DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/parole.v11i2.85-97

The Role of Age and Exposure in English Vowel Perception and Production among Native Swahili Speakers

University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, United Republic of

Received: 17 Dec 2020; Published: 31 Oct 2021.
Open Access Copyright (c) 2021 PAROLE: Journal of Linguistics and Education under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.

Citation Format:
Abstract

Vowel perceptual studies in Foreign Language Acquisition (FLA) settings where L1 is dominant are generally scarce. The aim of this study, therefore, is to explore the role of the age and exposure factors in the perception and production of English vowels [ɑ-ɜ; æ-ɑ; i-ɪ] by the native Swahili speakers whose exposure to the English language is through formal instruction in a predominantly FLA situation. The participants (n=40) were classified into two groups: Young learners and adult learners. Using Flege’s Speech Learning Model (SLM), we administered a vowel perception test, and a vowel production exercise. The results confirm that adult learners have an edge over younger learners whereby the former exhibited greater accuracy in determining vowel contrasts and production than the latter. Although both groups shared common difficulties in discriminating the vowel sounds, adult learners had recourse to their prolonged exposure and ingeniously used previously acquired knowledge and skills in sentence structure and meaning to aid discrimination in comparison to the younger learners. Finally, the study supports the SLM contention that adults retain capacities to acquire L1 to perceive the properties of L2 speech sounds and establish new phonetic categories.

Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: age and exposure; Speech Learning Model; Swahili; EFL; Speech perception

Article Metrics:

