Vowel inventory size matters: Assessing cue-weighting in L2 vowel perception

Abstract: To examine whether L1 vowel inventory size could be a contributing factor to the use of temporal cues in L2 vowel perception, this study assessed the perception of English /i-ɪ/ by 66 learners of four different L1s: Danish, Portuguese, Catalan and Russian. The L2 learners performed a forced-choice identification task containing natural and duration-manipulated stimuli. Findings suggest that the participants’ over-reliance on duration cues seems to be partially related to their L1 vowel inventory size. The participants with the largest L1 vowel inventory (Danish) demonstrated the most native-like vowel perception and the participants with the smallest L1 vowel inventory (Russian) over-relied on duration cues more than the other learners. Interestingly, the participants with somewhat comparable L1 vowel inventories (Portuguese and Catalan) performed similarly.

摘要：为探究第一语言（L1）元音音位库（vowel inventory）规模是否会对第二语言（L2）元音感知过程中时长线索的使用产生影响，本研究针对丹麦语、葡萄牙语、加泰罗尼亚语及俄语4种不同母语的66名学习者，开展了英语元音/i/-/ɪ/的感知测试。受试二语学习者完成了一项包含自然语音与经时长操控的刺激材料的迫选识别任务。研究结果表明，受试群体对时长线索的过度依赖，似乎与其L1元音音位库规模存在部分关联。其中，L1元音音位库规模最大的丹麦语学习者，展现出最接近母语者的元音感知能力；而L1元音音位库规模最小的俄语学习者，相较其他学习者更过度依赖时长线索。值得注意的是，L1元音音位库规模较为相近的葡萄牙语与加泰罗尼亚语学习者，其表现也较为相似。