ABSTRACT
The Acoustic Phonetic Correlates of Fricatives in L2 English - deals with the fricatives [f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h], the affricates [tʃ, dʒ], and [t̪] and [d̪]. The latter are not fricatives but they are included because non-native speakers often use them as substitutes for [θ] and [ð]. More than 3,000 tokens are measured. The fricatives that are conspicuously mispronounced by nearly all 67 non-native speakers are [θ] and [ð]. L2 speakers produce [f] or [t̪] instead of [θ], and [v], [z], or [d̪] instead of [ð]. The conventional explanation for these substitutions is that [θ] and [ð] are rare in world languages. However, this explanation not valid because an increasing number of GAE speakers are also using [t̪] and [d̪] instead of [θ] and [ð]. A plausible explanation for the substitution is intensity. It is the most robust correlate for discriminating among fricatives (Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996). The segments [t̪]/[f] and [v]/ [d̪] are substituted for [θ] and [ð] because the intensity difference between each pair is 3 dB, a sonority level which is imperceptible to the naked ear. These substitutions have no impact whatsoever on intelligibility. However, intelligibility is mediocre when Mandarin speakers substitute the retroflex [ʂ] of their native language for [θ], or when Korean speakers pronounce English words that contain [f] as [p]. Jenkins (2003) contends that substituting [z] frequently for [ð] irritates British hearers! The affricates [tʃ] and [dʒ] are produced intelligibly by all 67 non-native speakers.