Article Info
Section: Research Article
Language : EN
Recent articles
Interpretation of Political Inclination in Online Newspapers: An Ideological Disposition through Transitivity Analysis English Negative Polarity Item Any Acquisition by Indonesian Speaking Learners of English The Role of Age and Exposure in English Vowel Perception and Production among Native Swahili Speakers Front Matter Parole Volume 11 Number 2 October 2021 Back Matter Parole Volume 11 Number 2 October 2021 More recent articles
Most cited articles
Back Matter Frontmatter The Effect of Study Abroad on Grammatical Accuracy of Indonesian Students’ Oral and Written Performance COMPLAINING IN EFL LEARNERS: DIFFERENCES OF REALIZATIONS BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN (A CASE STUDY OF INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS AT THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF THE INDONESIAN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION) Backmatter More cited articles
  1. Baker, W. and Trofimovich, P (2006) Perceptual paths to accurate production of L2 vowels: The role of individual differences International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 44(3), 231-250. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/IRAL.2006.010
  2. Baker, W., Trofimovich, P., Flege, J., Mack, M. & Halter, R. (2008). Child–Adult Differences in Second-Language Phonological Learning: The Role of Cross-Language Similarity. Language and Speech, 51 (4), 317-342
  3. Balas, A. (2018). English vowel perception by Polish advanced learners of English, Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 63(3), 309-338
  4. Best, C. T. (1994). The Emergence of Native-Language Phonological Influences in Infants: A Perceptual Assimilation Model. In J. C. Goodman & H. C. Nusbaum (Eds.), The Development of Speech Perception: The Transition from Speech Sounds to Spoken Words (pp. 167–224). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
  5. Best, C. T. (1995). A direct realist perspective on cross-language speech perception. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research (pp. 171–204). Timonium, MD: York Press
  6. Best, C. T., & Tyler, M. D. (2007). Nonnative and second language speech perception. Commonalities and complementarities. In: O.-S. Bohn, & M. J. Munro (Eds.), Language experience in second language speech learning: In honour of James Emil Flege (pp. 13–34). Philadelphia: John Benjamins
  7. Bohn, O.-S. (1995). Cross-language speech perception in adults: First language transfer doesn’t tell it all. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: theoretical and methodological issues in cross-language speech research (pp.275–304). Timonium, MD: York Press
  8. Boomershine, A. (2013). The perception of English vowels by monolingual, bilingual and heritage speakers of Spanish and English. In: C. Howe. (Ed) Selected Proceedings of the 15th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceeding Project, pp103-118
  9. Bradlow, A. R. (1993). Language-specific and universal aspects of vowel production and perception: A cross-linguistic study of vowel inventories. Ithaca, NY: DMLL publications, Cornell University
  10. Brown, C. A. (1998).The role of L1 grammar in the L2 Acquisition of segmental structure. Second Language Research 14(2), 136-193 http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/026765898669508401
  11. Chen, L. M., Chang, Y. H., Yang, C. S., & Chou, Y. H. (2006). Production and perception errors in English vowels. Annual Meeting and 19th Symposium of Acoustical Society of the Republic of China, 1-6
  12. Cho, M. H., & Jeong, S. (2013). Perception and production of English vowels by Korean learners: A case study. Studies in Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology, 19(1), 155-177
  13. Das, K. (2014) Production of Central Vowels and Centring Diphthongs by Assamese Speakers of English, Northeast Journal of Contemporary Research, 1(1), 55 – 64
  14. DeKeyser, R. (2000). The robustness of critical period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22 (4), 499-533
  15. Eckman, F. R. (2004). From phonemic differences to constraint rankings: research on second language phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26(4), 513-549 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S027226310404001X
  16. Escudero, P. (2005). Linguistic Perception and Second Language Acquisition. PhD Dissertation, Utrecht University
  17. Escudero, P. (2006). The phonological and phonetic development of new vowel contrasts in Spanish learners of English. English with a Latin Beat: Studies in Portuguese/Spanish- English Interphonology, 41-55
  18. Escudero, P. (2009). The linguistic perception of similar L2 sounds. In P. Boersma & S. Hamann (Eds.) Phonology in Perception (pp. 152–190). Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter
  19. Escudero, P., & Boersma, P. (2004). Bridging the gap between L2 speech perception research and phonological theory. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26(4), 551–585. http://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263104040021
  20. Flege, J. (1988). The production and perception of speech sounds in a foreign language. In Winitz, H. (Ed). Human Communication and its Disorders, A Review. 224-240. Norwood, NJ: Ablex
  21. Flege, J. (1992) Speech learning in a second language: In: Ferguson, L., Menn and Stoel-Gammon. (Ed). Phonological Development: Models, Research, and Application. Timonium, MD: York Press
  22. Flege, J. (1995). Second-language speech learning: Theory, findings, and problems. In Strange, W (Ed.), Speech Perception and Linguistic Experience: Issues in Cross-language Research (pp. 233–277). Timonium, MD: York Press
  23. Flege, J. E., & MacKay, I. R. A. (2004). Perceiving vowels in a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 1–34
  24. Flege, J. E., Birdsong, D., Bialystok, E., Mack, M., Sung, H., & Tsukada, K. (2006). Degree of foreign accent in English sentences produced by Korean children and adults. Journal of Phonetics, 34, 153–175
  25. Flege, J. E., MacKay, I. R. A., & Meador, D. (1999). Native Italian speakers’ perception and production of English vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 106, 2973–2987
  26. Flege, J., MacKay, I. & Meador, D. (1999). Native Italian Speakers’ Perception and Production of English Vowels. Acoustical Society of America, 106 (5)
  27. Fox, R. A., Flege, J. E., & Munro, M. J. (1995). The perception of English and Spanish vowels by native English and Spanish listeners: A multidimensional scaling analysis. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97, 2540–2551
  28. Guion, S., Flege, J. E., Liu, S. H., & Yeni-Komishian, G.H. (2000) Age of Learning effects on the duration of sentences produced in a second language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 205-228
  29. Jeske, A. (2016). The Development of English Vowels by Native Spanish Speakers, Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh
  30. Jia, G., Strange, W., Wu, Y., Collado, J., & Guan, Q. (2006). Perception and production of English vowels by Mandarin speakers: Age-related differences vary with amount of L2 exposure. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 119, 1118
  31. Johnson, L. & Newport E. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: the influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60-99
  32. Komar, S. (2017). The relationship between perception and production of four Great British vowels by Slovene university students of English. Linguistica, 57(1),161-170 DOI.10.4312/linguistica.57.1.161-170
  33. Leeman, A. (2007). Vowel Quality of Swiss EFL Speakers. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
  34. Levy, E. S., & Strange, W. (2008). Perception of French vowels by American English adults with and without French language experience. Journal of Phonetics, 36, 141–157
  35. Lin, C. Y. (2013). Perception and production of English front vowels by Taiwanese EFL learners. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3 (11), 1952-1958
  36. Lin, C. Y. (2014). Perception and production of five English front vowels by college students. English Language Teaching, 7, 9
  37. MacKay, I. & Fullana, N. (2007). Starting age and exposure effects on EFL learners’ sounds production in a formal learning context. Proceeding of fifth International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech
  38. Maddieson, I. (1984). Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  39. Maghway, J. (1980). Spoken English in Tanzania spelling and the pronunciation of vowels. Unpublished M.A Dissertation. University of Dar es Salaam
  40. Maghway, J. (1981). Tanzanian speakers of English: Effects of spelling on vowels pronunciation. Language and linguistics. Vol. 1
  41. Muñoz C. (2008). Symmetries and asymmetries of age effects in naturalistic and instructed L2 learning. Applied Linguistics, 24 (4), 578-596
  42. Muñoz, C. (2006). The effects of age on foreign language learning: The BAF Project. In Muñoz, C. (ed.), Age and the Rate of Foreign Language Learning. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1-40
  43. Munro, M., Flege, J. & MacKay, I. (1996). The effects of age of second-language learning on the production of English vowels, Applied Psycholinguistics, 17, 313-334
  44. Mwambapa, I. (2012). The Influence of Kiswahili as L1 on the Acquisition of ESL: A Case of Phonological Transfer. Unpublished M.A Dissertation. University of Dar es Salaam
  45. Oyama, S. (1976). A sensitive period for the acquisition of a nonnative phonological system. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 5(3), 261–283
  46. Pallier, C., Bosch, L., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (1997). A limit on behavioural plasticity in speech perception. Cognition, 64, B9–B17
  47. Pallier, C., Colomé, A., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2001). The influence of native language phonology on lexical access: Exemplar-based versus abstract lexical entries. Psychological Science, 12, 445–449
  48. Perwitasari, A. (2018). Perception of English vowels by Javanese and Sundanese speakers: A mouse-tracking study, Wacana, 19(1), 219 - 234
  49. Polka, L. (1995). Linguistic influences in adult perception of non-native vowel contrasts. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 97, 1286–1296
  50. Singleton, D. & Ryan, L. (2004). Language Acquisition: The Age Factor. 2nd Edition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
  51. Tohidian, E. and Tohidian, I. (2009). Effects of age on second language acquisition. California Linguistics Notes, xxxiv (2)
  52. Tsukada, K., Birdsong, D., Bialystok, E., Mack, M., Sung, H., & Flege, J. (2005). A developmental study of English vowel production and perception by native Korean adults and children. Journal of Phonetics, 33, 263–290

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update: 2024-11-20 20:44:57

No citation recorded.