Phonetic Dissimilarity and L2 Category Formation in L2 Accommodation

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Phonetics
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• Limited research exists on second language (L2) speech accommodation theories.
• Existing models primarily focus on native speaker dialect accommodation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To integrate the revised speech learning model (SLM-r) with exemplar-based models for L2 speech accommodation.
• To investigate the role of phonetic dissimilarity and L2 category formation in L2 accommodation patterns.

Main Methods:

• 19 Cantonese-English bilingual speakers participated in map tasks with native English speakers.
• Pronunciations of specific vowels (THOUGHT, PATH) and fricatives ([z], [θ]) were analyzed before, during, and after interactions.
• Segment-specific phonetic dissimilarity and L2 category formation were assessed.

Main Results:

• Global phonetic dissimilarity did not predict accommodation patterns.
• Segment-specific phonetic dissimilarity positively correlated with the degree of accommodation.
• Accommodation occurred even without the formation of new L2 phonological categories for [z].

Conclusions:

• L2 accommodation is influenced by segment-specific phonetic dissimilarities, not global ones.
• Phonological category formation may not be a prerequisite for L2 speech accommodation.
• An integrated exemplar model is proposed to explain L2 accommodation in bilingual speakers.