First Language Phonetic Drift During Second Language Acquisition

244 Pages·2010·5.18 MB·English

First Language Phonetic Drift During Second Language Acquisition
by
Charles Bond Chang
A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Linguistics
in the
Graduate Division
of the
University of California, Berkeley
Committee in charge:
Professor Keith Johnson, Chair
Professor Susanne Gahl
Professor Sharon Inkelas
Professor Carla Hudson Kam
Fall 2010

First Language Phonetic Drift During Second Language Acquisition
⃝c 2010
by Charles Bond Chang
1
Abstract
First Language Phonetic Drift During Second Language Acquisition
by
Charles Bond Chang
Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics
University of California, Berkeley
Professor Keith Johnson, Chair
Despite abundant evidence of malleability in speech production, previous studies
of the effects of late second-language learning on first-language production have been
limited to advanced learners. This dissertation examines these effects in novice learn-
ers, finding that experience in a second language rapidly, and possibly inexorably, af-
fectsproductionofthenativelanguage. InalongitudinalstudyofKoreanacquisition,
native English-speaking adult learners (n = 19) produced the same English words at
weekly intervals over the course of intensive elementary Korean classes. Results of
two acoustic case studies indicate that experience with Korean rapidly influences the
production of English, and that the effect is one of assimilation to phonetic properties
of Korean. In case study 1, experience with Korean stop types is found to influence
the production of English stop types in terms of voice onset time (VOT) and/or
fundamental frequency (f ) onset as early as the second week of Korean classes, re-
0
sulting in the lengthening of VOT in English voiceless stops (in approximation to the
longer VOT of the perceptually similar Korean aspirated stops) and the raising of
f onset following English voiced and voiceless stops (in approximation to the higher
0
f levels of Korean). Similarly, in case study 2, experience with the Korean vowel
0
space is found to have a significant effect on production of the English vowel space,
resulting in a general raising of females’ English vowels in approximation to the over-
all higher Korean vowel space. These rapid effects of second-language experience on
first-language production suggest that cross-language linkages are established from
the onset of second-language learning, that they occur at multiple levels, and that
they are based not on orthographic equivalence, but on phonetic and/or phonologi-
cal proximity between languages. The findings are discussed with respect to current
notions of cross-linguistic similarity, exemplar models of phonology, and language
teaching and research practices.
i
To Appa
ii
Contents
List of Figures v
List of Tables vii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Significance of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Place in the Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Outline of the Dissertation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2 General Background 7
2.1 Research Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Malleability of L1 Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.1 Change with Attenuated Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.2 Adaptation to Altered Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.3 Accommodation to Another Talker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3 Modeling the Acquisition of L2 Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.1 Perceptual Assimilation Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.2 Speech Learning Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3.3 Perceptual Assimilation Model–L2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.3.4 Linking L1 and L2 in a Bilingual System . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.3.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.4 Phonological Interaction in Language Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.4.1 Sound Change in Language Obsolescence . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.4.2 Intermediate Phonology in Heritage Speakers . . . . . . . . . 60
2.4.3 Phonetic Drift in Bilinguals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.4.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
2.5 Motivations and Predictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3 Methodological Overview 75
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
3.2 Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
iii
3.3 L2 Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3.4 Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.5 Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.6 Stimuli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.7 Acoustic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3.7.1 Voice Onset Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3.7.2 Fundamental Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.7.3 Vowel Formants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.7.4 Measurement Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4 Phonetic Drift in Consonants 88
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.1.1 Cross-Linguistic Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.1.2 Predictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.2 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.3 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.3.1 Change in English Voiced Stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.3.2 Change in English Voiceless Stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
4.3.3 Change in English Compared to Korean . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
4.4 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5 Phonetic Drift in Vowels 122
