The effects of imitation and synchronization on the pronunciation of selected phonemes in L2 English and German: a pilot study

Wenxun Fu (1) , Barbara Kühnert (1) , Claire Pillot-Loiseau (1) , Simone Falk (2)

1 LPP - LPP - Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie - UMR 7018
2 LPL - Laboratoire Parole et Langage

This study focuses on investigating possible effects of synchronous speech, an experimental version of joint speech [3], on L2 pronunciation at the segmental level. While repetition and imitation are traditionally used in pronunciation teaching and learning of L2 phonetic and phonological acquisition, synchronous speech has been seldom studied in an L2 learning environment. What are the L2 linguistic aspects that synchronous speech would influence? Is there any effect of L2 phonetic convergence found when learners are speaking and listening at the same time? We studied the effects of synchronization and imitation on the acquisition of eight phonemes in L2 English and German that are known to be problematic for French learners. A series of acoustic analysis revealed that while some acoustic parameters such as formant frequencies and vocalic duration improved in both speech practices, changes brought on by synchronous speech of consonantal acoustic parameters were more subtle to determine.

Mots clés: joint speech; synchronous speech; L2 learning; imitation; phonetic convergence

Domaines: Linguistique

Wenxun Fu, Barbara Kühnert, Claire Pillot-Loiseau, Simone Falk. The effects of imitation and synchronization on the pronunciation of selected phonemes in L2 English and German: a pilot study. 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Aug 2019, Melbourne, Australia. pp.3333-3337. ⟨hal-02271230⟩