Markedness and Learnability in Second Language Phonology

描述(申请人提供)：这项研究的目的是表明，支配主要语言操作的普遍概括也适用于非主要语言系统，包括非母语(L2)。假设这些共性实际上是对可学性的限制，因此可以作为语言教学的策略。研究的重点是第二语言音系学，这是二语习得中负责非母语语音模式的部分。这项研究中使用的普遍意义是对一种语言中音位对比可以存在的领域的隐含概括。这一概括表明，如果一种语言在形态复合词中存在音位对比，那么它在形态简单的词中也必然存在这种对比，但反之亦然。这项研究的基础是，这一概括也适用于第二语言，它对人类可以发展的语言系统施加了限制，并可以作为语言教学的一种策略。本研究采用的策略是只指导学习者在两个语音领域中的一个领域进行特定的音位对比，一个领域是泛化所允许的，另一个是被泛化排除的。预测是，那些只在被概括排除的语音环境中被教授对比的受试者将把学习概括到包括另一个领域，从而学习到一个被概括所认可的系统，但是那些只接受了普遍允许的对比的培训的学习者不一定会把这种学习概括到另一个环境中。计划进行两项研究，涉及来自四个母语背景的120名受试者。这项研究提出了三个假设，聚焦于六个不同的音素对比，并在一个问题中分析了受试者对对比的产生和感知。产出性研究将对普遍概括所规定的两个领域中的对比进行音系学分析；知觉研究将考察当受试者感知到对比时，隐含概括是否也成立。这项研究的健康相关之处在于，我们现在的多元化社会包括了许多不同的美国英语变体，包括那些被称为“带口音的”英语，这些英语是由英语不是母语的人说的。这些非母语形式的英语是1)个人母语的规则，2)英语的模式，3)人类如何学习的原则的产物。这项研究将使我们能够考察第二语言学习者的正常语言发展，作为明确的英语培训的产物，特别是它涉及到所有人类在所有语言学习中可能受到的普遍限制。这项研究将有助于更好地理解美国双语和有限英语人群中二语正常发展的机制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of this research is to show that universal generalizations which govern the operation of primary languages hold also for non-primary language systems, including non-native languages (L2). It is hypothesized that these universals are in fact constraints on learnability, and therefore can be used as strategies for language teaching. The research focuses on second language phonology, the part of L2 acquisition responsible for the patterning of non-native speech sounds. The universal used in the proposed research is an implicational generalization about the domain in which a phonemic contrast can hold in a language. This generalization states that if a language has a phonemic contrast in morphologically composite words, it also necessarily has this contrast in morphologically simple words, but not vice versa. The claims underlying the proposed research are that this generalization holds also for L2, that it imposes constraints on the kind of language systems that humans can develop, and that it can be used as a strategy for language teaching. The strategy employed in the proposed research is to instruct learners on certain phonemic contrasts in only one of two phonological domains, one which is permitted by the generalization, and the other which is excluded by it. The prediction is that those subjects who are taught the contrast only in the phonological environment that is excluded by the generalization will generalize the learning to include the other domain, thereby learning a system that is sanctioned by the generalization, but that those learners who are trained only on the contrast that is allowed by the universal will not necessarily generalize this learning to the other environment. Two studies involving 120 subjects from four native-language backgrounds are planned. The studies address three hypotheses focusing on six different phonemic contrasts, and entail analyses of the subjects' production and perception of the contrasts in1 question. The production study will be a phonological analysis of the contrasts in both domains specified by the universal generalization; the perception study will investigate whether the implicational generalization holds also when the subjects perceive the contrasts. The health relatedness of this research is that our current pluralistic society includes many different varieties of American English, including those termed "accented" English produced by people for whom English is not a native language. These non-native forms of English are a product of 1) the rules of an individual's native language, 2) the patterns of English, and 3) principles governing how humans learn. This study will allow us to examine normal language development in second-language learners as a product of explicit training in English, especially as it relates to possible universal constraints that all humans might be subject to in all language learning. This research will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms of normal L2 development in bilingual and limited-English populations in the United States.