ABSTRACT
The Acoustic Phonetic Correlates of Approximants in L2 English - Chapter 8 focuses on the approximants [l, r, j, w]. The 67 non-native speakers produced 1,500 of them. F3 is universally recognized as the most robust correlate that discriminates between [l] and [r] on the one hand, and [j] and [w] on the other. The acoustic phonetic measurements indicate that Japanese and Koreans speakers have trouble maintain the phonemic contrast between [l] and [r] in pronunciation because the F3 of these segments masks each other completely. The confusion is detrimental to intelligibility because the RFL of [l] and [r] is 83% at the beginning of words. No other group of L2 speakers has this problem. However, as alluded to in Chapter 7, some Chinese speakers confuse [l] and [n] which also leads to mediocre intelligibility. Arabic and Somali speakers differentiate between [l] and [r] by trilling the latter forcefully, beyond the JND threshold of 22 Hz. This marks their pronunciation as strongly-accented. Spanish has two [r]s: a trilled and flapped. Spanish speakers transfer the latter into English. Slavic speakers produce their [r] like GAE speakers by flapping it. Chapter 8 focuses on the approximants [l, r, j, w]. The 67 non-native speakers produced 1,500 of them. F3 is universally recognized as the most robust correlate that discriminates between [l] and [r] on the one hand, and [j] and [w] on the other. The acoustic phonetic measurements indicate that Japanese and Koreans speakers have trouble maintain the phonemic contrast between [l] and [r] in pronunciation because the F3 of these segments masks each other completely. The confusion is detrimental to intelligibility because the RFL of [l] and [r] is 83% at the beginning of words. No other group of L2 speakers has this problem. However, as alluded to in Chapter 7, some Chinese speakers confuse [l] and [n] which also leads to mediocre intelligibility. Arabic and Somali speakers differentiate between [l] and [r] by trilling the latter forcefully, beyond the JND threshold of 22 Hz. This marks their pronunciation as strongly-accented. Spanish has two [r]s: a trilled and flapped. Spanish speakers transfer the latter into English. Slavic speakers produce their [r] like GAE speakers by flapping it.
