Orthographic forms affect speech perception in a second language: Consonant and vowel length in L2 English

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• Italian speakers learning English (English L2) may apply Italian grapheme-phoneme conversion rules.
• English L2 learners might perceive differences in English homophones based on spelling (orthography).
• The study investigates how Italian L1 speakers perceive English vowel and consonant sounds, influenced by spelling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if Italian L1 speakers perceive short and long English sounds differently in homophonic word pairs.
• To examine the influence of orthography on speech perception in Italian speakers learning English.
• To assess if naturalistic exposure impacts the perception of English sounds in L2 learners.

Main Methods:

• Experiment 1: Italian L1-English L2 bilinguals and English controls performed sound perception tasks with English homophones.
• Auditory-Visual Input was used for some participants to activate target words.
• Experiment 2: Compared learners, sequential bilinguals, and English controls on sound perception with Auditory-Visual Input.

Main Results:

• Italian L1 speakers learning English illusorily perceived a long-short consonant contrast, which is not present in English.
• Orthographic form (spelling) significantly affected consonant perception in both Italian L1 listener groups.
• Learners were less affected by orthographic effects than bilinguals, attributed to higher proficiency.

Conclusions:

• Italian L1 speakers learning English may impose a phonemic length contrast on English consonants based on spelling.
• Orthographic influences on speech perception persist in second language learners, though proficiency may mitigate effects.
• Understanding these L1 transfer effects is crucial for effective English L2 pronunciation training.