code-switches, except for the case of one speaker, appeared to be a function of accelerated production of L1 target items

Order of Acquisition: A Comparison of L1 and L2 English and Spanish Morpheme Acquisition

This paper examines the order of acquisition for grammatical morphemes in Spanish and English first and second language learners. Brown’s first morpheme order study, conducted in 1973, laid the foundation for what would become one of the most common types of study conducted within the field of second language acquisition. The four orders of acquisition relevant here are examined and compared in order to support the roles of salience, morphophonological regularity, complexity, input frequency, and native language transfer in first and/or second language acquisition. The conclusion is that these five determinants work interdependently in determining the difficulty of acquiring a particular morpheme in second language acquisition, and the same factors, except native language transfer, work together in first language acquisition as well, to varying degrees