Cover not available

Article published In: The Mental Lexicon
Vol. 17:1 (2022) ► pp.132–153

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Effects of phonological and talker familiarity on second language lexical development

 | University of South Carolina
 | Carnegie Mellon University
Published online: 18 March 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.20024.liu
Abstract
Previous research has shown that second language (L2) learners of Mandarin learn new words more easily if the new word is homophonous with a word they already know (Liu, J., & Wiener, S. (2020). Homophones facilitate lexical development in a second language. System, 911, 102249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). That research involved word learning in which speech was produced by a single-talker with a specific pitch range. The present study examines whether the observed tonal homophone advantage is dependent on familiarity with the talker. Adult learners of Mandarin Chinese as an L2 were taught 20 new tonal words for three consecutive days. To manipulate phonological familiarity, 10 words had homophones already known to the learners and 10 words did not. To manipulate talker familiarity, participants were trained on a single talker but tested on 16 new talkers or trained and tested on 16 (multi)-talkers. Daily testing involved a 4-alternative-force-choice task. Both groups showed increased accuracy and faster response times on Day 2 compared to Day 1, but this learning was independent of homophone status or talker group. No other effects were found. These results suggest that the tonal homophone advantage in L2 word learning observed by Liu, J., & Wiener, S. (2020). Homophones facilitate lexical development in a second language. System, 911, 102249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar may have been partially driven by an exceptionally high level of talker familiarity, since that study used a single speaker both for training and testing.
Article outline
  • Phonological overlap and L2 lexical development
  • Talker variability and L2 lexical processing
  • The present study
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Materials
    • Procedure
    • Data analysis
  • Results
    • 4-AFC mouse click accuracy
    • Correct 4-AFC mouse-click response times
  • Discussion
  • References
References (75)
References
Barcroft, J., & Sommers, M. S. (2005). Effects of acoustic variability on second language vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 271, 387–414. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Effects of variability in fundamental frequency on L2 vocabulary learning: A comparison between learners who do and do not speak a tone language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 361, 423–449. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2018). Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer [Computer Program]. Version 6.0. 431.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bowles, A. R., Chang, C. B., & Karuzis, V. P. (2016). Pitch ability as an aptitude for tone learning. Language Learning, 66(4), 774–808. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bradlow, A. & Pisoni, D. (1999). Recognition of spoken words by native and non-native listeners: Talker-, listener-, and item-related factors. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 106(1), 2074–2085. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chandrasekaran, B., Sampath, P. D., & Wong, P. C. M. (2010). Individual variability in cueweighting and lexical tone learning. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1281, 456–465. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, C. B., & Bowles, A. R. (2015). Context effects on second-language learning of tonal contrasts. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 138(6), 3703–3716. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chao, Y. R. (1965). A grammar of spoken Chinese. University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colantoni, L., Steele, J., Escudero, P., & Neyra, P. R. E. (2015). Second Language Speech. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dong, H., Clayards, M., Brown, H., & Wonnacott, E. (2019). The effects of high versus low talker variability and individual aptitude on phonetic training of Mandarin lexical tones. PeerJ, 71, e7191. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dong, Y., Gui, S., & MacWhinney, B. (2005). Shared and separate meanings in the bilingual mental lexicon. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 8(3), 221–238. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duanmu, S. (2007). The Phonology of Standard Chinese. 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dumay, N., & Gaskell, M. G. (2007). Sleep-associated changes in the mental representation of spoken words. Psychological Science, 18(1), 35–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elgort, I. (2011). Deliberate learning and vocabulary acquisition in a second language. Language Learning, 61(2), 367–413. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Escudero, P., Benders, T., & Wanrooij, K. (2011). Enhanced bimodal distributions facilitate the learning of second language vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130(4), 206–212. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language speech learning: Theory, findings, and problems. Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research, 921, 233–277.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hardison, D. M. (2003). Acquisition of second-language speech: Effects of visual cues, context, and talker variability. Applied Psycholinguistics, 241, 495–522. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). Second-language spoken word identification: Effects of perceptual training, visual cues, and phonetic environment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 26(4), 579–596. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ho, A. T. (1976). The acoustic variation of Mandarin tones. Phonetica, 331, 353–367. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jiang, N. (2000). Lexical representation and development in a second language. Applied Linguistics, 21(1), 47–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). Form–meaning mapping in vocabulary acquisition in a second language Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24(4), 617–637. