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First language phonetic drift during second language acquisition
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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 learners, finding that experience in a second language rapidly, and possibly inexorably, affects production of the native language. In a longitudinal study of Korean acquisition, 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 (f0) onset as early as the second week of Korean classes, resulting 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 f0 onset following English voiced and voiceless stops (in approximation to the higher f0 levels of Korean). Similarly, in case study 2, experience with the Korean vowel 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 overall 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 phonological 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.
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... Aspiration is one of the most characteristic features of English pronunciation and has been an object of investigation in Second Language Acquistion (SLA) research. Various studies have revealed that the production of long-lag voice onset time (VOT) is difficult for L2 learners who use the short-lag VOT in their L1 (Chang, 2010(Chang, , 2013Kellogg & Chang, 2023). Achieving success in VOT production depends on many factors such as language experience or the nature of L2 input (Rojczyk & Porzuczek, 2012;Waniek-Klimczak, 2009, Matysiak, 2016. ...
PARTICIPANTS Amano Naosuke naosuke.amano@sant.ox.ac.uk Archer Gemma gemma.archer@strath.ac.uk Baran-Łucarz Małgorzata malgorzata.baran-lucarz@uwr.edu.pl Berardo Eliana elianaberardo@hotmail.com Bikelienė Lina l.bikeliene@gmail.com Bradikova Nela bradikovanela@gmail.com Broś Karolina k.bros@uw.edu.pl Bryła-Cruz Agnieszka agnieszka.bryla-cruz@mail.umcs.pl Severo Douglas douglasevero@gmail.com Cal Zuzanna zuzanna.cal@amu.edu.pl Canyurt Rafia rafcan@st.amu.edu.pl Černelytė Laura laura.cernelyte@flf.vu.lt Červinkova Poesova Kristyna kristyna.cervinkovapoesova@pedf.cuni.cz Chanethom Vincent vc4@princeton.edu Constantinescu Miha m.constantinescu@uel.ac.uk Dong Wenwei wenwei.dong@ru.nl Gage Laura laurak.gage@outlook.com Gallardo del Puerto Francisco francisco.gallardo@unican.es Gomez-Lacabex Esther esther.glacabex@ehu.eus Gomez Martinez Marta marta.gomezm@unican.es Grabarczyk Izabela iza.molinska@gmail.com Gralińska-Brawata Anna anna.brawata@uni.lodz.pl Gyurka Noemi noemi.gyurka@gmail.com Henderson Alice alice.henderson.uds@gmail.com Hinton Martin martin.hinton@uni.lodz.pl Hirschi Kevin kevin.hirschi@utsa.edu Humanez-Berral Pedro Pedro.humanez@unican.es Jarosz Anna anna.jarosz@uni.lodz.pl Jarosz Steven steven.jarosz@us.edu.pl Jensen Kim khjensen83@gmail.com Jurančič Klementina klementina.jurancic@um.si Kawashima Tomoyuki tkawashima@gunma-u.ac.jp Kaźmierski Kamil kamil.kazmierski@amu.edu.pl Kirkova-Naskova Anastazija akirkova@flf.ukim.edu.mk Kopecky Daniel daniel.kopecky01@upol.cz Kravchuk Iryna irykra@amu.edu.pl Kusz Ewa ekusz@ur.edu.pl Markova Gabriela markova.gabriela@gmail.com Matysiak Aleksandra amatysiak@ujk.edu.pl Mompean Gonzalez Jose Antonio mompean@um.es Nagle Charlie cnagle@austin.utexas.edu Nodari Rosalba rosalba.nodari@unisi.it Pawliszko Judyta jpawliszko@ur.edu.pl Perez Ramon Ruben rperez@aoni.waseda.jp Pesantez Pesantez Alejandra Carolina alejandracarolina.pesantezpesantez@uzh.ch