Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T19:00:15.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - The Revised Speech Learning Model (SLM-r) Applied

from Part I - Theoretical Progress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2021

By
James Emil Flege ,
Katsura Aoyama  and
Ocke-Schwen Bohn
Edited by
Ratree Wayland
Ratree Wayland
Affiliation:
University of Florida
Get access

Summary

This chapter reviews research examining the acquisition of English /r/ and /l/ by native Japanese (NJ) speakers from the perspective of the revised Speech Learning Model. The research shows that the English liquids can be learned after the end of the so-called “critical period” for speech learning, but that the two liquids are learned in different ways. This derives from the fact that the English /r/ is perceived to be more dissimilar phonetically from the Japanese liquid, /R/, than English /l/ is. NJ speakers who have received a substantial amount of English input produced and perceived English /r/ with high levels of accuracy due to the formation of a new phonetic category for English /r/. The lower level of accuracy observed for English /l/ is attributed to the formation of a composite Japanese /R/-English /l/ category based on the Japanese /R/ and English /l/ productions to which Japanese-English bilinguals have been exposed. The SLM-r predicts that bilinguals will continue to produce and perceive English /l/ less accurately than English /r/, regardless of how much English input they have received, and that learning the English liquids will induce modifications in how NJ speakers will produce and perceive their native /R/.

