Current Issues in Second Language Phonology

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Current Issues in Second Language Phonology

• John Archibald
• LESLLA 2009, Banff CANADA

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Current Issues in Second Language Phonology

• (and a bunch of other stuff)

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Overview

• Some basic facts about language.
• Benefits of bilingualism.
• Second language phonology.
• Age effects.
• Special populations.

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• Who am I?
• A linguist with an interest in the study of
  learning second (or other) languages.
• Someone with a past life as an ESL teacher at the
  credit and non-credit level.
• Who am I not?
• Someone who has a lot of experience with the
  population in question for this conference

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Basic Facts About Language

• How many languages are there? Close to 7,000.
• There are no primitive languages understudied
  languages may have surprising properties
• Inalienable possession
• Evidentiality
• All languages have a grammar share basic
  properties

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• Even the native speakers may feel that their
  language is somehow inferior
• Remember that prestige judgments are social not
  linguistic
• Double negatives Old English vs Modern English
  urban dialects
• We have ample evidence that even if the speakers
  are nervous about the status of their L1 that it
  will be a robust natural language

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Most languages in the world dont have writing
systems

• So, writing systems are not essential components
  of human languages
• But they have decided socio-economic implications
  in many societies

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What About Multilingualism?
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A Multilingual Planet

• Bilingualism and multilingualism is the norm on
  this planet
• Monolingualism is the exception

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Benefits of Bilingualism

• What effects does learning a second language
  have?
• It has both linguistic and non-linguistic
  benefits.

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Increased Syntactic Complexity

• We know that exposure to an L2 can enhance the
  complexity of syntax used in producing the first
  language. Studies have shown that the
  sophistication of language actually increases
  when there is knowledge of a second language.
• Not only does knowledge of another language not
  harm your first language, it can actually enhance
  it.

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Enhanced Narrative Strategies

• We know that exposure to a second language can
  enhance language use skills (things like
  narrative strategies, both reading and writing
  literacy skills in the L1, and vocabulary
  scores).

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Metalinguistic Awareness

• We know that bilinguals have greater
  meta-linguistic awareness which leads to better
  performance in tasks when we need to pay
  attention to structure (e.g. writing), and also
  to increased sensitivity to the needs of the
  listener

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General Cognition

• We know that bilinguals have cognitive advantages
  as demonstrated in scores on tests of analogical
  reasoning and visual-spatial skills.

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Room For Everyone

• We know that being taught in one language doesnt
  lead to a reduced capacity in the other language.
  In fact, maintaining bilingual proficiency
  (rather than becoming monolingual in the socially
  dominant language) can actually benefit school
  performance.
• The goal is not to become a monolingual English
  speaker.

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Math

• Grade 3 students were tested and it was found
  that students who had studied a foreign language
  had significantly higher scores on the
  mathematics subtest of the Iowa Tests of Basic
  Skills than did students who did not take a
  foreign language.

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What is Phonology?

• More than pronunciation
• Its about a system of knowledge mental
  representation
• Its about what you know (not just what you can
  do)

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Segments

• Consonants and vowels
• New languages may have new contrasts

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Consonants

• Learning English ? (as in think)
• Learning the difference between the l in leaf
  and the l in fall
• L1 phonology, universal patterns, and L2
  phonetics all influence the acquisition of L2
  sounds

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Vowels

• Imagine learning the French ü
• English speakers tend to substitute an u sound
• Portuguese speakers tend to substitute an i
  sound
• L1 properties may explain this

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Syllables

• Syllables have internal structure
• The onset consonant comes before the vowel
• The coda consonant comes after the vowel
• E.g., cat

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Syllables

• Consonant clusters?
• Yes English
• No KoreanYes Swedish, Polish
• Coda consonants?
• Lots English
• Some Japanese
• None Hawaiian

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Repair Strategies

• Epenthesis versus deletion as repair strategies
• Epenthesis went -gt wenti
• Deletion went -gt wen

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Repair Strategies

• Epenthesis (over deletion) increases as task
  formality increases
• Epenthesis (over deletion) increases as
  proficiency increases

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Stress

• Some languages have stress and some do not
• Stress English, French, Spanish, Finnish
• Tone Chinese, many African languages
• Pitch Accent Japanese
• L2 learners can acquire new settings

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Non-Stress Languages

• Even L1s that lack stress are able to acquire
  representations that include stress. E.g.,
  Chinese and Japanese learners of English stress

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Stress

• Stress can be predictable
• Polish penultimate
• French Final
• Czech Initial
• Or variable
• English, Russian

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Stress

• The L1 stress rules can influence L2 production
  and perception

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Importance of Perception

• Mis-perception as basis of foreign accent
• L2 sounds shoe-horned into L1 categories
• E.g., q as k
• Actually hearing things that arent in the input
  string (Japanese listeners of French) ebzo/ebuzo

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L1 Perceptual Filter

• Japanese has 1 liquid ?
• Japanese learners lend to hear English r and
  l as examples of ?
• English speakers tend to hear French ü as u

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The L1 does influence the L2

