ERIC Number: EJ992637
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-May
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 21
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0019-042X
The Perception of Selected Danish Vowels by Native Speakers of British English
Jensen, Christian; Mees, Inger M.
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), v50 n2 p87-100 May 2012
Transfer of sounds from L1 to L2 can obviously lead to inappropriate pronunciations, but assumptions about the effects such transfer may have on native listeners are often based on intuition or casual observation. This paper investigates the effects of direct transfer of four Danish vowels into English through a forced-choice word identification experiment in which actual Danish words were presented to native English listeners as if they were attempts at producing English words. The results of the listening experiment are discussed in relation to predictions made on the basis of textbook descriptions and acoustic analyses of the Danish and English vowels. While some predictions were confirmed, at least one was refuted, and in total this study proved to be a useful supplement to the work on L2 perception which has been carried out within the frameworks established by James E. Flege and Catherine Best.
Descriptors: Indo European Languages, English, Native Speakers, Native Language, Second Languages, Vowels, Perception, Acoustics, Listening, Prediction
Walter de Gruyter. P.O. Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960. Tel: 800-208-8144; Tel: 703-661-1589; Fax: 703-661-1501; e-mail: degruytermail@presswarehouse.com; Web site: http://www.degruyter.com/browse?type_0=journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: N/A

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