Rhythm Metrics for 21 Languages

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INSEGNARE LA PRONUNCIA A STUDENTI SINOFONI DI ITALIANO L2 CON IL MINIMAL PAIR FINDER

Questo contributo presenta un’esperienza condotta al CLA (Centro Linguistico di Ateneo) dell’Università degli Studi Roma Tre  volta a sperimentare come sia possibile insegnare la pronuncia a studenti sinofoni di italiano L2 attraverso il Minimal Pair Finder (MPF). Quest’ultimo è uno strumento online di ricerca delle coppie minime. La sperimentazione ha visto la messa in atto di un’unità di apprendimento creata a partire dal MPF e dal COLFIS, corpus da cui il tool estrapola le parole da ricercare. Dall’analisi della lezione emerge che gli esercizi proposti hanno stimolato gli apprendenti alla riflessione su alcuni aspetti fonetico-fonologici dell’italiano L2, tramite l’ascolto, la collaborazione e la presa di coscienza delle caratteristiche della L2. Un questionario finale ha inoltre dimostrato un buon livello di gradimento delle attività svolte.   Teaching pronunciation to Chinese Italian L2 students using the Minimal Pair FinderThis paper focuses on teaching the L2 Italian pronunciation to Mandarin Chinese native learners with Minimal Pair Finder (MPF), an online tool aimed at finding lists of minimal pairs. We will illustrate a teaching intervention conducted at the CLA (Centro Linguistico d’Ateneo – Language Learning Centre) of Roma 3 University. The teaching unit was built from MPF and COLFIS, a corpus of written Italian which constitutes one of the sources for MPF. The analysis of the intervention suggests that such activies encouraged learners to directly observe, listen and discuss phonetic and phonologic aspects of L2 Italian via collaborative tasks. A final questionnaire showed a fairly high level of satisfaction  among participants

Effects of L1 orthography and L1 phonology on L2 English pronunciation

Recent research has revealed the effects of orthography on the pronunciation of consonant durations in the L2 English of L1 Italian speakers (e.g. the [p] in floppy being pronounced as longer than in copy). In this paper we compared this orthographic effect with an orthography-independent effect of L1 phonology, namely VOT. We measured closure durations and VOT for plosives produced by 30 learners of L2 English in Italy, 30 Italian late bilingual speakers of L2 English living in the UK, and 30 native English speakers. While VOT values produced by late bilinguals differed significantly from those produced by learners, closure durations were similar across the two groups. Additionally, L1 Italian VOT values proved that late bilinguals adapted VOT in L2 English by a larger extent than learners. It appears that the effects of orthography on L2 consonant duration can be more resistant to naturalistic L2 exposure than orthography-independent effects of L1 phonology

Orthography-induced length contrasts in the second language phonological systems of L2 speakers of English: evidence from minimal pairs

Research shows that the orthographic forms (“spellings”) of second language (L2) words affect speech production in L2 speakers. This study investigated whether English orthographic forms lead L2 speakers to produce English homophonic word pairs as phonological minimal pairs. Targets were 33 orthographic minimal pairs, that is to say homophonic words that would be pronounced as phonological minimal pairs if orthography affects pronunciation. Word pairs contained the same target sound spelled with one letter or two, such as the /n/ in finish and Finnish (both /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ in Standard British English). To test for effects of length and type of L2 exposure, we compared Italian instructed learners of English, Italian-English late bilinguals with lengthy naturalistic exposure, and English natives. A reading-aloud task revealed that Italian speakers of EnglishL2 produce two English homophonic words as a minimal pair distinguished by different consonant or vowel length, for instance producing the target /ˈfɪnɪʃ/ with a short [n] or a long [nː] to reflect the number of consonant letters in the spelling of the words finish and Finnish. Similar effects were found on the pronunciation of vowels, for instance in the orthographic pair scene-seen (both /siːn/). Naturalistic exposure did not reduce orthographic effects, as effects were found both in learners and in late bilinguals living in an English-speaking environment. It appears that the orthographic form of L2 words can result in the establishment of a phonological contrast that does not exist in the target language. Results have implications for models of L2 phonological development

Corsican French questions: is there a prosodic transfer from Corsican to French and how to highlight it?

Poster, 4 pagesInternational audienceThis study investigates whether a prosodic transfer can be highlighted from Corsican (an Italo-Romance language) to French spoken in Corsica, where French is now the dominant language. A corpus of transparent sentences such as la touriste trouve la caserne (French) or a turista trova a caserna (Corsican) was designed and the productions of bilingual speakers, recorded in Corsica, were compared with the French counterparts of Parisian reference speakers. The melody of yes/no questions turns out to contrast Corsican and Corsican French (both with high tones followed by final pitch falls) and standard French (with utterance-final high tones). The former pattern can be interpreted as a prosodic transfer from Corsican to French. Various methods are considered to validate this hypothesis and an experimental paradigm is proposed. Index Terms: prosody in contact, questions, Corsican accent in French, endangered languagesCette étude examine si un transfert prosodique peut être mis en évidence du Corse (une langue Italo-romane) au français parlé en Corse, où le français est maintenant la langue dominante. Un corpus de phrases simples comme touriste la trouve la caserne (français) ou a turista trova a caserna (corse) a été conçu et les productions des locuteurs bilingues, enregistré en Corse, ont été comparé aux homologues françaises de locuteurs de référence Parisiens. La mélodie des yes/no questions s'avèrent contraster le français de corse et le corse (tous deux avec de hauts tons suivis par des chutes de pic final) alors que le français standard connait des pics finaux hauts. Le contour mélogique peut être interprété comme un transfert prosodique du Corse au français. On considère diverses méthodes pour valider cette hypothèse et on propose un paradigme expérimental