25.4891, Diss: Language Acquisition, Phonology, Psycholinguistics, Writing Systems: Mathieu: 'The Influence of Unfamiliar Orthography on L2 Phonolexical Acquisition'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-25-4891. Wed Dec 03 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.4891, Diss: Language Acquisition, Phonology, Psycholinguistics, Writing Systems: Mathieu: 'The Influence of Unfamiliar Orthography on L2 Phonolexical Acquisition'

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Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 21:34:46
From: Lionel Mathieu [liomat at email.arizona.edu]
Subject: The Influence of Unfamiliar Orthography on L2 Phonolexical Acquisition

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Institution: University of Arizona 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2014 

Author: Lionel Mathieu

Dissertation Title: The Influence of Unfamiliar Orthography on L2 Phonolexical
Acquisition 

Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition
                     Phonology
                     Psycholinguistics
                     Writing Systems


Dissertation Director(s):
Michael Hammond

Dissertation Abstract:

Recent studies in the acquisition of a second language (L2) phonology have
revealed that orthography can influence the way learners come to establish
target-like lexical representations. The majority of these studies involve
language pairs relying on a Roman script, while the influence of a foreign or
unfamiliar written representation on L2 phonolexical acquisition remains
understudied.

Chapter 2 considers the effects of multiple scripts (e.g. Arabic, Cyrillic,
Roman) on the acquisition of the Arabic voiceless pharyngeal and uvular
fricatives word-initially. Monolingual native speakers of English participated
in 5 word-learning experiments where they were instructed to learn 6 pairs of
minimally contrastive words, each associated with a unique visual referent. In
each experiment, a different script configuration was manipulated. After an
initial learning phase, participants were tested on their acquisition of these
minimal pairs. Results show significant differences in phonological accuracy
between groups of learners exposed to varying degrees of script unfamiliarity.
Specifically, complete script foreignness exerted an inhibitory effect on L2
phonolexical acquisition, while semi-foreign scripts exercised differential
inhibitory effects based on whether grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs)
also activated L1 phonological units. Two spelling experiments were also
conducted in an attempt to find a more intuitive representation of these L2
phonemes. While spellers provided various ways to symbolically represent
/χ/-words from /ħ/-words, when presented in minimal pairs (but not when
presented randomly), no form-consistent pattern emerged. These spelling
experiments nevertheless support the interpretation that L1 GPCs are likely
activated in the course of L2 phonological processing. 

Chapter 3 examines the acquisition of another L2 contrast, that of Japanese
singleton/geminate consonants word-medially. In another set of 5 word-learning
experiments manipulating various aspects of unfamiliar scripts (e.g. Hiragana,
Roman/Cyrillic blended), it was found that the acquisition of such a length
contrast was significantly affected by the foreign written input only when the
unfamiliar characters encoding the contrast were graphically highlighted or
when they did not convey any information about the durational dimension of the
contrast. These inhibitory effects show that learners are susceptible to be
confused by details featured in unfamiliar written forms. Similar to Chapter
2, two spelling experiments were conducted, where spellers failed to represent
a difference between singleton and geminate auditory items, presented randomly
or in minimal pairs. This lack of differentiation suggests that a consonantal
singleton/geminate contrast is not so intuitive to native English speakers.

The contributions of this dissertation are manifold. First, the results show
that exposure to unfamiliar written forms can significantly inhibit the
successful creation of target-like phonological representations, an outcome
that has thus far not been attested. Second, it provides complementary
research to the subfield of L2 acquisition dealing with the interaction of
phonological and orthographic knowledge. This work expands the scope of L2
contrasts and script treatments thus far investigated. Third, implications for
language teaching and loanword phonology can be envisaged, given the fact that
foreign written labels may not always be beneficial to learners, depending on
the degree of familiarity with the L2 writing system.







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