Turning an L1 three-way contrast into an L2 two-way contrast

Paola EscuderoUniversity of Utrecht and McGill University

Paul BoersmaUniversity of Amsterdam

Second International Conference on Contrast in PhonologyToronto, May 3, 2002

Introduction Learning an L2 two-way contrast is

problematic if it has an L1 three-way contrast as a starting point.

The initial state of L2 speech comprehension provides evidence of an intermediate perceptual level.

The perception of L2 learners improves during development.

L2 perceptual development need not affect L1 performance.

Case:the perception of front vowels by

Dutch learners of Spanish

L1 and L2 production environments/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

/a//e//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

Dutch

Spanish

Foreign-language perception

stim :

/i/

/e/

N-Lresp :

i

I

Beg.resp :

i

I

Int.resp :

i

I

Adv.resp :

i

I

Bil.resp :

i

I

Transfer for beginners in identification

stim :

/i/

/e/

resp :

i

I

resp :

i

e

L1 L2

Evidence for an intermediate discrete perception level

target-language /i/ associated with L1 /i/ target-language /e/ identified with L1 // (// |i|: identification task reflects recognition)

intended auditory perceived respondedcategory height category category

–e–

–i– /i/–i–

/I/

// ––

L1 and L2 production environments/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

/a//e//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

Dutch

Spanish

L2 perception improves

stim :

/i/

/e/

N-Lresp :

i

e

Beg.resp :

i

e

Adv.resp :

i

e

Int.resp :

i

e

Bil.resp :

i

e

L1 perception stays good

stim :

/i/

/e/

N-Lresp :

i

I

Beg.resp :

i

I

Int.resp :

i

I

Adv.resp :

i

I

Bil.resp :

i

I

Perception modes

The model requires that L2 boundaries can shift without affecting L1 perception.

Therefore, we must assume separate perception grammars for L1 and L2 within every single speaker.

Is there independent evidence for such a distinction? Set up the two alleged modes by language-dependent priming, then compare L1 classification in the two modes.

Beginning Dutch learners of Spanish

stim :

/i/

/e/

resp :

i

I

resp :

i

I

Mode: Dutch Spanish

Intermediate Dutch learners of Spanish

Mode: Dutch Spanishstim :

/i/

/e/

resp :

i

I

resp :

i

I

Advanced Dutch learners of Spanish

Mode: Dutch Spanishstim :

/i/

/e/

resp :

i

I

resp :

i

I

Bilingual Dutch-Spanish

Mode: Dutch Spanishstim :

/i/

/e/

resp :

i

I

resp :

i

I

Formalization: OT constraints

“an F1 of 200 Hz is not /a/” “an F1 of 200 Hz is not //” “an F1 of 200 Hz is not //” “an F1 of 200 Hz is not /i/” “an F1 of 450 Hz is not /a/” “an F1 of 1000 Hz is not /a/” ...

How OT handles perception

[450 Hz] 450 Hz

not //450 Hz

not //450 Hz

not //450 Hz

not // // *!

// *

// *!

/i/ *!

L1 perception if there’s a lexicon

Recognition phase undoes misperceptions.

intended auditory perceived recognizedcategory height category category

|A| |A|

|| ||

|I| |I|

|i| |i|/i/

/I/

//

/A/

How recognition mismatches change the rankings in the

perception grammar

[450 Hz]

||450 Hz

not //450 Hz

not //450 Hz

not //450 Hz

not // // *!

// *

// *! /i/ *!

L1 computer simulation Initial state: all constraints ranked equally high. Learner hears 1000 tokens/month, drawn from the

Dutch F1 distribution. Learner is also told (by recognition) which was the correct category.

Stochastic OT, evaluation noise 2.0. Plasticity (size of the learning steps):

starts at 10.0 (much larger than the evaluation noise); decreases by 3% every month; ends at 0.014 after 18 years. First fast, then accurate.

Dutch production environment(short front vowels and //)

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 0 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 2 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 4 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 6 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 8 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 10 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 12 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 24 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 36 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 48 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 60 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 72 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 84 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 96 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 108 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 120 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 132 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 144 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 156 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 168 months

Final L1 state

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 180 months

L2 computer simulation Initial state: final state of L1. Learner hears 500 tokens/month, drawn from

the Spanish F1 distribution. Learner is also told (by recognition) which was the correct category (//, //, /i/; never //).

Stochastic OT, evaluation noise 2.0. Plasticity (size of the learning steps):

stays constant at 0.01 slow but accurate.

Initial L2 state (full transfer)

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 0 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 2 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 4 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 6 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 8 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 10 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 12 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 24 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 36 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 48 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 60 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 72 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 84 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 96 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 108 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 120 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 132 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 144 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 156 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 168 months

/A////I//i/

200 400 600 800F1 (Hz)

After 180 months

Conclusions

The transfer of an L1 3-way contrast is problematic if the TL has a 2-way contrast.

There’s a perceptual level with discrete categories.

Learners improve their L2 perception (full access) without affecting their L1 performance (separate perception modes).

For the time being, the only linguistic framework that models this is OT with GLA.

Opposite claims ‘L2 perception can hardly be learned’

(Pallier, Bosch & Sebastián-Gallés 1997)

Not in Pallier’s article… The individual data show a bimodal

distribution that was averaged

Pallier’s dataactually confirmthat L2 learners can become proficient

Opposite claims There is only one perception mode: L1

(Pallier, Bosch & Sebastián-Gallés 1997)

Not in Pallier’s article… The individual data confirm two modes

Pallier’s dataactually confirmthe two perception modes

Conclusions still valid...

The transfer of an L1 3-way contrast is problematic if the TL has a 2-way contrast.

There’s a perceptual level with discrete categories.

Learners improve their L2 perception (full access) without affecting their L1 performance (separate perception modes).

For the time being, the only linguistic framework that models this is OT with GLA.

Dank u voor uw aandacht!Gracias por su atención!

Thank you for your attention!