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Conducting reaction time research in second language studies. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Second Language Processing: An Introduction. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Juffs, A., & Harrington, M. (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44(2), 137–166. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., Michael, E., Tokowicz, N., & Dufour, R. (2002). The development of lexical fluency in a second language. Second Language Research, 18(2), 137–171. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuhl, P. K. (2004). Early language acquisition: cracking the speech code. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(11), 831–843. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leach, L. & Samuel, A. (2007). Lexical configuration and lexical engagement: When adults learn new words, Cognitive Psychology, 55(4), 306–353. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leather, J. (1983). Speaker normalization in perception of lexical tone. Journal of Phonetics, 111, 373–382. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, C.-Y., Tao, L., & Bond, Z. S. (2009). Speaker variability and context in the identification of fragmented Mandarin tones by native and non-native listeners. Journal of Phonetics, 371, 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Effects of speaker variability and noise on Mandarin tone identification by native and non-native listeners. Speech, Language and Hearing, 16(1), 1–9. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, C.-Y., & Wiener, S. (2020). Acoustic-Based and Knowledge-Based Processing of Mandarin Tones by Native and Non-native Speakers. In: Liu, H., Tsao, F., Li, P. (eds) Speech Perception, Production and Acquisition. Multidisciplinary approaches in Chinese languages (pp. 37–57). Springer: Singapore. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levelt, W. J. (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation (Vol. 11). MIT Press: Cambridge, MA. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). Lexical access in speech production. In Knowledge and language (pp. 241–251). Springer, Dordrecht. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linck, J. A., Hoshino, N., & Kroll, J. F. (2008). Cross-language lexical processes and inhibitory control. The Mental Lexicon, 3(3), 349–374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindblom, B. (1990). Explaining phonetic variation: A sketch of the H&H theory. In Speech production and speech modelling (pp. 403–439). Springer, Dordrecht. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, J., & Wiener, S. (2020). Homophones facilitate lexical development in a second language. System, 911, 102249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lively, S. E., Logan, J. S., & Pisoni, D. B. (1993). Training Japanese listeners to identify English/r/and/l/. II: The role of phonetic environment and talker variability in learning new perceptual categories. The Journal of the acoustical society of America, 94(3), 1242–1255. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luce, P. A., & Pisoni, D. B. (1998). Recognizing spoken words: The neighborhood activation model. Ear and Hearing, 191, 1–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mandell, J. (2018). Tonometric. [URL]
McQueen, J. M., Cutler, A., & Norris, D. (2006). Phonological abstraction in the mental lexicon. Cognitive Science, 30(6), 1113–1126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitterer, H., Chen, Y., & Zhou, X. (2011). Phonological abstraction in processing lexical-tone variation: Evidence from a learning paradigm. Cognitive Science, 35(1), 184–197. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moore, C. B., & Jongman, A. (1997). Speaker normalization in the perception of Mandarin Chinese tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1021, 1864–1877. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nelson, D. G. K., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Jusczyk, P. W., & Cassidy, K. W. (1989). How the prosodic cues in motherese might assist language learning. Journal of Child Language, 16(1), 55–68. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nygaard, L. C., & Pisoni, D. B. (1998). Talker-specific learning in speech perception. Perception & Psychophysics, 60(3), 355–376. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nygaard, L. C., Sommers, M. S., & Pisoni, D. B. (1994). Speech perception as a talker-contingent process. Psychological Science, 5(1), 42–46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Packard, J. (2000). The Morphology of Chinese: A Linguistic and Cognitive Approach. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pelzl, E. (2019). What makes second language perception of Mandarin tones hard?: A non-technical review of evidence from psycholinguistic research. Chinese as a Second Language. The Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA, 54(1), 51–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perrachione, T. K., Lee, J., Ha, L. Y. Y., & Wong, P. C. M. (2011). Learning a novel phonological contrast depends on interactions between individual differences and training paradigm design. The Journal of The Acoustical Society of America, 1301, 461–472. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Qin, Z., & Zhang, C. (2019). The effect of overnight consolidation in the perceptual learning of non-native tonal contrasts. PloS one, 14(12). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sadakata, M., & McQueen, J. M. (2014). Individual aptitude in Mandarin lexical tone perception predicts effectiveness of high-variability training. Frontiers in Psychology, 51, 1318. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sommers, M. S., & Barcroft, J. (2011). Indexical information, encoding difficulty, and second language vocabulary learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32(2), 417–434. