PERCEPTION OF VELARIZED/l/AND VOWEL/?/CONTRAST BY CHINESE LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

This paper aims to examine the second language(L2)phonetic categorical perception(CP)pattern by Chinese learners of English,regarding the contrast of dark/l/and vowel/?/.Three perception experiments were carried out progressively:a simple identification task,an AXB identification task,and a revised AX discrimination task.The study discovered a significant difference in vowel contexts in the perception of dark/l/and vowel/?/,in which high vowels stand out,and demonstrated that English proficiency evaluated by standard examinations cannot be reflected in L2 phonetic discrimination.The study also proved the validity of adding reference stimuli in enhancing CP performance,but this improvement only benefits the identification tasks.The study helps to fill in the current knowledge gap concerning Chinese L2 learners’difficulty in distinguishing dark/l/and vowel/?/.The new finding contributes to a deeper understanding of the vowel-context effect on CP performance,as well as implications in second language teaching in exploring the connections between L2 speech perception and production.