Hvad er problemet

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Perception and production of English speech
sounds by native speakers of Danish
The effect of immersion
In an English speaking environment
Anders Damgren Højen Engelsk Institut Aarhus
Universitet
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Agenda
1 The perceptual system 2 The Speech Learning
Model 3 Danish au pairs in England 3.1
Metods 3.2 Results (L1 First learnt language
L2 second language)
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Janet Werker
Hindi /tÏa/-/ta/
Mellem 6 og 12 mdr. stopper barnet med at skelne
(visse) lyd som ikke anvendes i L1.
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Language specific perception

• Infants learn to focus on L1 relevant contrasts,
  and ignore non-native contrasts
• The bad news Inaccurate and slow perception of
  L2 speech sounds, particularly when the
  perceptual system is stressed (e.g., background
  noise, telephone quality signal)
• The good news Effect and effortless coding of L1
  speech sounds. 30 speech sounds (or more?) per
  second. Made possible because of categorical
  perception.

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Categorical perception
Minimal analysis of speech sounds before
categorisation Fast categorical perception More
detailed analysis of non-speech sounds Slow
continuous perception

• Speech sounds/second 60 45 30 10
• Non-speech sounds/second 10 1,25

(kiss, snap, fart, whistle, clap, crackle, stamp,
coin, scissors, door)
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Phonetic contrasts that are not used to
differentiate meaning in Danish, and which are
difficult for native speakers of Danish
Two ewe fricatives voiced bilabial and voiced
labiodental
Two English back vowels
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Perception of L2 sounds

• Can the L1 perceptual system be modified to
  develop sensitivity to relevant L2 speech
  contrasts?
• Lenneberg, Penfield NO! Critical Period before
  puberty.
• Recent research YES! (Best, Bohn, Flege,
  Gottfried, Strange, Yamada, Yeni-Komshian)

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The Speech Learning Model

• Main points in Flege's (1995) Speech Learning
  Model (SLM)
• An L2 phonetic system is learnt the same way as
  the L1
• L2 sounds are difficult because L1 and L2
  interact
• If an L2 sound is perceived as sufficiently
  different, a new category for that sound may be
  formed.
• If an L2 sound is perceived as equivalent to an
  L1 sound, it is assimilated to the L1 sound. A
  merged category will develop.
• The higher the age of learning, the more likely
  an L2 sound is to be assimilated.

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The Speech Learning Model
L1 categories have specifications that reflect
the L1 input.
Input L1 sounds
u
i
e
æ
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
Established L1 categories in mental phonetic space
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The Speech Learning Model
The the specifications of phonetic categories in
long-term memory determine L1 output
Output L1 sounds
u
i
e
æ
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
Established L1 categories in mental phonetic space
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The Speech Learning Model
L2 sounds that do not match existing phonetic
categories are perceived inaccurately. uy
Input L2 sounds
e
u
i
e
y
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
Established L1 categories in mental phonetic space
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The Speech Learning Model
Production of L2 speech sounds reflects
perception and categorisation.
Output in L2 Established categories
e
u
i
e
y
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
Established L1 categories in mental phonetic space
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The Speech Learning Model
Experience with L2 sounds may result in changes
in the phonetic system.
Input L2 sounds
e
u
i
e
y
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
Established L1 categories in mental phonetic space
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The Speech Learning Model
If an L2 sound is perceived as sufficiently
different from the closest L1 sound, a new
category may evolve.
Input L2 sounds
e
u
i
e
y
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
/y/
Modified mental phonetic space
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The Speech Learning Model
A new category allows for accurate perception and
production of the L2 sound
Output more accurate L2 sounds
e
u
i
e
y
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
/y/
Modificeret mentalt fonetisk rum
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The Speech Learning Model
If an L2 sound is similar to an L1 sound a
difference can't be maintained, and the two
sounds will merge in a diaphone
Input L2 sounds
e
u
i
e
y
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
/y/
/e/-
Modificeret mentalt fonetisk rum
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The Speech Learning Model
The diaphone will eventully have specifications
intermediate between the L1 and L2 sound i.e.
not completely native-like for neither L1 nor
L2 "L1 accent"
Output L1 og L2-lyde
e / æ
u
i
e
y
/u/
/i/
/e/
/æ/
/y/
/e/-
Modificeret mentalt fonetisk rum
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Au Pairs in England A longitudinalt stuy of
changes in phonetic representation

• subjects
• 14 Danish au pairs and exchange students. Age
  17-27 Stayed 6-12 months in Southern England
• 11 Danish control subjects
• 6 English baseline subjects
• Pronunciation and perception was tested before
  and after immersion

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Purpose

• A longitudinal-design replication of previous
  cross-sectional findings that L2 experience may
  improve perception and production of L2
  speechsounds in adults.
• Examine changes in both L1 and L2
• Examine to different types of L2 contrasts
• 1. Assimilation to one L1 category (engelsk
  /O-V/)
• 2. Assimilation to two L1 categories (engelsk
  /s-S/)
• Examine level of learning (lexically bound or
  context independent phonetic learning - words vs.
  non-words)