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.1.1 Cross-Linguistic Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.1.2 Predictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.2 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.3 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5.3.1 Change in English Vowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5.3.2 Dialectal and Individual Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.3.3 Change in English Compared to Korean . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
5.4 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6 General Discussion 166
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.2 Redefining Phonetic Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.2.1 Basis of Phonetic Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.2.2 Time Course of Phonetic Drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
6.2.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
6.3 Implications for Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
6.3.1 Cross-Linguistic Similarity in L2 Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . 177
6.3.2 Experience in an Exemplar Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
6.3.3 From Individual to Community-Wide Drift . . . . . . . . . . . 182
iv
6.4 Implications for Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6.4.1 Teaching Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6.4.2 Research Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
7 Conclusion 187
7.1 Main Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
7.2 Future Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
A Entrance Questionnaire 221
B Exit Questionnaire 228
v
List of Figures
2.1 Different bilingual systems of voiceless stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.1 Experimental environment for Experiments 1K and 2E . . . . . . . . 80
3.2 Marking of negative VOT in an initial prevoiced plosive . . . . . . . . 83
3.3 Marking of positive VOT in an initial lag-voiced plosive . . . . . . . . 84
3.4 Marking of a three-period interval in a vowel with regular phonation 85
3.5 Marking of a three-period interval in a vowel with irregular phonation 85
3.6 Marking of vowel onset and offset in a consonant-final word . . . . . 86
3.7 Marking of vowel onset and offset in a vowel-final word . . . . . . . . 87
4.1 Schematic of f onset by VOT in the Korean laryngeal contrast . . . 90
0
4.2 Scatterplots of f onset by VOT in native productions of Korean stop
0
types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.3 Histogram of VOT in English plosives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.4 Mean f onset by mean VOT in English voiced plosives over time . . 98
0
4.5 Mean VOT and mean f onset in English voiced plosives over time, by
0
voicing type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.6 Mean VOT in English voiced plosives over time, by participant . . . 100
4.7 Mean f onset in English voiced plosives over time, by participant . . 101
0
4.8 Mean f onset by mean VOT in English voiceless plosives over time . 103
0
4.9 Mean VOT in English voiceless plosives over time, by participant . . 104
4.10 Mean f onset in English voiceless plosives over time, by participant . 105
0
4.11 Mean VOT in English voiced, Korean fortis, and Korean lenis plosives
over time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4.12 Mean f onset in English voiced, Korean fortis, and Korean lenis plo-
0
sives over time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.13 Mean VOT in English voiceless, Korean aspirated, and Korean lenis
plosives over time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4.14 Mean f onset in English voiceless, Korean aspirated, and Korean lenis
0
plosives over time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.15 Mean f onset in English voiced stops, voiceless stops, and vowel-
0
initials over time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
vi
4.16 Mean f onset by mean VOT in English voiced, English voiceless,
0
Korean lenis, Korean fortis, and Korean aspirated plosives over time . 116
5.1 Mean F by mean F of Korean vowels and English vowels, females . 127
1 2
5.2 Mean F by mean F of Korean vowels and English vowels, males . . 128
1 2
5.3 Mean F by mean F of English vowels over time, female learners . . 136
1 2
5.4 Mean F by mean F of English vowels over time, male learners . . . 137
1 2
5.5 Mean F and mean F of the English vowel space over time . . . . . . 138
1 2
5.6 Significant phonetic drift of individual English vowels . . . . . . . . . 140
5.7 Mean F of female learners’ English vowels over time, by vowel . . . . 142
1
5.8 Variability of English vowel production, Week 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
5.9 Mean F by mean F of English /A/ over time, by dialect group . . . 146
1 2
5.10 Mean F by mean F of English vowels over time, talkers from the
1 2
Mid-Atlantic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.11 Mean F by mean F of English vowels over time, talkers from the
1 2
South/Southwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
5.12 Mean F by mean F of English vowels over time, talkers from the
1 2
Inland North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.13 Mean F by mean F of English vowels over time, talkers from the
1 2
North Midland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.14 Mean F by mean F of English vowels over time, talkers from Eastern
1 2
New England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5.15 Mean F by mean F of English vowels over time, talkers from the
1 2
Pacific Northwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
5.16 Mean F of the English vowel space over time, by participant . . . . . 154
1
5.17 Mean F of the English vowel space over time, by participant . . . . . 155
2
5.18 Mean F and mean F of the English vowel space in comparison to the
1 2
Korean vowel space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.19 Phonetic drift of the English vowel space, female learners . . . . . . . 159
5.20 Phonetic drift of the English vowel space, male learners . . . . . . . . 160
5.21 Mean spacing between Korean and English vowels over time . . . . . 163
6.1 Continuum of cross-linguistic similarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.2 Mean VOT of voiceless plosives over time, by token . . . . . . . . . . 175