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Article published In: French liaison in second language acquisition / La liaison en français langue étrangère: Issues, methods and perspectives / Thèmes, méthodes et perspectives
Edited by Martin Howard and Malin Ågren
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 10:1] 2019
► pp. 22–44

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The emergence of speech segmentation in adult L2 learners of French

 | Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III University
 | Paris VIII University
Published online: 16 May 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.17016.sho
Abstract
The beginning stages of speech segmentation in a second language (L2) have received little attention to date. The literature on L2 phonological acquisition tends to focus on learner populations who have access to discrete (orthographic) forms through exposure to the L2 in a classroom setting. Specifically, the existing literature on L2 acquisition of French liaison holds that the processing of liaison is greatly influenced by orthographic representations and that L1 and L2 phonological learning subsequently follow distinctly different developmental paths. We present data suggesting that more naturalistic L2 learners, who have had little formal L2 instruction and whose exposure is primarily oral, process liaison employing strategies previously observed only in children learning L1 French, calling into question the assumption that L1 and L2 phonological acquisition differ fundamentally and suggesting rather that phonological development depends on both the quality and quantity of the input to which the L2 learner is exposed.
Résumé
Peu de travaux rendent compte des premières étapes de la segmentation de la parole lors de l’acquisition d’une seconde langue (L2). La littérature se concentre généralement sur des recherches où les apprenants maîtrisent des formes orthographiques discrètes apprises explicitement dans un contexte scolaire ou universitaire. A cet égard, les travaux sur l’acquisition de la L2 supposent tous que le traitement de la liaison par des apprenants de français L2 est majoritairement influencé par la représentation orthographique des mots et que, par conséquent, l’acquisition de la liaison en L1 et L2 relèvent de deux stratégies distinctes. Nous présentons des données qui suggèrent que les apprenants de L2 ayant appris le français plutôt par immersion orale et n’ayant que très peu de ressources méta-linguistiques et de connaissance de l’écrit opèrent un traitement de la liaison identique à celui qu’on observe chez les enfants francophones L1. Ceci interroge une conception assez largement partagée selon laquelle l’acquisition d’une langue en L1 et L2 repose sur des stratégies radicalement différentes et suggèrent que c’est plutôt la quantité et la nature de l’input reçu qui conditionnerait la stratégie de l’apprenant.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Liaison in L1 and L2 learning
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Stimuli
    • 3.3Procedure
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (30)
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