Introducing SLA of phonology research: a historical perspective

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Introducing SLA of phonology research a
historical perspective

• SLA and contrastive linguistics

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THE PAST FOUNDATIONS

• The 20th century contrastive studies, known under
  the name of Contrastive Analysis, originated out
  of the need to improve the methods of language
  teaching and learning.

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Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis

• strong version (Lado 1957) possibility to
  predict all errors as a result of transfer from
  L1(NL) to L2(TL)
• similar elements were assumed to be easy
• different elements - to be difficult
• weak version (Wardhaugh 1970) comparison of L1
  and L2 not enough to predict all errors they can
  be explained after the fact

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moderate views

• Gradually, more moderate views replaced the
  strong language acquisition hypothesis.
• Transfer lost its all-solving status and came to
  coexist with the dominant notion interlanguage
  (Selinker 1969, 1972), independent of NL and TL.

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Interlanguage Hypothesis

• extreme
• Creative Construction Hypothesis (Dulay and Burt
  1974)
• the monitor model by Krashen (e.g. 1981) a
  distinction between acquisition and learning

• moderate
• Markedness Differential Hypothesis (Eckman 1977,
  1981) difficult areas are those that are
• different from L1 and
• relatively more marked than L1

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transfer acc. to Gass (1988387)

• The notion of language transfer involves the use
  of native language (or other language)
  information in the acquisition of a second (or
  additional) language. A broader definition of
  this sort allows for observed phenomena such as
• delayed rule restructuring
• transfer of typological organization
• different paths of acquisition
• avoidance
• overproduction of certain elements
• additional attention paid to the target language
  resulting in more rapid learning
• differential effects of socially prestigious
  forms.

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Weinreich (1953) Languages in Contact

• interference those instances of deviation
  from the norms of either language which occur in
  the speech of bilinguals as a result of their
  familiarity with more than one language
• bilingualism the practice of alternately
  using two languages
• later only native-like use of both languages
  (e.g. Bloomfield) vs. any use of an L2 (e.g.
  Haugen)

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Lado (1957) Linguistics Across Cultures

• CA - Contrastive Analysis
• transfer individuals tend to transfer the
  forms and the meanings, and the distribution of
  the forms and meanings of their native language
  and culture to the foreign language and culture
• differences between the two languages more
  important - they cause 'negative transfer
  similarities - 'positive transfer'

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behaviourist view of language learning

• Bloomfield (1933), Skinner (1957)
• grammatical structure as system of habits (Lado
  1957)
• habits acquired through exposure and practice
• stimulus-response

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mentalist view of language learning (Chomsky et
al.)

• Chomsky (1959) review of Skinners (1957)
  Verbal Behaviour
• the independent grammars assumption - children
  have a system of their own, they are not
  defective speakers
• LAD Language Acquisition Device children
  construct linguistic competence by evaluation
  measure (hypothesis-testing in acquisition
  research)

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independent grammars in L2

• approximative system (Nemser 1971)
• interlanguage (Selinker 1972)
• phonology of interlanguage (Tarone 1978)
• the methodology of Error Analysis (Corder 1971)
• error (of competence) vs. mistake (of
  performance)
• paradox in Selinker Corder the object of
  description is learners knowledge of language
  (competence) whereas the research method is the
  analysis of his/her performance

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important

• multi-competence should be treated as a norm
  its normal for the majority of people to use
  another language

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SLA of speech

• Abramson Lisker 1970 cross-lg differences in
  the discrimination ability of VOT (responsible
  for voicing aspiration contrasts in initial
  stops), which agreed with Motor Theory (Liberman
  et al 1967) perception accomplished via
  production
• the categorical perception (CP) paradigm (tests
  of discrimination identification of consonants
  to discover those lg-specific patterns)
• so, the opinion in the 1970s discrimination of
  voicing place contrasts in Cs in L2 determined
  by the phonemic significance of the stimuli in L1

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SLA of speech cont.

• BUT 2 to 6-month-old infants COULD discriminate
  such contrasts independent of their exposure to
  the language in which they occurred
• THUS loss in discrimination ability (age
  progress in L1)
• adults Japanese learners of English could produce
  /r/ /l/, but not perceive the contrast
  production preceded exceeded perception in L2
  learning
• training to improve perception was unsuccessful -
  support for the strong Critical Period Hypothesis
  (Lenneberg 1967) from 2 years to puberty
• the above conclusions were premature ? detailed
  studies demonstrated that

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perceptual difficulty in L2 is relative

• as to voicing, place, context, experience with
  L2, but also different acoustic cues used by L2
  learners than by natives for the same contrasts
  (e.g. for /r-l/ contrast native speakers use F3,
  while Japanese learners use temporal differences
  and F2)
• native lg patterns of phonetic perception are
  formed in the first year of life (works by Werker
  et al., Polka)
• no consistent answer as to children b-n 2 13
  whether they have any advantage over adolescents
  adults in the perception of non-native
  contrasts (Flege et al. vs. Werker others)

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perception vs. production

• perception causal for production e.g. Portuguese
  speakers assimilated Fr. /y/ to their /i/
  category while English speakers - to their /u/
  category
• however, prod perc may proceed independently
  (in Japanese learners of English perc lagged
  behind prod)
• "earlier is better" to learn production no
  convincing evidence for perc (comment adults
  have heard incomparably more signals than
  children)

