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Acquiring L2 Syllable Margins: Studies on the simplification of onsets and codas in interlanguage phonology
Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Centre for Research on Bilingualism.
2001 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This thesis deals with developmental, universal, grammatical, and functional factors involved in the acquisition of L2 syllable structure. More specifically, using speech data from Spanish and Chinese learners of Swedish, the thesis examines the production and development of syllable onsets and codas—that is, syllable margins. In doing so, the present work draws on various theoretical considerations and empirical findings from research on L1 and L2 acquisition, phonology and phonetics, language variation and language typology. The thesis includes three empirical studies, all of which are based on longitudinal conver­sational data. Study I deals with the acquisition of word-initial /sC(C)/ onsets by one native Spanish speaker, whereas Study II and Study III focus on the acquisi­tion of word-final codas by three native Chinese speakers. Study I and Study II both showed that onset and coda length and phonetic environment are influen­tial factors in the production of syllable structure, while sonority may not be as reliable a predictor of production difficulty. Next, both Study I and Study III provide evidence of a U-shaped rather than linear development of pronunciation accuracy. This pattern is interpreted as an effect of initial increase in fluency, with more focus on content and less on form. In addition, Study III showed that L2 proficiency is related to the epenthesis-deletion differential. An increasing ratio of epenthesis-to-deletion is the first-order indicator of increasing L2 profi­ciency during early stages of acquisition, but increased target-like production becomes the first-order indicator of development at later stages. Finally, Study III showed that learners are aware of potential ambiguity resulting from simpli­fication in different grammatical/functional categories. Codas that are essential for the retention of semantic information are preserved through higher accuracy rates and higher relative levels of epenthesis errors.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Stockholm Unviersity , 2001. , p. 200
Series
Dissertations in Bilingualism, ISSN 1400-5921 ; 6
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics
Research subject
Bilingualism
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-33981Libris ID: 8373117ISBN: 91-7265-270-5 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-33981DiVA, id: diva2:283918
Public defence
2001-05-12, Sal G, Arrheniuslaboratorierna, Stockholm, 10:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2010-01-04 Created: 2010-01-02 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved
List of papers
1. Vowel epenthesis of /sC(C)/ onsets in Spanish/Swedish inter­phonology: A longitudinal case study
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Vowel epenthesis of /sC(C)/ onsets in Spanish/Swedish inter­phonology: A longitudinal case study
1999 (English)In: Language learning, ISSN 0023-8333, E-ISSN 1467-9922, Vol. 49, no 3, p. 473-508Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Previous studies showed that vowel epenthesis of initial /sC(C)/ clusters in the L2 production of L1 Spanish speakers is conditioned by several variable constraints, such as preceding environment, onset length, and sonority relations among onset members. This case study was designed to investigate whether the patterns obtained from elicited speech also hold for conversational data. A longitudinal corpus of spontaneous/natural speech from 1 adult L1 Spanish learner of L2 Swedish was used. The study confirmed most of the results from previous research, for example, that the frequency of epenthesis varies with preceding phonetic environment. However, the study suggested that a lowering effect of preceding vowels must be present, not just the enhancing effect of preceding consonants suggested by Carlisle (1997).

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Oxford: Blackwell, 1999
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics General Language Studies and Linguistics
Research subject
Bilingualism; Linguistics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-33970 (URN)10.1111/0023-8333.00097 (DOI)
Available from: 2010-01-01 Created: 2010-01-01 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved
2. Universal constraints on L2 coda production: The case of Chinese/Swedish interphonology
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Universal constraints on L2 coda production: The case of Chinese/Swedish interphonology
2003 (English)In: La fonologia dell’interlingua. Principi e metodi di analisi / [ed] Lidia Costamagna, Stefania Giannini, Milano: FrancoAngeli , 2003, p. 131-162Chapter in book (Other academic)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Milano: FrancoAngeli, 2003
Series
Materiali linguistici ; 35
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics General Language Studies and Linguistics
Research subject
Bilingualism; Linguistics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-33969 (URN)88-464-4749-2 (ISBN)
Conference
Questo libro nasce dall'esperienza congressuale di EUROSLA 9 (European Second Language Association Annual Conference), Lund, 10-12 giugno 1999
Available from: 2010-01-01 Created: 2010-01-01 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved
3. Development and recoverability of L2 codas: A longitudinal study of Chinese/Swedish interphonology
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Development and recoverability of L2 codas: A longitudinal study of Chinese/Swedish interphonology
2001 (English)Report (Other academic)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Centrum för tvåspråkighetsforskning, Stockholms universitet, 2001. p. 64
Series
Rapporter om tvåspråkighet (ROT), ISSN 1101-7562 ; 15
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics
Research subject
Bilingualism
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-33976 (URN)
Note

Finns äv. i något omarbetad version i Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25:3, 313-349 (2003).

Available from: 2010-01-01 Created: 2010-01-01 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved

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Abrahamsson, Niclas

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