Peterson Nicholas nicholas.peterson@uni-bamberg.de Pietraszek Mateusz m.pietraszek@ufv.es Piukovics Agnes piukovics.agnes@btk.ppke.hu Podlipsky Vaclav Jonaš vaclav.j.podlipsky@upol.cz Quesada Vazquez Leticia lequesad@ucm.es Rallo Fabra Lucrecia lucrecia.rallo@uib.es Razzaq Ahmed Kafi kafirazzaq1981@yahoo.co.uk Riehl Anastasia riehla@queensu.ca Sardegna Veronica G. vsardegna@gmail.com Schwartz Geoff geoff@amu.edu.pl Silpachai Alif Owen asilpachai@gmail.com Šimačkova Šarka sarka.simackova@upol.cz Skarnitzl Radek radek.skarnitzl@ff.cuni.cz Soria Claudia claudia.soria@ilc.cnr.it Stolarski Łukasz lstolarski@wp.pl Sypiańska Jolanta jolanta.sypianska@usz.edu.pl Sczupica-Pyrzanowska Małgorzata m.szupica-pyrz@uw.edu.pl Talley Jim talley@lingcosms.com Trofimovich Pavel pavel.trofimovich@concordia.ca van den Doel Rias w.z.vandendoel@uu.nl Vilarova Mila milavilarova@yahoo.com Wajman-Brzostowska Adrianna adrianna.wajman@gmail.com Walczak Dominika dominika.walczak@icloud.com Walesiak Beata beata.walesiak@uw.edu.pl Waniek-Klimczak Ewa ewa.waniek.klimczak@gmail.com Weckwerth Jarosław wjarek@amu.edu.pl Wiltshire Caroline wiltshir@ufl.edu Witczak-Plisiecka Iwona iwona.plisiecka@uni.lodz.pl Wojtkowiak Ewelina ewelina.wojtkowiak@amu.edu.pl
... No entanto, estudos têm indicado que essas alterações na L1 não são raras ou estão presentes apenas na fala de imigrantes com longos períodos de residência em comunidades de L2 e pouco ou nenhum uso de L1 (Schmid;Köpke, 2019). Há, por exemplo, evidências claras de que bilíngues apresentam alterações na L1 mesmo após curtos períodos de tempo em um ambiente dominado pela L2 (Chang, 2010). Além disso, esse tipo de alterações também foi descrito na fala de bilíngues que nunca deixaram seus países de origem (e.g., Luchini;Schereschewsky, 2019;Cohen, 2004;Lord, 2008;Kupske, 2021a;Kupske, 2019). ...
... The effects that one's native language (L1) can exert on the pronunciation in one's second language (L2) have been studied quite thoroughly. The opposite, however, that is the influence that L2 may have on the native productions has only been brought to the forefront of attention in the last decade or so, beginning with a series of studies authored by Charles B. Chang [1]. He coined the term phonetic drift to refer to short-term changes in the acoustics of L1 resulting from recent exposure to L2. ...
An acoustic study sought to investigate the effects of intensive phonetic instruction in L2 English on L1 Polish productions of vowels /ɛ/ and /a/ in order to attest possible effects of L2-induced phonetic drift. The data from first year students of the English programme who took part in a longitudinal experiment were compared with comparison groups from second and third years as well as a group of monolinguals. The results showed some lowering of both /ɛ/ and /a/ as training progressed, peaking in the productions of second year students. Some fronting was found in /ɛ/ but no effects on the advancement of /a/ were observed. Overall, the Polish vowels appeared to move towards more peripheral positions, possibly to accommodate the new L2 categories being acquired in the common phonological space.
... Effects are not merely directional from the L1 to the L2; L2 knowledge can also affect shift L1 categories in both perception and production, even with short-term or passive exposure (C. B. Chang, 2010Chang, , 2019aChang, , 2019bFlege, 1987;Gürel, 2004;Sancier & Fowler, 1997). ...
