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A DYNAMIC LOOK AT L2 PHONOLOGICAL LEARNING: Seeking Processing Explanations for Implicational Phenomena
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 July 2007
Abstract
This study investigates whether second language (L2) phonological
learning can be characterized as a gradual and systematically patterned
replacement of nonnative segments by native segments in learners'
speech, conforming to a two-stage implicational scale. We adopt a dynamic
approach to language variation based on Gatbonton's (1975, 1978) gradual
diffusion framework. Participants were 40 Quebec Francophones of different
English proficiency levels who produced 80 tokens of English
in eight phonetic contexts. In Analysis 1, production accuracy data are
subjected to implicational scaling, with phonetic contexts ordered solely
by a linguistic criterion—sonority hierarchy. In Analysis 2, the
production accuracy data are similarly analyzed but with phonetic context
ordering determined by psycholinguistic (processing)
criteria—cross-language perceptual similarity and corpus-based
estimates of lexical frequency. Results support and extend
Gatbonton's framework, which indicates that L2 phonological learning
progresses gradually, conforming to an implicational scale, and that
perceived cross-language similarity and lexical frequency determine its
course.This research was made possible
through grants to Pavel Trofimovich, Norman Segalowitz, and Elizabeth
Gatbonton from the Social Sciences and the Humanities Research Council of
Canada (SSHRC) and support from the Centre for the Study of Learning and
Performance at Concordia University. The authors gratefully acknowledge
the assistance of Melanie Barrière and Randall Halter in all
aspects of data collection and analysis. Many thanks are extended to Dawn
Cleary, Winnie Grady, Eva Karchava, Nootan Kumar, Magnolia Negrete Cetina,
and Alin Zdrite for their help in various stages of this study. The
authors wish to thank Tracey Derwing and Murray Munro for sharing their
speech elicitation materials. Sarita Kennedy, Randall Halter, and five
anonymous SSLA reviewers provided helpful suggestions on earlier
drafts of this manuscript.
- Type
- Research Article
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- Copyright
- © 2007 Cambridge University Press
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