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Native Language Influences on the Production of Second-language Prosody

Kainada, Evia, Lengeris, Angelos (2015) Native Language Influences on the Production of Second-language Prosody. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45 (03). pp. 269-287. ISSN 0025-1003. (doi:10.1017/S0025100315000158) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:57774)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100315000158

Abstract

This study examined native language (L1) transfer effects on the production of second-language (L2) prosody by intermediate Greek learners of English, specifically the set of tonal events and their alignment, speech rate, pitch span and pitch level in English polar questions. Greek uses an L* L+H- L% melody giving rise to a low–high–low f0 contour at the end of the polar question that does not resemble any of the contours used by native speakers in English polar questions. The results showed that the Greek speakers transferred the full set of Greek tonal events into English associating them with stressed syllables, and consistently placed the focus on the verb. The Greek speakers also anchored the peak of the phrase accent in polar questions around the midpoint of the stressed vowel across L1/L2 despite using longer vowel durations in L2. At the same time, their productions deviated from L1 forms in terms of speech rate (slower in L2), pitch span (narrower in L2) and pitch level (lower in L2), indicating that even when learners adopt an L1 prosodic feature in their L2, they still produce interlanguage forms that deviate from L1.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1017/S0025100315000158
Subjects: P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Jacqueline Martlew
Date Deposited: 06 Oct 2016 14:48 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 11:01 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/57774 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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