Keywords

SpeechLearningModelRevisionSecondLanguageJapaneseEnglishLiquids
Type
Chapter
Information
Second Language Speech Learning
Theoretical and Empirical Progress
 , pp. 84 - 118
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akamatsu, T. (1971). The problem of the so-called “Japanese R.” Linguistische Berichte, 12, 31–39.Google Scholar
Aoyama, K., & Flege, J. E. (2011). Effects of L2 experienced on perception of English /r/ and /l/ by native Japanese speakers. Journal of the Phonetic Society of Japan, 15(3), 5–13.Google Scholar
Aoyama, K., Flege, J. E., Akahane-Yamada, R., & Yamada, T. (2019). An acoustic analysis of American English liquids by adults and children: Native English speakers and naïve Japanese speakers of English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 146(4), 2671–2681.Google Scholar
Aoyama, K., Flege, J. E., Guion, S. G., Akahane-Yamada, R., & Yamada, T. (2004). Effects of L2 experience on perception of English /r/ and /l/ by native Japanese speakers. Journal of Phonetics, 32, 233–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arai, T. (2013). On why Japanese /r/ sounds are difficult for children to acquire. In Bimbot, F et al. (Eds.), 14th annual conference of the International Speech Communication Association (pp. 2445–2449).Google Scholar
Arai, T., & Mugitani, R. (2016). The acoustic environment and spoken language development by children. Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan, 72(3), 129–136.Google Scholar
Best, C. T., & Strange, W. (1992). Effects of phonological and phonetic factors on cross-language perception of approximants. Journal of Phonetics, 20(3), 305–330.Google Scholar
Bradlow, A. (2008). Training non-native language sound patterns: Lessons from training Japanese adults on the English /r/-/l/ contrast. In Hansen Edwards, J & Zampini, M (Eds.), Phonology and second language acquisition (pp. 287–308). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Bradlow, A., Akahane-Yamada, R., Pisoni, D., & Tohkura, Y. (1997). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/and /l/: IV. Some effects of perceptual learning on speech production. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 101(4), 2299–2310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradlow, A., Akahane-Yamada, R., Pisoni, D., & Tohkura, Y. (1999). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: Long-term retention of learning in perception and production. Perception & Psychophysics, 61(5), 977–985.Google Scholar
Callan, D. E., Jones, J. A., Callan, A. M., & Akahane-Yamada, R. (2004). Phonetic perceptual identification by native- and second-language speakers differentially activates brain regions involved with acoustic phonetic processing and those involved with articulatory-auditory/orosensory internal models. NeuroImage, 22, 1182–1194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Callan, D. E., Tajima, K., Callan, A. M., Kubo, R., Masaki, S., & Akahane-Yamada, R. (2003). Learning-induced neural plasticity associated with improved identification performance after training of a difficult second-language phonetic contrast. NeuroImage, 19, 113–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cochrane, R. M. (1980). The acquisition of /r/ and /l/ by Japanese children and adults learning English as a second language. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1, 331–360.Google Scholar
Cutler, A., Weber, A., & Otake, T. (2006). Asymmetric mapping from phonetic to lexical representations in second-language listening. Journal of Phonetics, 34, 269–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delattre, P., & Freeman, D. C. (1968). A dialect study of American English r’s by x-ray motion picture. Linguistics, 44, 28–69.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E., Takagi, N., & Mann, V. (1995). Japanese adults can learn to produce English /r/ and /l/ accurately. Language and Speech, 38, 25–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J. E., Takagi, N., & Mann, V. (1996). Lexical familiarity and English-language experience affect Japanese adults’ perception of /r/ and /l/. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 99, 1161–1173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganong, W. F. (1980). Phonetic categorization in auditory word perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 6(1), 110–125.Google ScholarPubMed
Gordon, P., Keyes, L., & Yung, Y.-F. (2001). Ability in perceiving nonnative contrasts: Performance on natural and synthetic speech. Perception & Psychophysics, 63(4), 746–758.Google Scholar
Goto, H. (1971). Auditory perception by normal Japanese adults of the sounds “L” and “R.” Neuropsychologia, 9, 317–323.Google Scholar
Guion, S., Flege, J. E., Yamada, R. A., & Pruitt, J. (2000). An investigation of current models of second language speech perception: The case of Japanese adults’ perception of English consonants. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 107(5), 2711–2744.Google Scholar
Hattori, K. (2009). Perception and production of English /r/-/l/ by adult Japanese speakers. PhD dissertation, University College London.Google Scholar
Hattori, K., & Iverson, P. (2009). English /r/-/l/ category assimilation by Japanese adults: Individual differences and the link to identification accuracy. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 125(1), 469–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idemaru, K., & Holt, L. (2011). Word recognition reflects dimension-based statistical learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37(6), 1939–1956.Google ScholarPubMed
Idemaru, K., & Holt, L. (2013). The developmental trajectory of children’s perception and production of English /r7-/l/. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133(6), 4232–4246.Google Scholar
Idemaru, K., & Holt, L. (2014). Specificity of dimension-based statistical learning in word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(3), 1009–1021.Google ScholarPubMed
