An acoustic investigation of the production of English /s/ by L2 Thai learners

In the field of second language (L2) production, phonetic investigations of L2 fricatives are rare due to the complexity of establishing similarities and differences between L1 and L2 fricatives. The study of English /s/ production by L2 Thai learners has not received much attention, as researchers on L2 English have typically believed that learners would produce this sound with ease due to the positive influence from /s/ in their L1 Thai sound system. In this study, /s/ production in three language groups L1 English, L1 Thai and L2 English was acoustically compared as a function of gender and three vowel contexts. Findings showed that the acoustic characteristics of L1 Thai /s/ were different from its L1 English counterparts in many speakers and vowel contexts, and that L2 English /s/ production was different from either, suggesting that L2 Thai learners use different strategies for their /s/ production in English and Thai.