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Native dialect effects in non-native production: Cuban and Peninsular learners of English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Irina Marinescu
Irina Marinescu*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Abstract

This study investigates how learners with distinct native dialects, Cuban (CS) and Peninsular Spanish (PS), produce the English vowels æ, Λ, a/. Experiment 1 compares the native vowels along several acoustic parameters to determine the extent of the cross-dialectal differences, and Experiment 2 assesses the differences in L2 production of the same speakers who are also advanced learners of English. More fronted and shorter vowels are predicted for PS versus CS. As such, L2 /æ, A, a/ are expected to be more fronted in the interlanguage of PS learners as compared to CS learners. Dialect-specific patterns of assimilation are highlighted. PS learners produce æ, Λ, a/ with good spectral differences but with no duration differences whereas for CS learners /Λ, a/ overlap spectrally but are realized with different durations. Differences found in L2 production are caused by the conjoint effect of the native dialect, the input, and the learning experience.

Résumé

Résumé

Cette étude s’intéresse à la prononciation des voyelles æ, Λ, a en anglais par des apprenants avec des dialectes natifs distincts, l’espagnol cubain (EC) et l’espagnol péninsulaire (EP). La première expérience compare les voyelles des dialectes natifs selon plusieurs paramètres acoustiques afin de déterminer le degré des différences entre les dialectes. La seconde expérience évalue les différences dans la production de l’anglais langue seconde de ces apprenants. L’hypothèse est que les voyelles seront plus antérieures et plus courtes chez les apprenants EP par rapport aux apprenants EC. Ainsi, on prédit que les voyelles langue seconde æ, Λ, a seront plus antérieures et plus courtes dans l’interlangue des apprenants EP en comparaison avec celui des apprenants EC. Des règles d’assimilation spécifiques aux dialectes sont soulignées. Les apprenants EP produisent Ix, A, al avec de bonnes différences spectrales mais sans des différences de durée, alors que chez les apprenants EC, /Λ, a/ se chevauchent sur le plan spectral mais sont réalisés avec des différences de durée. Les différences établies dans la production de la langue seconde sont causées par le dialecte natif, l’input et l’expérience de l’acquisition.

Keywords

SpanishdialectsEnglishvowelsL2 productionespagnoldialectesanglaisvoyellesproduction L2
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , November 2013 , pp. 415 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 2013

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