Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:10:06.086Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Difference Between L1 and L2 Acquisition of Phonology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Terry Piper
Terry Piper*
Affiliation:
University of Calgary
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It has been argued extensively that children acquiring a second language (L2) simplify the target sounds of that language using the same phonological processes as children use in acquiring their first language (L1) (cf. Hecht and Mulford 1982; Piper, 1984a, 1984b; Garnica and Herbert 1979). Since these processes are generally thought to be universal, it is not surprising that this should be the case. Nevertheless, there are differences between L1 and L2 learners both in the simplification processes they use and in the way they use them. Some processes do not appear at all or appear unsystematically in L2 learners; some processes are retained much longer by L2 learners than would be expected given their early disappearance in L1 learners. In this paper, I take a closer look at the incidence, duration and systematicity of these processes in the developing phonology of ten ESL children, and attempt to demonstrate some ways in which normal acquisition of the L2 sound system by children differs from first language acquisition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 1987 , pp. 245 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Broselow, Ellen 1983 Nonobvious Transfer: On Predicting Epenthesis Errors. Pp. 269–280 in Language Transfer and Language Learning. Gass, Susan, and Selinker, Larry, eds. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Burt, Marina K., Dulay, Heidi, and Hernandez, C.E. 1975 The Bilingual Syntax Measure. New York: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Garnica, Olga K., and Herbert, Robert K. 1979 Some Phonological Errors in Second Language Learning: Interference Doesn’t Tell It All. International Journal of Psycholinguistics 6:5–19.Google Scholar
Grunwell, Pamela 1982 Clinical Phonology. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Hecht, Barbara R., and Mulford, Randa 1982 The Acquisition of a Second Language Phonology: Interaction of Transfer and Developmental Factors. Applied Psycholinguistics 3:313–328.Google Scholar
Ingram, David 1976 Phonological Disability in Children. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Ingram, David 1979 Phonological Patterns in the Speech of Young Children. Pp. 133–148 in Language Acquisition. Fletcher, Paul and Garman, Michael, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ingram, David 1981 Procedures for the Phonological Analysis of Children’s Language. Baltimore: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Major, Roy M. 1987a The Natural Phonology of Second Language Acquisition. In Sound Patterns in Second Language Acquisition. James, Allan R. and Leather, Jonathan, eds. Dordrecht: Foris [forthcoming].Google Scholar
Major, Roy M. 1987b A Model for Interlanguage Phonology. Pp. 101–124 in Interlanguage Phonology. Ioup, Georgette L. and Weinberger, Steven L., eds. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Piper, Terry 1984a Phonological Processes in ESL Five-Year-Olds. TESL Canada Journal 1:71–80.Google Scholar
Piper, Terry 1984b Observations on the Second Language Acquisition of the English Sound System. Canadian Modern Language Review 40:542–551.Google Scholar
Piper, Terry 1984c Successive Approximation in Second Language Phonology. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 29:135–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piper, Terry 1985 The Interlanguage Phonology of Young ESL Learners. Paper read at the Second Language Research Forum, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Smith, Neilson 1973 The Acquisition of Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stampe, David 1969 The acquisition of Phonetic Representation. Pp. 443–454 in Papers from 5th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society. Binnick, Robert, Davison, Alice, Green, Georgie, and Morgan, Jerry, eds. Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.Google Scholar
Stampe, David 1979 A Dissertation on Natural Phonology. New York: Garland.Google Scholar
Tarone, Elaine 1978 The Phonology of Interlanguage. Pp. 15–33 in Understanding Second and Foreign Language Learning. Richards, Jack, ed. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.Google Scholar