Overt and covert contrast in L2 phonology

Area of Science:

• Phonetics and Phonology
• Second Language Acquisition
• Linguistics

Background:

• The English /p/ - /b/ contrast is challenging for native Arabic speakers as this distinction is absent in Arabic.
• Previous research suggests L2 phonological acquisition is a progressive process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the acquisition of the English /p/ - /b/ contrast by native Arabic speakers.
• To determine if a covert contrast exists in the interlanguage of these learners.

Main Methods:

• Acoustic analysis of speech production.
• Focus on voice onset time (VOT) lags for /p/ and /b/ realization.
• Transcription and statistical analysis of participant productions.

Main Results:

• Two out of five Arabic-speaking participants demonstrated a statistically reliable distinction in VOT between /p/ and /b/.
• This distinction was present despite transcriptions indicating no overt contrast.
• Evidence of a covert contrast was observed in interlanguage productions.

Conclusions:

• The findings support the existence of covert contrast as an intermediate stage in L2 phonological acquisition.
• This phenomenon aligns with observations in first language acquisition and disordered speech.
• Results contribute to understanding the progressive nature of learning L2 sound contrasts.