Something borrowed, something new : acquiring unexploited sets of feature contrasts

Rikke L. Bundgaard-Nielsen, Brett Baker, Carmel O'Shannessy

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paperpeer-review

Abstract

The present paper addresses the question of whether Second Language (L2) segmental acquisition can be successful if the learner's Native Language (L1) does not implement an entire 'tier' of phonetic/articulatory information exploited in the L2. The results from a re-framed analysis of perceptual discrimination studies with speakers of three Indigenous Australian languages (Wubuy; Kriol; Light Warlpiri) indicate that this appears possible only when L2 learners can leverage phonetic aspects of their consonantal inventories to acquire some new featural contrasts, and that distributional information can act as a key to at least some new contrastive features. The results also indicate that voicing, especially in fricatives, appears particularly challenging.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Eighteenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 13-16 December 2022, Canberra, Australia
PublisherAustralasian Speech Science and Technology Association
Pages166-170
Number of pages5
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventAustralasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology -
Duration: 13 Dec 2022 → …

Publication series

Name
ISSN (Print)2207-1296

Conference

ConferenceAustralasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology
Period13/12/22 → …

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