Introducing SLA of phonology research:

1
Introducing SLA of phonology research

• Major theoretical approaches

2
Perceptual Assimilation Model PAM - Best (1996)

• concerns initial perceptual difficulties
  non-native phonetic segments are perceptually
  assimilated to native phonetic categories
  according to their articulatory similarity to the
  native gestural constellations
• perceptual difficulty in differentiating
  non-native contrasts is predictable from these
  assimilation patterns (cf. 'goodness of fit' to a
  given native category)

3
Speech Learning Model SLM - Flege (1991)

• L1 L2 position-sensitive allophones are related
  along a continuum of interlingual phonetic
  similarity defined in acoustic-phonetic terms
  (such as F1/F2 for Vs, VOT for Cs)
• beginners perceptually assimilate most L2
  categories to native ones if L2 segment is
  sufficiently dissimilar - a new L2 perceptual
  category is established over time

4
SLM cont.

• the new category formation may be blocked by
  equivalence classification for less dissimilar
  sounds, so a single perceptual category subsumes
  both L1 L2 segments, leading to persistent
  accented production in L2 or even to shifts in L1
  production

5
both in PAM SLM

• context-dependent phonetic segments form the
  level of analysis (not phonemes or features)

6
an exemplar-based model- Pisoni (1996)

• native phonetic categories are represented as
  clusters of exemplars that share certain critical
  acoustic parameters
• categorization involves matching an incoming
  signal to previously stored exemplars
• L2 perceptual training should be conducive to the
  formation of (new) equivalence clusters

7
Perceptual Magnet model- Kuhl (1996)

• native-lg phonetic categories are organized
  around prototypes (established within the first
  year of life) which distort the phonetic
  perceptual space
• L2 perceptual learning would require the
  reorganization of the phonetic perc space around
  newly established prototypes

8
all four models

• rely on the notion of phonetic similarity (cf.
  Strange 1999 for further discussion)