Phonetic imitation in L2 speech: Immediate imitation of English consonant glottalization by speakers of Polish
Phonetic imitation is a ubiquitous process in speech production. Speakers have a strong tendency to imitate their interlocutors both in a native and a non-native language. It is especially important in acquiring non-native speech, because it allows forming new sound categories. In the current study...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2023
|
| Summary: | Phonetic imitation is a ubiquitous process in speech production. Speakers have a
strong tendency to imitate their interlocutors both in a native and a non-native
language. It is especially important in acquiring non-native speech, because it
allows forming new sound categories. In the current study we investigated
whether and to what extent Polish learners of English are able to imitate tglottalization observed especially in British English. A total of 25 Polish learners
of English imitated English models’ productions with t-glottalization that were
subsequently compared to their default productions (pre-test) and post-exposure
production (post-test). The results showed that the participants successfully
imitated t-glottalization after the exposure to the model talker. The generalisation
effect was limited in its magnitude in that only some of the non-imitated words
had traces of glottalization. The results are discussed in terms of the differences
in the implementation of glottalization in Polish and English and of how phonetic
imitation informs second-language speech acquisition. |
|---|