Contact is often cited as an explanation for the convergence of areal features and has been proposed as an explanation for the emergence of tonal languages in Mainland Southeast Asia. The current production study probes this hypothesis by exploring the relationship between tonal language usage and the acoustic correlates of the register distinction in Kuy, a Katuic language, as spoken in a quadrilingual (Kuy, Thai, Lao, Khmer) Kuy community in Northeast Thailand. The results demonstrate greater persistence of fundamental frequency (f0) differences over the course of the vowel alongside more tonal language experience for male speakers; however, analysis of individual differences finds that H1*−H2*, a correlate of voice quality, is the primary cue for male speakers with greater tonal language experience. For female speakers, a tradeoff is found between f0 and voice quality cues alongside tonal language experience at both the group and individual levels. These findings provide evidence for a model by which contact may serve to enhance existing, non-primary cues in a phonological contrast by shifting cue distributions, thereby increasing the likelihood that these cues will come to be perceived as prominent and phonologized.
... Kartushina et al. (2016) showed that phonetic drift could appear very quickly, i.e., after one hour of intensive training of target foreign vowels. Interestingly, five weeks of intensive L2 courses and staying in an L2 environment sufficed for phonetic drift appearance in the work of Chang (2010Chang ( , 2012 but not in the study of Lang and Davidson (2019). The discrepancy between the two studies might be related to external factors such as the number of hours of L2 learning classes or characteristics of the vowel system of each language. ...
This study investigates temporal development of phonetic drift (i.e., when L1 pronunciation is affected by acquiring an L2 language) in the L1 speech of four Czech university students (two female and two male) who went to study in Toulouse as part of the Erasmus programme. Having started studying L2 French at the age of twelve to sixteen, they are considered the so-called Czech-French late bilinguals. The subjects were recorded reading out a Czech text and producing semi-spontaneous speech in three sessions – immediately after their arrival, and then at the end of the first and the third month of their stay in France. Based on acoustic analyses, we statistically evaluated the formant frequencies of vowels, the spectral moments of the fricatives /ɦ/ and /x/, and the production frequency of schwa in the word-final position, which is a distinctive pronunciation feature for Toulouse French. Even though speech and its development are highly individual, we were able to witness certain pronunciation shifts regarding all the examined phones. However, the majority of statistically significant shifts were linked to the formant values of vowels.
... Even not very proficient L2 speakers can demonstrate some phonological attrition. For example, Chang (2010) studied L1 English learners of Korean and found that the English sounds that were similar to Korean changed during the intensive elementary Korean classes and became more Korean-like. These changes were usually measured by special equipment and software, but they can also be heard and recognized by a "naked" ear. ...
Language attrition of first (L1) and second (L2) languages has been a prominent area of applied linguistic research recently, particularly with the increase in international migration. Few studies, however, examined simultaneous L1 and L2 attrition in the same population. A further understudied area is indirect (second-hand) attrition – L1 or L2 attrition in immigrants who have not learned the language of the new country and yet experience its influence in the languages they know. This study investigates lexical L1 and L2 attrition in L1 Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel and the effect of the interplay of Russian, English, and Hebrew languages on this attrition. Furthermore, the study aims to expand the knowledge of second-hand L1 and L2 attrition. It also examines how attrition is affected by L2/L3 level, L1/L2/L3 usage, language aptitude, education, and metalinguistic awareness.
The study employed a quantitative methodology. The participants included four study groups in Israel (monolingual L1 Russian speakers, bilingual L1 Russian – L2 Hebrew speakers, bilingual L1 Russian – L2 English, and trilingual L1Russian – L2 English – L3 Hebrew speakers) and two control groups residing in Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan (monolingual L1 Russian speakers, bilingual L1 Russian – L2 English speakers). The participants took a number of tests that examined lexical attrition of L1 Russian and (for English speakers) L2 English in the following areas: collocations, infrequent vocabulary, vocabulary size, perceived word similarity, and object categorization patterns. Additionally, the participants completed sociolinguistic questionnaires and took tests of language aptitude and metalinguistic awareness. The tests were administered online.