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perceptual training of L2 contrasts

• in the 1980-90s it was demonstrated that
  short-term intensive training improves perc
  voicing easier than place but longer training
  even more
• importance of context, e.g. vd/vless ltthgt
  contrast trained in CV context improved Fr.
  speakers' perc of natural CV stimuli, but there
  was NO TRANSFER to VCV or VC contexts "subjects
  learn to differentiate position-specific
  allophones of phonetic categories, rather than
  context-free phoneme categories"

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THE PRESENT

• both children adults have some perc
  difficulties they are not due to a loss of
  sensory capabilities, but reflect perceptual
  attunement
• sensitive period gt critical period
• since non-native contrasts are not equally
  difficult, contrastive analysis of phoneme
  inventories cannot accurately predict perceptual
  problems of L2 learners

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THE PRESENT cont.

• selective perceptual patterns are modified in
  adults ( children) through immersion or
  conversational instruction some perc
  difficulties may persist even after production
  mastered, so perc prod may be uncorrelated in
  more experienced learners
• short-term training emphasizing equivalence
  classification transfers to novel talkers and
  stimuli, but whether it generalizes to all
  phonotactic contexts - has not been demonstrated

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Extended References

• Cook, V. 1993. Linguistics and Second Language
  Acquisition. London Macmillan.
• Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, Katarzyna. 2002. Conscious
  competence of performance as a key to teaching
  English. In Waniek-Klimczak, E. and Melia, P.J.
  (eds.) Accents and Speech in English. Frankfurt
  Peter Lang. 97-106.
• Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, Katarzyna. 2003. How
  learners repair second language phonology and
  whether they may become native speakers. In
  Waniek-Klimczak, Ewa and Wlodzimierz Sobkowiak
  (eds.). Dydaktyka fonetyki jezyka obcego.
  Neofilologia, tom V. Plock Zeszyty Naukowe PWSZ
  w Plocku.
• Dziubalska-Kolaczyk, Katarzyna. 2003. Speech is
  in the ear of the listener Some remarks on the
  acquisition of second language sounds. In Hales,
  Kimberli and Angela Terveen (main editors),
  Aurélie Capron, Marion Correnoz and Théo Garneau,
  under the direction of Marie-Christine Garneau
  (eds.). Selected Papers from the Sixth
  College-wide Conference for Students in
  Languages, Linguistics and Literature 2002.
  Honolulu College of Languages, Linguistics, and
  Literature. University of Hawaii at Manoa. 81-92.

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Extended References cont.

• Eckman, Fred R. 1977. Markedness and the
  contrstive analysis hypothesis. Language Learning
  27. 315-330.
• Eckman, Fred R. 1981. On predicting phonological
  difficulty in second language acquisition. SSLA
  4. 18-30.
• Eckman, Fred R. 1991. The structural conformity
  hypothesis and the acquisition of consonant
  clusters in the interlanguage of ESL learners. .
  SSLA 13. 23-41.
• Eckman, Fred R. and Gregory K. Iverson. 1993.
  Sonority and markedness among onset clusters in
  the interlanguage of ESL learners. Second
  Language Research 9,3. 234-252.
• Fisiak, J. (1993) Contrastive linguistics and
  foreign/second language acquisition. In Seeber,
  H.U. and W. Göbel (eds.) Anglistentag 1992
  Stuttgart. Proceedings. vol.XIV. Max Niemeyer
  Verlag. 315-326.
• Flege, James Emil. 1995. Second language speech
  learning Theory, findings, and problems. In
  Strange, W. (ed.). Speech Perception and
  Linguistic Experience Theoretical and
  Methodological Issues. Timonium, MD York Press.
• Flege, James Emil. 1999. The relation between L2
  production and perception. ICPhS99, San
  Francisco. 1273- 1276.
• Jassem, Wiktor. 2003. Polish. JIPA 33, 1.
  103-108.
• Leather, J. and A.R. James. 1991. The acquisition
  of second language speech. SSLA 13. 305-341.

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Extended References cont.

• Major, Roy C. 2001. Foreign Accent The Ontogeny
  and Philogeny of Second Language Acquisition.
  Mahwah, New Jersey Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Proceedings of the 14th 1999 and 15th 2003 ICPhS
  (on CDRoms).
• Shockey, Linda. 2002. Sound Patterns of Spoken
  English. Oxford Blackwell.
• Sobkowiak, W. 1996. English Phonetics for Poles.
  Poznan Bene Nati.
• Strange, Winifred. 1996. Phonetics of
  Second-Language Acquisition Past, Present,
  Future. 13th ICPhS, 4 76-83.
• Strange, Winifred. 1999. Levels of abstraction in
  characterizing cross-language phonetic
  similarity. ICPhS99, San Francisco. 2513-2519.
• Tarone, Elaine E. 1978. The phonology of
  interlanguage. In Richards, J. (ed.).
  Understanding second and foreigh language
  learning. Rowley, MA Newbury House. 15-33.
• Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1970. The contrastive analysis
  hypothesis. TESOL Quaterly 4. 123-130.
• Weinreich, Uriel. 1953. Languages in contact. The
  Hague Mouton.