• The L1 grammar does transfer to the L2 and
  influence the new grammar
• At first transfer effects are prevalent, and then
  the system starts to adopt L2 rules and become a
  kind of hybrid system

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Intelligibility/Comprehensibility

• Just because someone has an L2 accent doesnt
  mean their speech is impossible to understand
• Intelligibility is a measure of whether the words
  can be understood by native listeners
• Comprehnsibility is a measure of how difficult it
  is to retrieve the words being spoken
• Some errors are more difficult to process than
  others

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You can learn new stuff

• Just because you lack certain things in your L1
  doesnt mean you cant learn them
• Its not like a door has closed
• Chinese learners of English l/r
• English learners of Japanese t/tt
• Japanese learners of Russian r

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Global Accent

• Even nativelike global accent is not unattainable
  for late learners (though rare)

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Age Effects

• Adults can acquire nativelike ability
• Late learners speech rate is slower

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Should You Start Early?

• There are some advantages but its never too late.

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Global Accent
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Upper Limits of Late SLA

• Attainment potential not inferior to L1A
• Similar ends can be reached by different means

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ERPs
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Electrophysiology (ERP)

• ERP components reveal certain differences between
  the brain activation of L1 and L2 speakers.
• Age of Acquisition of L2 has an effect on the
  pattern of brain activation as revealed by ERPs.
• High proficiency in L2 results in patterns of
  activation quite similar to those of native
  speakers.

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ERP Signature Components

Syntactic
Lexical-Semantic
LANs
P600
N400
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ERPs and Age of Acquisition

• Content words were treated similarly in all
  groups.
• However, function words showed very definite age
  effects.
• Age doesnt affect all areas equally

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ERPs and Proficiency in L2

• High proficiency in L2 results in patterns of
  activation quite similar to those of native
  speakers.
• Age isnt the only relevant factor.

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Morphology
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Two Cognitive Mechanisms

• IRREGULARS
• Stored in retrieved from associative memory
  (along with arbitrary facts, dates, lists, etc.)

• REGULARS
• Computed in procedural system (responsible for
  coordination of motor cognitive skills, symbol
  manipulation, etc.)

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Special Skills/Special Populations?

• So, can anyone do this?

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Special Populations?

• Dyslexia
• Developmental delay

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Special Populations

• Students with language or other impairments
  require special support regardless of the
  language of instruction

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Diagnostic Difficulty

• It can be difficult sometimes to diagnose
  learning disability in second language learners
  (Case Taylor 2005)
• We need to try to provide effective L2
  instruction and accommodate learning difficulties
  (Artiles Artiz 2002)

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Accommodation

• Teach basic skills or concepts
• Reteach via different approaches to those who
  fail to meet expected performance levels
• Refocus instruction
• Ortiz, A. (1997). Learning disabilities occurring
  with linguistic differences.

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Developmental Delay

• Children with developmental disabilities
  attending Jacaranda school in Nairobi are
  speakers of not only English and Kiswahili but
  also indigenous languages.
• Kenyan children with developmental delay perform
  equally well in multiple languages (including
  reading and writing) as their monolingual
  American counterparts
• Candelaria-Greene, J. (1996). A paradigm for
  bilingual special education in the USA lessons
  from Kenya.

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Dyslexia

• Can be difficult, though not impossible, to
  diagnose
• Cline, T. N. Frederickson (1999).
  Identification and assessment of dyslexia in
  bi/multilingual children. International Journal
  of bilingual Education and bilingualism 2(2)
  81-83.

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Dyslexia

• One study looked at Norwegian dyslexics acquiring
  English as an L2.
• Helland, T. R. Kaasa (2004). Dyslexia in
  English as a second language. Dyslexia 11(1)
  41-60.

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Dyslexia

• The authors recommended that the higher
  proficiency dyslexic group would be successful in
  foreign language courses with extra aid in
  spelling (such as a computer spell checker). The
  lower proficiency group was recommended for
  adjusted L2 education to match their level of L2
  development.

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Dyslexia

• Another study debunks the assumption that L1
  difficulties due to dyslexia will necessarily
  manifest in L2 learning. Individuals identified
  as dyslexic may experience anxiety in their L1
  inhibiting learning L2 learning offers the pupil
  a chance to be equal with non-dyslexic peers and
  develop confidence and a fondness for language
  learning unknown to them in their L1.

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• Learning an L2 is not a special skill available
  only to an elite few

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Summary

• When attempting to learn the sound system of a
  new language, lower-educated second language
  learners are engaged in a very complex task
• Yet, research shows that it is a feasible task
• Neither age nor education are barriers to success

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Summary

• Many special populations are able to acquire
  second languages
• Of course, its hard work, its stressful, and
  there is a great deal riding on the outcome of
  the journey they are on
• But teachers can help, and the learners are
  equipped with the necessary hardware and software
  they need to succeed.

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Conclusion

• Research can inform what is possible, and where
  our sights should be set.
• Achieving these goals involves policy and
  resource commitments (so, weve got to lobby)
• But the frontline workers are the most crucial
  for ensuring that this most special population is
  not marginalized.

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• Thank you for your work, and thank you for your
  time.

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• john.archibald_at_ucalgary.ca