Idemaru, K., Holt, L. L., & Seltman, H. (2012). Individual differences in cue weights are stable across time: The case of Japanese stop lengths. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 132(6), 3950–3964.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingvalson, E., Holt, L., & McClelland, J. (2012). Can native Japanese listeners learn to differentiate /r–l/ on the basis of F3 onset frequency? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(2), 255–274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingvalson, E., McClelland, J., & Holt, L. (2011). Predicting native English-like performance by native Japanese speakers. Journal of Phonetics, 39, 571–584.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iverson, P., Hazan, V., & Bannister, K. (2005). Phonetic training with acoustic cue manipulations: A comparison of methods for teaching English /r/-/l/ to Japanese adults. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 118(5), 3267–3278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iverson, P., Kuhl, P., Akahane-Yamada, R., Diesch, E., Tohkura, Y., Kettermann, A., & Siebert, C. (2003). A perceptual interference account of acquisition difficulties for non-native phonemes. Cognition, 87, B47–B57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iverson, P., Wagner, A., & Rosen, S. (2016). Effects of language experience on pre-categorical perception: Distinguishing general from specialized processes in speech perception. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 139(4), 1799–1809.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kachlika, M., Saito, K., & Tierney, A. (2019). Successful second language learning is tied to robust domain-general auditory processing and stable neural representations of sound. Brain and Language, 192, 15–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhl, P., Stevens, E., Hayashi, A., Deguchi, T., Kiritani, S., & Iverson, P. (2006). Infants show a facilitation effect for native language phonetic perception between 6 and 12 months. Developmental Science, 9(2), F13–F21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ladefoged, P., & Maddieson, I. (1996). The sounds of the world’s languages. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Lambacher, S. (1999). A CALL tool for improving second language acquisition of English consonants by Japanese learners. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 12, 137–156.Google Scholar
Lenneberg, E. (1967). The biological foundations of language. New York: John Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, J., Lively, S., & Pisoni, D. (1991). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: A first report. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 89(2), 874–886.Google Scholar
Lotto, A., Sato, M., & Diehl, R. (2004). Mapping the task for the second language learner: The case of Japanese acquisition of /r/ and /l/. In Sliftka, J et al. (Eds.), From sound to sense: 50+ years of discoveries in speech communication (pp. C181–C186). Cambridge, MA: Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT.Google Scholar
MacKain, K., Best, C., & Strange, W. (1981). Categorical perception of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics, 2, 369–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKay, I. R. A., Meador, D., & Flege, J. E. (2001). The identification of English consonants by native speakers of Italian. Phonetica, 58, 103–125.Google Scholar
McGowan, R. S., Nittrouer, S., & Manning, C. J. (2004). Development of [ɹ] in young, Midwestern, American children. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115(2), 871–884.Google Scholar
Mielke, J., Baker, A., & Archangeli, D. (2016). Individual-level contact limits phonological complexity: Evidence from bunched and retroflex /ɹ/. Language, 92(1), 101–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyawaki, K., Jenkins, J., Strange, W., Liberman, A., Verbrugge, R., & Fujimura, O. (1975). An effect of linguistic experience: The discrimination of (r) and (l) by native speakers of Japanese and English. Perception & Psychophysics, 18(5), 331–340.Google Scholar
Riney, T., & Flege, J. E. (1998). Changes over time in global foreign accent and liquid identifiability and accuracy. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20, 213–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riney, T., Takada, M., & Ota, M. (2000). Segmentals and global foreign accent: The Japanese flap in EFL. TESOL Quarterly, 34(4), 711–737.Google Scholar
Saito, K., & Munro, M. (2014). The early phase of /ɹ/ production development in adult Japanese learners of English. Language and Speech, 57(4), 451–469.Google Scholar
Shimizu, K., & Dantsuji, M. (1983). A study of the perception of /r/ and /l/ in natural and synthetic speech sounds. Studia Phonologica, 17, 1–14.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
Shinohara, Y., & Iverson, P. (2018). High variability identification and discrimination training for Japanese speakers learning English /r/-/l/. Journal of Phonetics, 66, 242–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, A., Hand, L., Freilinger, J., Bernthal, J., & Bird, A. (1990). The Iowa articulation norms project and its Nebraska replication. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 55, 779–798.Google Scholar
Song, J. Y., Shattuck-Hufnagel, S., & Demuth, K. (2015). Development of phonetic variants (allophones) in 2-year-olds learning American English: A study of alveolar stop /t, d/ codas. Journal of Phonetics, 52, 152–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strange, W. (2011). Automatic selective perception (ASP) of first and second language speech: A working model. Journal of Phonetics, 39(4), 456–466.Google Scholar
Takagi, N. (1993). Perception of American English /r/ and /l/ by adult Japanese learners of English: A Unified View. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of California at Irvine.Google Scholar
Takagi, N., & Mann, V. (1995). The limits of extended naturalistic exposure on the perceptual mastery of English /r/ and /l/ by adult Japanese learners of English. Applied Psycholinguistics, 16(4), 380–406.Google Scholar
Vance, T. (2008). The sounds of Japanese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Westbury, J., Hashi, M., & Lindstrom, M. J. (1998). Differences among speakers in lingual articulation for American English /ɹ/. Speech Communication, 26(3), 203–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamada, J. (1991). The discrimination learning of the liquids/r/ and /l/ by Japanese speakers. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 20(1), 31–46.Google Scholar
Yamada, R. A. (1995). Age and acquisition of second language speech sounds: Perception of American English /r/ and /l/ by native speakers of Japanese. In Strange, W (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issue in cross-language research (pp. 305–320). Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Yamada, R. A., & Tohkura, Y. (1990). Perception and production of syllable-initial English /r/ and /l/ by native speakers of Japanese. In ICSLP-1990, First International Conference on Spoken Language Processing (pp. 757–760).Google Scholar
Yamada, R., & Tohkura, Y. (1992). The effects of experimental variables on the perception of American English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese listeners. Perception & Psychophysics, 52(4), 376–392.Google Scholar
Yamada, R. A., Tohkura, Y., & Kobayashi, N. (1997). Effect of word familiarity on non-native phoneme perception: identification of English /r/, /l/, and /w/ by native speakers of Japanese. In James, A & Leather, J (Eds.), Second-language speech, structure and process (pp. 103–118). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Yoshida, K., & Hirasaka, F. (1983). The lexicon in speech perception. Sophia Linguistica, 11, 105–116.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×