Second language (L2) learners tend to speak slower at every level of linguistic analysis, often in an uneven tempo, with longer pauses at the start and before some words and constructions, than is typical of native speech. As noted by Zhang & Elder [1], native listeners focus on phonological fluency in making judgments about L2 proficiency. Improved understanding of how fluency grows with progr...

Although cross-sectional research designs have been widely used in the evaluation of L2 phonetic learning, longitudinal studies of L2 speech production are rare. As a result, it is difficult to draw strong conclusions about the effects of language experience on L2 phonetic acquisition. This investigation of adult Slavic (Russian and Ukrainian) and Mandarin speakers tracks their English high vow...

Swedish has – like other Germanic languages – flexible stress placement, which underlies morphological rules and is also based on the individual word’s origin. The achievement of the correct usage when learning Swedish is challenging. As second language learners of Swedish in the classrooms present speakers of a variety of first languages (L1s), the opportunity has been taken to have a closer l...

Extensive research has shown that second language (L2) learners find it difficult to apply grammatical knowledge during real-time processing, especially when differences exist between the first (L1) and L2. The current study examines extent which British English-speaking of French can their subjunctive whether this ability is modulated by properties L1 grammar, and/or proficiency. Data from an ...

This study investigates how native prosodic systems as well as L2 learning experience shape non-native tone production in terms of tone movement, a primary cue to tone identity. In an imitation task, the six Cantonese tones were produced by four speaker groups: native Mandarin speakers (tonal), native English speakers (non-tonal), native English speakers with Mandarin learning experience (L2 to...

Automaticity and real-time aspects of performance are directly relevant to L2 spoken language proficiency. This paper analyzes data from L2 speakers of English and Spanish spread over a range of proficiency levels as identified by traditional holistic, rubric-based human ratings. In spontaneous speech samples from these L2 populations, we studied timed measures of spoken fluency (linguistic uni...

Three experiments using online processing measures explored whether native and non-native Spanish-speaking adults use gender-marked articles to identify referents of target nouns more rapidly, as shown previously with 3-year-old children learning Spanish as L1 (Lew-Williams & Fernald, 2007). In Experiment 1, participants viewed familiar objects with names of either the same or different grammat...

This study investigates the degree to which native-English speaking learners of Spanish can generate expectations for information likely to occur in upcoming portions of an unfolding linguistic signal. We examine Spanish Clitic Left Dislocation, a long-distance dependency between a topicalized object and an agreeing clitic, whose felicity depends on the discourse. Using a self-paced reading tas...

Evidence shows that second language (L2) learning affects cognitive function. Here in this work, we compared brain activation native speakers of Mandarin (L1) who speak Japanese between and within two groups (high low L2 ability) to determine the effect ability L1 speaking tasks, map regions involved both tasks. The during task performance was determined using prefrontal cortex blood flow as a ...

This paper attempts to quantify differences in speaking rates in first and second languages, in the context of the growth of English as a lingua franca, where more L2 speakers than ever before are using English to perform tasks in their working environments. One such task is the oral presentation. The subjects in this study were fourteen fluent English second language speakers who held the same...