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Word frequency effects on L2 learners' phonetic imitations.

Daiki Hashimoto1, Akane Ida1, Hinako Jozuka1

  • 1Department of Humanities and Sciences, School of Education, Joetsu University of Education, Niigata, 943-8512, Japandaiki@juen.ac.jp, j20222011c@myjuen.jp, j20222072f@myjuen.jp.

JASA Express Letters
|May 2, 2025
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Summary

Low-frequency words are imitated more by Japanese English learners than high-frequency words. This phonetic imitation effect is stronger for lower-frequency words, impacting second language (L2) mental lexicon representations.

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Area of Science:

  • Phonetics
  • Second Language Acquisition
  • Psycholinguistics

Background:

  • Word frequency is a known factor influencing phonetic phenomena in first language (L1) acquisition.
  • Previous research established that low-frequency words are imitated more than high-frequency words in L1.
  • The current study investigates whether this phenomenon extends to second language (L2) learners.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the role of word frequency in phonetic imitation among L2 English learners.
  • To determine if L2 learners exhibit a similar pattern of imitating low-frequency words more than high-frequency words.
  • To explore the implications of these findings for the mental representations within the L2 lexicon.

Main Methods:

  • Thirty Japanese learners of English participated in the study.
  • Participants engaged in a shadowing task, repeating American English model speech.
  • Linear combination analyses were employed to assess phonetic imitation effects.

Main Results:

  • Low-frequency words demonstrated a significantly stronger phonetic imitation effect compared to high-frequency words.
  • The imitation effect was particularly evident in Bark-scaled F1 (first formant) values.
  • A clear relationship was found between word frequency and the degree of phonetic imitation.

Conclusions:

  • The study confirms that word frequency influences phonetic imitation in L2 learners, mirroring L1 findings.
  • Lower word frequency is associated with enhanced phonetic imitation in the context of L2 English.
  • These results suggest that word frequency plays a crucial role in shaping the mental representations of words in the L2 lexicon.