Abstract
This study examined the production and perception of English vowels
by highly experienced native Italian speakers of English. The subjects
were selected on the basis of the age at which they arrived in Canada
and began to learn English, and how much they continued to use Italian.
Vowel production accuracy was assessed through an intelligibility
test in which native English-speaking listeners attempted to identify
vowels spoken by the native Italian subjects. Vowel perception was
assessed using a categorial discrimination test. The later in life
the native Italian subjects began to learn English, the less accurately
they produced and perceived English vowels. Neither of two groups
of early Italian/English bilinguals differed significantly from native
speakers of English either for production or perception. This finding
is consistent with the hypothesis of the speech learning model Flege,
in Speech Perception and Linguistic Experience: Theoretical and Methodological
Issues (York, Timonium, MD, 1995) that early bilinguals establish
new categories for vowels found in the second language (L2). The
significant correlation observed to exist between the measures of
L2 vowel production and perception is consistent with another hypothesis
of the speech learning model, viz., that the accuracy with which
L2 vowels are produced is limited by how accurately they are perceived.
- adolescent,adult,child,english,humans,italian,l2,language,middle
- aged,phonetics,speech,speech
- measurement,speech:
- perception,speech
- perception:
- physiology,language,perception,production,vowels
- physiology,speech
- production
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