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Laryngeal Systems in Dutch, English, and German: A Contrastive Phonological Study on Second and Third Language Acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2010

Ellen Simon  and
Torsten Leuschner
Ellen Simon*
Affiliation:
Ghent University
Torsten Leuschner*
Affiliation:
University College Ghent / Ghent University
*
Ghent University, English Department, Rozier 44, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium, [ellen.simon@ugent.be]
Department of Translation Studies, University College Ghent, Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium, [torsten.leuschner@hogent.be]
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Abstract

Although Dutch, English, and German all have a phonological contrast between voiced and voiceless plosives, they differ in the way these stops are realized. While English and German contrast voiceless aspirated with phonetically voiceless stops, Dutch has a contrast between voiceless unaspirated and prevoiced stops. This study compares these three laryngeal stop systems and examines the acquisition of the English and German systems by a group of native speakers of Dutch. The analysis reveals that both trained and untrained participants transferred prevoicing from Dutch into English and German but acquired aspiration and thus showed a “mixed” laryngeal system in both their L2 (English) and their L3 (German). Since even untrained participants produced voiceless stops in the target Voice Onset Time range, pronunciation training has only a moderate effect.*

Type
ARTICLES
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 22 , Special Issue 4: SPECIAL ISSUE: DUTCH BETWEEN ENGLISH AND GERMAN , December 2010 , pp. 403 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 2010

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