28.4120, Diss: Zapotec; Sierra de Juárez; Applied Ling; Lang Acquisition; Lang Documentation; Phonetics; Phonology; Psycholing: Kate Riestenberg: ''Acoustic Salience and Input Frequency in L2 Lexical Tone Learning: Evidence from a Zapotec Revitalization Program in San Pablo Macuiltianguis''

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-28-4120. Mon Oct 09 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.4120, Diss: Zapotec; Sierra de Juárez; Applied Ling; Lang Acquisition; Lang Documentation; Phonetics; Phonology; Psycholing: Kate Riestenberg: ''Acoustic Salience and Input Frequency in L2 Lexical Tone Learning: Evidence from a Zapotec Revitalization Program in San Pablo Macuiltianguis''

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Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2017 11:29:47
From: Kate Riestenberg [kate.riestenberg at gmail.com]
Subject: Acoustic Salience and Input Frequency in L2 Lexical Tone Learning: Evidence from a Zapotec Revitalization Program in San Pablo Macuiltianguis

 
Institution: Georgetown University 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2017 

Author: Kate Riestenberg

Dissertation Title: Acoustic Salience and Input Frequency in L2 Lexical Tone
Learning: Evidence from a Zapotec Revitalization Program in 
San Pablo Macuiltianguis 

Dissertation URL:  https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/1044638

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
                     Language Acquisition
                     Language Documentation
                     Phonetics
                     Phonology
                     Psycholinguistics

Subject Language(s): Zapotec, Sierra de Juárez (zaa)


Dissertation Director(s):
Lourdes Ortega
Mark Sicoli

Dissertation Abstract:

Second language (L2) learners of tone languages do not perceive and produce
the different tones of the target language with equal ease. The most common
explanation for these asymmetries is that acoustically salient tones are the
easiest to learn. An alternative explanation is that tones are easiest to
learn when they are highly frequent in the input. This dissertation pits the
acoustic salience hypothesis against the input frequency hypothesis by
investigating tone acquisition among children learning Macuiltianguis Zapotec,
an endangered language traditionally spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico. The learners
were seven native Spanish speakers, ages 7-11, studying Zapotec through a
language revitalization program. This language is ideal for testing these two
hypotheses because tones with low acoustic salience (mid tones) are highly
frequent, while the salient (rising and dipping) tones are low-frequency. This
begs the question of how learners make use of these competing factors. The
study used a video corpus of classroom language and periodic learning measures
collected over a ten-month period. Tone token and type frequencies, lexeme
frequencies, and relative word frequencies were calculated from the corpus.
Vocabulary tests and tone production tests were administered at four time
points, and learners also completed a tone perception test and an elicited
imitation task. The results show that learners were best at producing mid and
rising tones but at perceiving dipping tones. Acoustic salience, tone
frequency, and relative word frequency all predicted tone production accuracy.
In addition, tone frequency predicted the rate of tone false alarms produced.
That is, learners produced high rates of mid tones regardless of the tone
target. However, acoustic salience was the best predictor of tone accuracy as
measured through d' scores, a statistic that takes response bias into account.
That is, learners gave correct productions for the salient rising and dipping
tones more often than they produced these tones in error. Acoustic salience
and input frequency therefore both play important roles in tone learning, but
they influence different aspects of development. The findings emphasize the
importance of employing models of L2 phonology that allow for both phonetic
substance and statistical properties to drive acquisition.




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