Acquisition of Subphonetic Variation by German L2
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ACQUISITION OF SUBPHONETIC VARIATION BY GERMAN L2 LEARNERS OF ENGLISH Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philologischen Fakultät der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Br. vorgelegt von Anne-Julie Maurer aus Lahr WS 2013/2014 Erstgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Halford Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Christian Mair Vorsitzender des Promotionsausschusses der Gemeinsamen Kommission der Philologischen, Philosophischen und Wirtschafts- und Verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Fakultät: Prof. Dr. Bernd Kortmann Datum der Fachprüfung im Promotionsfach: 16.05.2014 To my friends and family Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Brigitte Halford, who has been a mentor to me for so many years. She is the most supportive and motivating supervisor one could wish for. Without her I would have never become interested in linguistics in the first place, and this dissertation would have never seen the light of day. I am also very grateful to Prof. Dr. Christian Mair. His support, discussion, and the thoughtful criticism he provided in the Oberseminar were greatly appreciated. To all of my participants – thank you so much! Without you, this dissertation would not have been possible. I am greatly indebted to each and every one of you for dedicating your time to this project. Also, thank you to the four speakers who recorded the stimuli for the perception experiment. You know who you are! To Philipp Holz – thank you for designing the Soundcase software. To Dr. Björn Schelter, Dr. Christian Langstrof, Marten Juskan & Jens Cornelis – thank you for all your help regarding equations, statistics, and particularly R. To Dr. Rebecca Davies – thank you for editing and proofreading the early versions of this dissertation with such care. But even more so, thank you for being a truly wonderful, supportive, and loving friend. To Marlene Greiwe and Stefan Kruppa – thank you for finding the solution to my R plot issues, and for always providing a second home when I needed it. To my family – mom, dad, Christian, Melanie and Max – for teaching me that following your heart is always the right choice. I owe you so much. To Andreas – I love you more than words can say. iii Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Contents .............................................................................................................................. iv Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Tables ................................................................................................................................ xii Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xv 1. Introduction 1 2. Theoretical Background 9 2.1 Vowel Length and Vowel Length Variation ......................................................... 9 2.1.1 Vowel Length and Vowel Length Variation in English ......................... 9 2.1.2 Vowel Length and Vowel Length Variation in German ...................... 14 2.2 Factors which Influence Vowel Length Variation .............................................. 20 2.2.1 Speech Rate .......................................................................................... 22 2.2.2 Word Prominence / Frequency ............................................................. 27 2.2.3 Environment / Position ......................................................................... 30 2.2.4 Summary ............................................................................................... 33 2.3 Production and Perception .................................................................................. 34 2.3.1 Production ............................................................................................. 38 2.3.2 Perception ............................................................................................. 41 2.3.2.1 Kuhl’s Native Language Magnet Model (NLM) ...................... 43 2.3.2.2 Flege’s Speech Learning Model (SLM) ................................... 46 2.3.2.3 Best’s Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) ......................... 49 2.3.2.4 Escudero’s Second Language Linguistic Perception Model (L2LP) ........................................................................... 52 2.3.2.5 Comparison of the Perception Models – NLM, SLM, PAM, L2LP ............................................................................... 56 2.4 Cues to Vowel Identity and Postvocalic Consonant Voicing ............................. 62 2.4.1 Durational and Spectral Cues in English .............................................. 62 2.4.2 Acquisition of Vowel Length Variation as a Cue to Final Consonant Voicing ............................................................................... 67 2.5 Research Questions ............................................................................................. 73 iv 3. Methodology 77 3.1 Participants .......................................................................................................... 77 3.2 Production Experiment ....................................................................................... 79 3.3 Perception Experiment ........................................................................................ 81 3.4 Data ..................................................................................................................... 83 3.4.1 Questionnaire Data ............................................................................... 83 3.4.2 Measuring Vowel Length and Vowel Length Variation ...................... 84 3.4.3 Measuring Merger of TRAP and DRESS ................................................ 88 3.4.4 Measuring Devoicing............................................................................ 90 3.4.5 Measuring Word Frequency ................................................................. 91 4 Results & Analysis 93 4.1 A Note on Statistics ............................................................................................ 93 4.2 Production Experiment ....................................................................................... 97 4.2.1 British Group ........................................................................................ 97 4.2.1.1 Vowel KIT ................................................................................. 97 4.2.1.2 Vowel DRESS .......................................................................... 102 4.2.1.3 Vowel TRAP ............................................................................ 105 4.2.1.4 Vowel LOT .............................................................................. 109 4.2.1.5 Summary ................................................................................. 113 4.2.2 American Group ................................................................................. 114 4.2.2.1 Vowel KIT ............................................................................... 114 4.2.2.2 Vowel DRESS .......................................................................... 117 4.2.2.3 Vowel TRAP ............................................................................ 121 4.2.2.4 Vowel LOT .............................................................................. 125 4.2.2.5 Summary ................................................................................. 128 v 4.2.3 Effect of the Consonant ...................................................................... 129 4.2.3.1 British Group .......................................................................... 129 4.2.3.2 American Group ..................................................................... 133 4.2.4 Comparison of the British and the American Group .......................... 138 4.2.5 Other Factors ...................................................................................... 142 4.3 Perception Experiment ...................................................................................... 149 4.3.1 British Group ...................................................................................... 152 4.3.1.1 British Native Speakers .......................................................... 152 4.3.1.2 G-UK / C-UK .......................................................................... 154 4.3.2 American Group ................................................................................. 162 4.3.2.1 American Native Speakers ...................................................... 162 4.3.2.2 G-US / C-US ........................................................................... 165 4.4 Linking Perception and Production................................................................... 173 4.5 Linking Phonemic Success and Subphonemic Variation ................................. 176 4.5.1 Devoicing ............................................................................................ 178 4.5.2 Merger of TRAP and DRESS ................................................................ 182 4.6 Summary ........................................................................................................... 187 4.6.1 Production ........................................................................................... 187 4.6.2 Perception ........................................................................................... 190 5 Discussion