Gender and second language style

Gender has been shown to be a salient factor in acquisition of second language variation (Adamson & Regan, 1991Adamson, Hugh Douglas, & Regan, Vera (1991). The acquisition of community speech norms by Asian immigrants learning English as a Second Language: A preliminary study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13(1), 1–22.; Major, 2004Major, Roy C. (2004). Gender and stylistic variation in second language phonology. Language Variation and Change, 16(3), 169–188.; Meyerhoff & Schleef, 2012Meyerhoff, Miriam, & Schleef, Erik (2012). Variation, contact, and social indexicality in the acquisition of (ing) by teenage migrants. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 16(3), 398–416.; Rehner, Mougeon, & Nadasdi, 2003Rehner, Katherine, Mougeon, Raymond, & Nadasdi, Terry (2003). The learning of sociolinguistic variation by advanced FSL learners: The case of Nous versus On in immersion French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25(1), 127–156.; Schleef, Meyerhoff, & Clark, 2011Schleef, Erik, Meyerhoff, Miriam, & Clark, Lynn (2011). Teenagers’ acquisition of variation: A comparison of locally-born and migrant teens’ realisation of English (ing) in Edinburgh and London. English World-Wide, 32(2), 206–236.). However, these studies have primarily focused on learner production of target language variation and style in the sense of attention paid to speech. There has been little focus on learner perceptions of the social meanings associated with L2 variants and styles. The present article addresses this gap in the research by examining L2 learner perceptions of a gendered style of speaking in Mandarin Chinese known as sajiao. Results from a perception experiment confirm the salience of gender in the acquisition of L2 variation and show that American L2 Mandarin learners have acquired some of the social meanings associated with sajiao but not others. An acoustic phonetic analysis of sajiao is also presented.

在针对目的语差异的二语习得研究中性别都是非常重要的因素（Adamson & Regan, 1991Adamson, Hugh Douglas, & Regan, Vera (1991). The acquisition of community speech norms by Asian immigrants learning English as a Second Language: A preliminary study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13(1), 1–22.; Major, 2004Major, Roy C. (2004). Gender and stylistic variation in second language phonology. Language Variation and Change, 16(3), 169–188.; Meyerhoff & Schleef, 2012Meyerhoff, Miriam, & Schleef, Erik (2012). Variation, contact, and social indexicality in the acquisition of (ing) by teenage migrants. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 16(3), 398–416.; Rehner, Mougeon, & Nadasdi, 2003Rehner, Katherine, Mougeon, Raymond, & Nadasdi, Terry (2003). The learning of sociolinguistic variation by advanced FSL learners: The case of Nous versus On in immersion French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25(1), 127–156.; Schleef, Meyerhoff, & Clark, 2011Schleef, Erik, Meyerhoff, Miriam, & Clark, Lynn (2011). Teenagers’ acquisition of variation: A comparison of locally-born and migrant teens’ realisation of English (ing) in Edinburgh and London. English World-Wide, 32(2), 206–236.）。然而，这项研究一直主要针对学习者对目的语的产出及有意识交谈的形式，针对学习者对目的语交际意义感知的研究却相当有限。本文通过研究二语学习者对于带有性别特点的汉语使用方式(即撒娇)来填补这项研究空白。实验结果在证实性别因素在二语习得研究中的重要性的同时，也表明美国的汉语学习者的确习得了部分“撒娇”的社交意义，但不是全部。本文还收录了关于“撒娇”的声学语音学分析。