Results provided evidence for direct and second-hand L1 attrition of Russian, especially of collocations, under the influence of Hebrew. L2 English did not appear to have a significant effect on L1. L2 attrition of English was less prominent, but Hebrew appeared to affect L2 English, especially in the area of collocations. Higher levels of language aptitude, metalinguistic awareness, and education served as protective factors against attrition. Length of residence in the new country was shown to be an important factor for L1 and L2 attrition. Frequent use of Russian did not diminish L1 attrition, possibly because immigrants were exposed to attrited, or heritage Russian to a large extent in their daily lives. Frequent use of English, on the other hand, was associated with lower levels of L2 English attrition possibly because of the nature of the immigrants’ input in English that is largely from media produced in English-speaking countries and not in Israel.
The specific contributions of the study to the field of language attrition are in describing and explaining attrition in multilingual speakers and second-hand attrition.
... In this chapter, we examine how acquisition of a third language (L3) may influence a multilingual's previously-acquired first language (L1) and second language (L2), a type of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) known as regressive CLI (henceforth, rCLI). While research on L3 acquisition over the past two decades has been concerned primarily with initial state transfer and early stages of target language development, including progressive CLI (pCLI) from the L1/L2 to the L3, research on bilingualism has increasingly focused on rCLI (e.g., Chang, 2010Chang, , 2019ade Leeuw et al., 2012de Leeuw et al., , 2018, paving the way for investigations of rCLI in both early and advanced stages of multilingualism. Nevertheless, rCLI remains understudied in the field of multilingualism, leaving us with an incomplete picture of multilingual processing. ...
While previous work on multilingual speech rhythm has found evidence of progressive cross-linguistic influence of a first or second language (L1, L2) on a third language (L3), regressive cross-linguistic influence (rCLI) in rhythm remains understudied. In the current study, we tested the roles of order of acquisition and of language similarity in shaping rCLI from syllable-timed Spanish as L3 to stress-timed English and German as L1/L2. In a picture narration task, adult sequential trilinguals (L1 English-L2 German-L3 Spanish, L1 German-L2 English-L3 Spanish) and sequential bilingual controls (L1 English-L2 German, L1 German-L2 English) produced semi-spontaneous speech in each of their languages, which was analyzed in terms of the rhythm metric VarcoV. Results showed evidence of rCLI in English (the typologically more similar language to Spanish) but no evidence of rCLI in German; however, rCLI in English was found only when English was the L1. On the basis of these findings, we propose the Similarity Convergence Hypothesis (SCH), which claims that previously acquired languages that are more similar to a later-acquired language are relatively more vulnerable to rCLI from this language.
... As for English-Arabic bilinguals, we also do not expect to find any L1 attrition, given that there is no close counterpart to the English /p/ in Arabic, and thus there is no close L2 sound to interact with. While the SLM makes predictions for individual sounds, an alternative prediction is that L1 attrition may occur at a system-wide level (as suggested in Chang, 2010Chang, , 2011Guion, 2003;Mayr et al., 2012). If this was the case, the English-Arabic speakers may, under the influence of their L2 Arabic, associate all voiceless stops with generally shorter VOTs than their monolingual counterparts. ...
While much research has examined second language (L2) phonetic acquisition, less research has examined first language (L1) attrition in terms of the voice onset time (VOT) of voiceless stops. The current study examined L2 acquisition and L1 attrition in the VOT of word-initial voiceless stops among late English-Arabic and Arabic-English bilinguals in order to explore the role of phonetic similarity in L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of speech. The study included 60 participants: 15 monolingual Arabic speakers, 15 monolingual English speakers, 15 English-Arabic bilinguals and 15 Arabic-English bilinguals. The bilinguals had been living in their L2 environment for more than 15 years. The participants narrated two cartoons in Arabic and/or three in English. The monolingual groups' results revealed clear cross-language differences in the VOT of voiceless plosives between the two languages. Phonetic similarity affected L2 acquisition in that those L2 sounds that were close in phonetic space to L1 sounds (i.e. /t/ and /k/) were more difficult to acquire than those that were dissimilar to L1 sounds (i.e. /p/). However, L1 attrition showed an asymmetric pattern, occurring only in the English-Arabic bilinguals' productions of the English /k/. We suggest that markedness might contribute to explaining this asymmetry.
