Novel-category biases in second language perception and production

Silbert & de Jong (2007) investigated correlations between response bias and segment frequency in a number of previously published segment identification data sets. In general, bias tends to be positively correlated with frequency. When applied to second language (L2) learning, this pattern predicts biases toward identifying novel L2 categories as L1 categories, since the number of instances of L1 categories in learners’ experience far outweighs those of novel categories. This paper reports experiments in which 20 Korean EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners identified English obstruents produced by native speakers of English. In a second experiment, the Korean EFL learners produced the same obstruents, which were then identified by native English listeners. Cases of novel category response bias are observed sporadically in L2 identifications, but not in L2 productions. Such novel category effects support a model in which novel categories serve, in part, as indicators of the L2 itself and stand out as response options in L2 identification tasks. These effects may be counteracted by motor difficulties in L2 production tasks that tend to preserve the substance of the L1 phonological categories.