Phonetics and phonology in third language acquisition: Discrimination of consonants in Chongqing Dialect, Standard Mandarin, and English

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

It is estimated that over half the world's population speaks more than one language regularly, withapproximately 13% (~1 billion people) speaking three or more languages (Grosjean, 2010). Linguisticanalyses of multilingualism have, so far, largely focused on western, educated, industrial, rich anddemocratic (WEIRD) countries, and have primarily investigated Indo-European languages (Liu & Lin,2021; Rocha-Hidalgo & Barr, 2022). Due to this bias in the existing research, it is essential to expandknowledge to different multilingual populations to gain a better understanding about the full diversity ofhuman behaviour. Here, I consider the context of third language acquisition in Chongqing, south-westChina.Chongqing is a large city of more than thirty-two million people in mainland China (ChongqingPopulation Bureau, 2021). Most Chongqing people speak Chongqing Dialect as their first language (L1)and Standard Mandarin as their second language (L2). They usually begin to learn English systematicallyas their third language (L3) in secondary school. It is extremely common in China for people to use alocal language (referred to as a 'dialect'), Standard Mandarin, and then learn English as an L3. It is crucialto understand the influences on the acquisition of English by Chinese dialect speakers. For example, in2020/21 there were 143,820 Chinese students in the UK (Universities UK, 2022), many of whom learntEnglish as their L3.It is now accepted knowledge that proficient bilinguals develop two separate, but interacting, soundsystems. However, much less is known about the acquisition of L3 sounds. L3 speech production andperception broadly differ from L2 because of the complicated sources resulting from contact withmultiple languages. Previous phonological studies suggest that L2 transfer is mainly restricted to thevery beginning stage of L3 learning (Gut, 2010; Wrembel et al., 2019). However, previous work isconcentrated on European languages and has not considered dialects of Mandarin Chinese. Here, we focus on L1 speakers of the Chongqing dialect, where there is no contrast between [n] and [l].A lack of difference between /n/ and /l/ is a well-known non-standard feature of the SouthwesternMandarin, apparently transferred from speakers' L1 (Zhang & Levis, 2021). My project will ascertain theextent to which confusion between /l/ and /n/ also transfers to L3 English phonetics.Project OverviewMy PhD project will investigate how the [l] and [n] merger in Chongqing Dialect (L1) will influenceStandard Mandarin (L2) and English (L3) sound systems. Secondly, it will discuss the extent to whichsocial and linguistic factors (e.g. L2 status, L3 experience, the level of proficiency) and perceptionabilities in discriminating these two consonants influences production of these consonants in StandardMandarin and English. Thirdly, it aims to contribute to theories of language interaction effects in L3acquisition. This study builds on my MA research, where I will investigate the extent to which L1Chongqing dialect speakers can perceive /l/ and /n/ in L2 Standard Mandarin and L3 English.