Since the establishment of phonology as a separate branch of linguistics, scholars such as N. Trubetzkoy, C. B. Chang, E. de Leeuw, D. LaCharité, and others have demonstrated that phonological principles serve as the fundamental framework for sound perception. In particular, the key concepts of phonological sieve, approximation, language attrition and language drift show steady patterns of phonology-driven sound perception. However, not all instances of sound perception adhere strictly to such phonological principles. This article examines a case of sound perception in Ukrainian revealing that, under the circumstances of phonological instability, the basic principle of sound perception may tend to shift from phonologically to phonetically driven sound perception.
This chapter focuses on the study of language attrition in the context of L3 acquisition. Following a growing body of research on L2 effects on an L1, it is accepted that an L1 is not a static linguistic system and that L2 influence can present at the lexical, morphosyntactic, and phonological levels from even the earliest stages of L2 acquisition at the levels of both processing and representation. From this body of work, it is then logical to predict that any system can affect a previously acquired system, just as it has been established that existing systems can affect subsequently acquired systems. In this case, the prediction is that an L3 can influence an L1 and an L2, and a small body of research reported on in this chapter supports this prediction. The chapter begins with an overview of the relevant L1 attrition research and relates it to the predictions that this body of work makes for a context of L3 acquisition. I then highlight two of the questions that are central in the study of the effects of an L3 on previously acquired systems, reviewing the research that has established the groundwork for these lines of inquiry. The majority of this research has centered on linguistic factors among sequential L3 learners in a formal learning context. The chapter continues by pointing towards some outstanding questions stemming from this research and discussion of how we might model attrition in multilingualism. Towards the end, I raise some key considerations for the development of a methodological framework, highlighting the need to draw further from experimental approaches used in L1 attrition as a complement to L3-specific methods.
Kim, Hyung-Soo. 2008. The phonetics and phonology of vowel length variation in Korean reduplicated ideophones. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology 14.2. 39-60. Reduplicated ideophones in Korean present interesting problems in phonetics and phonology of vowel length variation. The vowel in the first syllable is short in the partially reduplicated type, e.g. salɨlɨ 'gently', but long in the fully reduplicated type, e.g. salsal. The long vowel in the corresponding ideophone of the latter type, on the other hand, often appears as short after laryngealized obstruents, e.g. s'als'al. In this paper three attempts are made to explain this length variation. The first of these is phonetically based, on the hypothesis that laryngeal onsets influence the duration of the following vowel, while the remaining analyses are based on two independent phonological theories, one making use of the feature [long] for tense and aspirated consonants and the Obligatory Contour Principle and the other the concepts of strength fluxion and the Inertial Development Principle. Although some questions are left for future studies, analyzing this and related problems illuminates many of the skills required of a typical phonetic/phonological analysis: sorting out the data and interpreting its relevance, establishing viable hypotheses using one's phonetic and phonological knowledge, and integrating them for a plausible explanation. (Jeonju University)
The aim of our research is to understand how speech learning changes over the life span and to explain why "earlier is better" as far as learning to pronounce a second language (L2) is concerned. An assumption we make is that the phonetic systems used in the production and perception of vowels and consonants remain adaptiive over the life span, and that phonetic systems reorganize in response to sounds encountered in an L2 through the addition of new phonetic categories, or through the modification of old ones. The chapter is organized in the following way. Several general hypotheses concerning the cause of foreign accent in L2 speech production are summarized in the introductory section. In the next section, a model of L2 speech learning that aims to account for age-related changes in L2 pronunciation is presented. The next three sections present summaries of empirical research dealing with the production and perception of L2 vowels, word-initial consonants, and word-final consonants. The final section discusses questions of general theoretical interest, with special attention to a featural (as opposed to a segmental) level of analysis. Although nonsegmental (i.e., prosodic) dimensions are an important source of foreign accent, the present chapter focuses on phoneme-sized units of speech. Although many different languages are learned as an L2, the focus is on the acquisition of English.
Aims and Scope “This remains the fundamental base for studies of multilingual communities and language shift. Weinreich laid out the concepts, principles and issues that govern empirical work in this field, and it has not been replaced by any later general treatment.�?.
