外语水平和认知资源对语音协同泛化的影响

Generalization of L2 Phonetic Convergence:The Roles of L2 Proficiency and Cognitive Resources

外语语音协同泛化对语音习得有重要作用。本研究考察中国英语学习者在英语元音发音上的协同泛化,并探究个体差异因素对泛化程度的影响。本研究采用“前测-接触-后测”范式测量协同泛化的程度,以学习者与母语者发音的声学距离为外语水平指标、以语音记忆任务得分为认知资源指标。混合效应模型等结果表明:1)中国英语学习者能将语音协同泛化到新语境;2)外语水平和认知资源共同影响协同泛化程度,外语水平较低、认知资源较多的学习者呈现的协同泛化更明显。以上结果对语音协同泛化的机制和外语语音教学有所启示。

The present study investigated the generalization of L2 phonetic convergence from an individual difference perspective.We used the“pretest-exposure-posttest”paradigm to test whether Chinese EFL learners generalized phonetic convergence in English vowel production to new word contexts after they listened to a native speaker’s speech,and examined the extent to which the generalization was predicted by the learners’L2 proficiency and cognitive resources.L2 proficiency was indexed by the acoustic distance of target vowels in participants’pretest productions from that in the native speaker’s productions,and cognitive resources were indicated by participants’phonological memory span.As results of linear mixed-effect modeling showed,participants converged towards the native speaker in the exposure words,and generalized the converged features to the new words that contained the target vowels but had not been presented during exposure.The magnitude of generalization was determined by both L2 proficiency and phonological memory span.These findings shed light on the mechanism underlying L2 phonetic convergence and its generalization,and carry implications for L2 pronunciation training.