Department of Speech Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London WC1N 1PF, United Kingdom.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2010 Dec;128(6):3757-68. doi: 10.1121/1.3506351.
The perception and production of nonnative phones in second language (L2) learners can be improved via auditory training, but L2 learning is often characterized by large differences in performance across individuals. This study examined whether success in learning L2 vowels, via five sessions of high-variability phonetic training, related to the learners' native (L1) vowel processing ability or their frequency discrimination acuity. A group of native speakers of Greek received training, while another completed the pre-/post-tests but without training. Pre-/post-tests assessed different aspects of their L2 and L1 vowel processing and frequency acuity. L2 and L1 vowel processing were assessed via: (a) Natural English (L2) vowel identification in quiet and in multi-talker babble, and natural Greek (L1) vowel identification in babble; (b) the categorization of synthetic English and Greek vowel continua; and (c) discrimination of the same continua. Frequency discrimination acuity was assessed for a nonspeech continuum. Frequency discrimination acuity was related to measures of both L1 and L2 vowel processing, a finding that favors an auditory processing over a speech-specific explanation for individual variability in L2 vowel learning. The most efficient frequency discriminators at pre-test were also the most accurate both in English vowel perception and production after training.
第二语言（L2）学习者对非母语音的感知和产生可以通过听觉训练来提高，但 L2 学习的特点通常是个体之间的表现存在很大差异。本研究探讨了通过五节高变异性语音训练来学习 L2 元音是否与学习者的母语（L1）元音处理能力或其频率辨别敏锐度有关。一组以希腊语为母语的人接受了训练，而另一组则完成了预测试/后测试，但没有接受训练。预测试/后测试评估了他们的 L2 和 L1 元音处理和频率敏锐度的不同方面。L2 和 L1 元音处理通过以下方式进行评估：（a）在安静环境和多说话者背景噪音中识别自然英语（L2）元音，以及在背景噪音中识别自然希腊语（L1）元音；（b）对合成英语和希腊语元音连续体进行分类；以及（c）对相同连续体进行辨别。非语音连续体用于评估频率辨别敏锐度。频率辨别敏锐度与 L1 和 L2 元音处理的衡量标准有关，这一发现支持了个体在 L2 元音学习中的差异是由听觉处理而不是特定于言语的解释引起的。在预测试中最有效的频率辨别者在英语元音感知和训练后的产生方面也最准确。
