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Article published In:
Language, Interaction and Acquisition
Vol. 12:2 (2021) ► pp.210–250

The /s/ ~ /z/ voice contrast in L1 French, L1 Spanish and L1 Italian learners of L2 English

| Lille University
| University of Rennes
| Lille University
| Lille University

In this study, we present a comparative corpus-based analysis of the English /s/ ~ /z/ voice contrast for learners of three L1s. Acoustic analysis of periodicity and duration for target segments confirms expectations based on L1 transfer and on the Markedness Differential Hypothesis. We found that, due to the absence of phonemic /z/ in Spanish, L1 Spanish learners exhibit great difficulty in producing voiced realisations for /z/, and more so in the (more marked) word-final position than in the (less marked) word-medial position. In contrast, L1 French and L1 Italian learners did not exhibit difficulties in reproducing the voicing patterns of English /s/ ~ /z/ neither word-medially nor word-finally, due to the existence of these sounds in their L1 (and despite differences in relative markedness for these two positions, especially considering that word-final /z/ does not exist in Italian). Finally, we observed the impact of orthography on the production of L1 French and L1 Italian learners, affecting the periodicity of /s/ and /z/ depending on spelling transparency.

Keywords: voicing, periodicity, L2 acquisition, sibilants
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The acquisition of the /s/ ~ /z/ voicing contrast in English
    • 2.1Theoretical models of L2 phonology
    • 2.2Acoustic characteristics of English /s/ and /z/
    • 2.3Influence of the L1: [s] and [z] in French, Italian, Spanish
      • 2.3.1[s] and [z] in French
      • 2.3.2[s] and [z] in Italian
      • 2.3.3[s] and [z] in Spanish
    • 2.4Spelling /s/ and /z/
    • 2.5Markedness of /s/ and /z/
    • 2.6Hypotheses
  • 3.Data and methodology
    • 3.1The IPCE-IPAC corpus
      • 3.1.1Task and materials
      • 3.1.2Participants
    • 3.2Data annotation and acoustic analysis
    • 3.3Acquisitional variables and L2 pronunciation metrics
      • 3.3.1Native judgments of comprehensibility and nativelikeness
      • 3.3.2Acoustic metrics of vowel overlap
    • 3.4Statistical analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Periodicity
      • 4.1.1Quantitative analysis of periodicity
      • 4.1.2By-item and by-speaker analysis of periodicity
      • 4.1.3Periodicity of /z/ and acquisitional variables
    • 4.2Duration
      • 4.2.1Quantitative analysis of duration
      • 4.2.2By-item and by-speaker analysis of duration
      • 4.2.3Duration and acquisitional variables
  • 5.Final discussion
  • References
Published online: 31 January 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.20024.mai
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