UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Allophone Acquisition: Exploring the Phonological System and the Nature of Representations by Christine E. Shea A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Linguistics CALGARY, ALBERTA June, 2010 © Christine E. 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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES The undersigned certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled " Allophone Acquisition: Exploring the Phonological System and the Nature of Representations" submitted by Christine E. Shea in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Supervisor, Dr. Suzanne Curtin, Departments of Linguistics and Psychology Dr. John Archibald, Department of Linguistics Dr. Darin Flynn, Department of Linguistics Dr. Wei Cai, Department of Germanic, Slavic and East Asian Studies External Examiner, Dr. Ellen Broselow, Department of Linguistics, State University of New York at Stony Brook April 5, 2010 ii Abstract The core premise of this dissertation is that the phonological system operates across detailed, rich representations, formed by tracking of distributional information in the input. This proposal is explored in a series of perception and production experiments with adult L1 English/L2 Spanish and L1 Spanish-learning children acquiring the Spanish stop-approximant alternation. Allophonic acquisition provides an ideal testing ground for theories regarding the nature of the phonological system and phonological acquisition. Traditionally, allophones are characterized as resulting from categorical rules, which learners implement in their grammar through constraint interaction. In the studies that compose this dissertation, it is argued instead that learners track and store information about the phonological environment for each allophone. The emergent rich representations result from learners’ experience with the input. However, a further premise of this dissertation is that not all information will necessarily be available at all stages of learning and under all conditions (see Werker & Curtin, 2005). In the case of L2 learners, this will be largely a function of the native language filter while for children learning their first language it will be a function of natural biases and the acquisition of a lexicon. These issues are explored within the context of Werker & Curtin’s (2005) PRIMIR (Processing Rich Information from Multidimensional Interactive Representations; Curtin & Werker, 2007; Curtin, Byers-Heinlein & Werker, under review) framework that accounts for early language development. PRIMIR is grounded in the assertions that a) representations are exemplar-like in nature and b) the phonological system is sensitive to distributional information in the input. Interacting iii with these rich representations and distribution-based learning mechanisms are three dynamic filters that direct information pick-up: natural biases, task effects and developmental level. In this dissertation, I further elaborate the framework by adding the L1 filter effect for L2 learners. The results from the three studies presented here suggest that learners store detailed phonetic information in their representations and experience interacts with their ability to draw upon this information in perception and production tasks. These results lend support to PRIMIR and in general to approaches which view phonological acquisition as sensitive to representations and learners’ experience with the input iv Acknowledgements My first and most heartfelt thanks go to my advisor, Dr. Suzanne Curtin, for her exceptional skills as an academic and mentor. You helped me enjoy what I do and always managed to keep me focused, oftentimes in spite of myself. I feel ready to take on whatever the future holds and that is due to you, Suzanne, and your faith in me and my abilities. Thank you. I would also like to thank all my professors in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Calgary. I am grateful to Dr. John Archibald for his patience and assistance over the course of my PhD studies and for providing me with numerous opportunities to experience new things in addition to my research. Thank you, John, for everything. I am also sincerely grateful to Dr. Betsy Ritter for making syntax not only understandable but even (almost) enjoyable. You set high, uncompromising standards, instil in your students a desire to reach them and most importantly, make us believe we can. One of my greatest pleasures was being your student and working with you. Thank you. Thanks as well to Dr. Darin Flynn for his profound knowledge of all things phonological and for his contagious academic curiosity. Being your student is a constant adventure in discovery and fearless exploration of ideas and theories. I would like to thank Dr. Susanne Carroll for sharing her perspective on second language learning and always being willing to impart invaluable advice on how to navigate the academic world. Thank you for all the time and support you have given me over the course of my PhD. I look forward to collaborating with you in the future. v As well, thank you to Dr. Amanda Pounder for her tireless efforts as grad co- ordinator. Your hard work and unwavering support made this whole experience much, much easier and less stressful. And a warm thank you to Dr. Stephen Winters for filling all those gaps regarding how sound works. Thank you. I would also like to thank all my fellow and former linguistics grad students, Antonio González, Ilana Mezhevich, Ashley Burnett, Danica MacDonald, Jamison Cooper-Leavitt, Keffyalew Gebregziabher, Kelly Murphy, Kim Meadows, Lindsay Kirkpatrick, Nick Welch, Nina Widjaja, Rhonda Sim, Silke Weber and Sue Jackson. Silke and Sue – we will have to plan another road trip soon, hopefully somewhere a little more exciting than Edmonton and to do something a little more exciting than an OT conference. I have loved having the two of you as colleagues. I will always treasure your friendship, support and intelligence. You have made this whole thing more enjoyable and memorable. Silke – if you are lucky, your babies will grow up to be linguists. Sue – if you are lucky, you can join Armando and me on the beach in Mexico. Thanks as well to all my colleagues in the Speech Development Lab – Danielle, Heather, Jen, Jenn, Jenna, Becky, Sally. It was wonderful working in such a supportive and positive environment. As well, I would like to thank Dan Hufnagle (our errant Speech Development Lab member) for the great conversations and perspective-taking chats. I learned a lot from you, Dan, and always value your opinions and ideas. Thank you. Sarah Eaton and Jacquie Clydesdale – you were there for me in some tough moments and always helped me gain and maintain perspective. I will treasure your vi friendship forever. The coffee, tea and walk sessions were some of the most therapeutic hours I spent during this whole thing. Thank you. A warm, deep thanks to Stephanie Archer for all the hours and hours (and hours and hours!!) of talking, commiserating and griping as well as for all the times you talked me down off the ledge. I guess we were destined for a lasting friendship after that first afternoon way back when in the Grad Lounge, drinking our worries away. It is rare to find someone who truly, from the heart, celebrates your successes and sticks around even when the successes are few and far between. I found that in you and I value your friendship. Thank you, Steph (keep that Epi-Pen close by – I want you around for a while longer). I would also like to thank my parents – Anna and Bill Shea for letting me be who I am and encouraging me to figure that out. No pressure, no demands, just letting me ‘be’, even when what that meant was not always clear. You play a fundamental role in all I do and have always encouraged me to live my life in my own way. I am sure that must have been difficult at times, but I appreciate it more than words can ever say.