Phonetics All

• Factors in Learning a Foreign Accent
• A foreign accent in an L2 is almost unavoidable
• Accents may feature segmental (sound level) and suprasegmental (phrase level) differences
• A major issue in SLA research regarding accents is intelligibility
• Intelligibility
• Intelligibility = The recognition of word forms and utterances
• Measured by: ability of judges to transcribe actual words of an utterance
• Comprehensibility = The construction of meaning of the word forms / utterances
• Measured by: an overall rating of how easy the utterance is to understand
• Factors that generally interact/work together in learning a foreign accent:
• Native language
• How you sound will affect your accent
• Phonemes of native language might be completely different from the foreign language
• Amount of Native Language use
• Age of L2 Learning (AOL)
• Starting early but not living in the country can affect accent
• Critical period hypothesis: The older you get, the harder it will be to be accent-free
• Length of Residence in L2 speaking country (LOR)
• Formal Instruction
• Segmentals, Suprasegmentals
• Perception, Production
• Functional Load (the extent to which a particular phoneme helps distinguish words from one another)
• Feedback
• Integrated Exercises
• Diagnostic Assessment
• Motivation
• Personality
• Acculturation: attachment to native/host country
• Social Networks: number of relations in L2
• Cultural Empathy
• Flexibility: Ability to learn from new experiences, adjust behavior
• Social Initiative: approach
• Open-Mindedness: unprejudiced attitude
• Emotional Stability: Stay calm in stressful situations
• Language Learning Aptitude
• The ability to mimic accents and to pick up languages easily
• Factors that predict perceived nativelikeness include: Language Aptitude (LLAMA), Length of Residence (LOR), Formal Instruction, Acculturation, Social Networks, Personality
• Native Phoneme Acquisition
• Babies are able to perceive phonetic distinctions that correspond to phonemes in many languages
• Linguistic experience results in language-specific phonetic prototypes that assist infants in organizing speech sounds into categories