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Experiment structure
Danish vs. English
/O-V/ /s-S/
Time 1 Time 2
perception udtale
identification discrimination words
non-words
Acoust. Analysis judgments
TT x stim. Rep. meas. ANOVA
Narrow range fitted ogive PROBIT anal.
TT x stim. Rep. meas. ANOVA
Two-side peak analysis one-way ANOVA
4 spectral moments
duration, intensity
ID
Paired comparison
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Two fricatives in Danish and English
Danish input
s
?
/s/
?
Established categories in native Danes
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Two English speech sounds assimilated to two
categories
Engelsk input
s
S
/s/
?
Established categories in native Danes
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Hypothesis

• Either
• Shift of category boundary location in both
  Danish and English (diafon)
• Or
• Formation of a new category for English S

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Perception methods

• Perception of synthetic 11-step
  fricative-continuum in English sock-shock
  and Danish sok-sjok
• Identification Label each step as either sock or
  shock (sok eller sjok)
• Discrimination Identify the odd one out in a
  triad of steps. Pairing of every second step,
  e.g., step 1,3,3 or 7,7,5 Differences
  between steps are only perceived when they
  straddle the category boundary.

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Perception - results
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Immersion Group English stimuli
Perception of English sock-shock continuum before
and after immersion
ID Significant main effect of Test-time and
Stimulus Number, and significant interaction
F(10,130) 5.128, p lt 0.001. Discr
non-significant main effect of Test-time,
significant main effect of Stimulus Pair and
non-significant interaktion F(1,13) 1.396, p lt
0.207.
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Immersion Group Danske stimuli
Perception of Danish sok-sjok continuum before
and after immersion
ID Significant main effect af Test-time, and
significant interaction F(10,130) 5.292, p lt
0.000. Discrimination signifikant interaktion
F(8,104) 4.251, p lt 0.000.
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Summary Immersion Group

• English ID suggested shift of category boundary
  towards S. Discrimination?
• Danish Both ID and discrimination suggested
  shift of category boundary towards S.
• Implication suggests modification of a diaphone
  due to experience.

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Home Group English stimuli
Perception of 0English sock-shock continuum at
Time 1 and 2 without immersion.
ID Significant main effect of Test-time, and
significant interaction F(10,100 5.784, p lt
0.000. Discrimination Significant interaction
F(8,80) 4.752, p lt 0.000. Problem
Interaktion too coarse a measure for category
displacement hypothesis?!
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Home Group Danish stimuli
Perception of 0English sock-shock continuum at
Time 1 and 2 without immersion.
ID non-significant main effect of Test-time, and
non-significant interaction F(10,100) .768 lt
0.659. Discrimination non-significant
interaction.
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Summary Home Group

• English ID suggested shift of category boundary
  towards S. Discrimination?
• Danish No difference between Time 1 and Time 2.
• Implication Test-effect in ID of English?

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Production - methods

• Acoustic analysis of productions of
• English sock and shock
• and
• Danish sok and sjok

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Production Results
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Production Immersion Group


Acoustical specifikations for S (?) in
English shock and Danish sjok.
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Production Immersion Group
Akustiske specifikationer for S (?) i engelsk
shock og dansk sjok.
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Results - pronunciation


Akustiske specifikationer for S (?) i engelsk
shock og dansk sjok.
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Listener judgments

• Global accent rating
• 10 native English judges

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Global accent rating
Immersion group Home Group Native
English
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Global accent rating
Home control Ss c1-c11 English Ss e1-e6
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Global accent rating
Immersion group Ss
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Two English sounds assimilated to one Danish
sound
hut hot
V
O
/V/
Etablerede L1 kategorier i mentalt fonetisk rum
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Immersion Group Perception O-V
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Home Group Perception O-V
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Native English Group Perception O-V
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References
Flege, J. E., Frieda, E. M., Nozawa, T. (1997).
Amount of native-language (L1) use affects the
pronunciation of an L2. Journal of Phonetics,
25(2), 169-186. Flege, J. E., Hillenbrand, J.
(1984). Limits on phonetic accuracy in foreign
language speech production. Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America, 76(3),
708-721. Flege, J. E., Yeni-Komshian, G. H.,
Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on
second-language acquisition. Journal of Memory
and Language, 41(1), 78-104. Bohn, O.-S.,
Flege, J. E. (1997). Perception and production of
a new vowel category by adult second language
learners. In A. R. James J. Leather (Eds.),
Second language speech Structure and process
(pp. 53-73). Berlin Mouton de Gruyter. Yeni-Komsh
ian, G., Flege, J.E. Liu, S. (2000).
Pronunciation proficiency in the first and second
languages of Korean-English bilinguals.
Bilingualism Language and Cognition 3
(2),131-149. Werker, J. F. (1989). Becoming a
native listener. American Scientist, 77,
55-59. Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language
speech learning Theory, findings, and problems.
In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and
linguistic experience Issues in cross-language
research (pp. 233-277). Timonium, MD York
Press. Fry, D. B. (1966). The development of the
phonological system in the normal and deaf child.
In F. Smith G. A. Miller (Eds.), The genesis of
language A psycholinguistic approach (pp.
187-216). Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press.
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Anders Damgren Højen engah_at_hum.au.dk
?
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Pronucniation before and after immersion

• Change of pronunciation of English S
• English woman (English)
• Danish woman (English) before after
• Danish woman (Danish) before after