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). An integrated account of the effects of acoustic variability in first language and second language: Evidence from amplitude, fundamental frequency, and speaking rate variability. Applied Psycholinguistics, 281, 231–249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stamer, M. K., & Vitevitch, M. S. (2012). Phonological similarity influences word learning in adults learning Spanish as a foreign language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(3), 490–502. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Storkel, H. L. (2001). Learning new words: Phonotactic probability in language development. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44(6), 1321–1337. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Storkel, H. L., Armbrüster, J., & Hogan, T. P. (2006). Differentiating phonotactic probability and neighborhood density in adult word learning. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49(6), 1175–1192. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sunderman, G., & Kroll, J. F. (2006). First language activation during second language lexical processing: An investigation of lexical form, meaning, and grammatical class. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(3), 387–422. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Talamas, A., Kroll, J. F., & Dufour, R. (1999). From form to meaning: Stages in the acquisition of second-language vocabulary. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2(1), 45–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tan, L. H., & Perfetti, C. A. (1998). Phonological codes as early sources of constraint in Chinese word identification: A review of current discoveries and theoretical accounts. Reading and Writing, 10(3–5), 165–200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vitevitch, M. S. (2002). The influence of phonological similarity neighborhoods on speech production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28(4), 735.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vitevitch, M. S., & Storkel, H. L. (2013). Examining the acquisition of phonological word forms with computational experiments. Language and Speech, 56(4), 493–527. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wade, T., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. (2007). Effects of acoustic variability in the perceptual learning of non-native-accented speech sounds. Phonetica, 64(2–3), 122–144. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Y., Spence, M. M., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (1999). Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1061, 3649–3658. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weber, A., & Cutler, A. (2004). Lexical competition in non-native spoken-word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 501, 1–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiener, S., Ito, K., & Speer, S. R. (2018). Early L2 spoken word recognition combines input-based and knowledge-based processing. Language and Speech, 61(4), 632–656. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021). Effects of multi-talker input and instructional method on the dimension-based statistical learning of syllable-tone combinations: An eye-tracking study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 43(1), 155–180. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiener, S., & Lee, C. Y. (2020). Multi-talker speech promotes greater knowledge-based spoken Mandarin word recognition in first and second language listeners. Frontiers in Psychology, 111, 214. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiener, S., Lee, C. Y., & Tao, L. (2019). Statistical regularities affect the perception of second language speech: Evidence from adult classroom learners of Mandarin Chinese. Language Learning, 69(3), 527–558. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiener, S., & Tokowicz, N. (2021). Language proficiency is only part of the story: Lexical access in heritage and non-heritage bilinguals. Second Language Research, 37(4), 681–695. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilcox, A., & Medina, A. (2013). Effects of semantic and phonological clustering on L2 vocabulary acquisition among novice learners. System, 41(4), 1056–1069. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, B. (2001). Comparing the L1 and L2 mental lexicon: A depth of individual word knowledge model. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(1), 41–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Lexical Network Structures and L2 Vocabulary Acquisition: The Role of L1 Lexical/Conceptual Knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 27(4), 741–747. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wong, P. C. M., & Perrachione, T. K. (2007). Learning pitch patterns in lexical identification by native English-speaking adults. Applied Psycholinguistics, 281, 565–585. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zareva, A. (2007). Structure of the second language mental lexicon: how does it compare to native speakers’ lexical organization?. Second Language Research, 23(2), 123–153. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, X. & Marslen-Wilson, W. (1995). Morphological Structure in the Chinese Mental Lexicon, Language and Cognitive Processes, 10(6), 545–600. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhu, J., Chen, X., Chen, F., & Wiener, S. (2022). Individuals with Congenital Amusia show degraded speech perception but preserved statistical learning for tone languages. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 65 (1), 53–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Wiener, Seth, Timothy K. Murphy & Lori L. Holt
2025. Incidental Nonspeech Auditory Learning Scaffolds Phonetic, Category, and Word Learning in a Foreign Language Classroom. Language Learning 75:4 ► pp. 1091 ff. DOI logo
Bao, Wenfu, Anja Arnhold & Juhani Järvikivi
2024. Phonology, homophony, and eyes-closed rest in Mandarin novel word learning: An eye-tracking study in adult native and non-native speakers. Applied Psycholinguistics 45:1 ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo
Gao, Zhe, Seth Wiener & Brian MacWhinney
2022. Acquisition of Chinese Verb Separation by Adult L2 Learners. Languages 7:3 ► pp. 225 ff. DOI logo
Wei, Yanjun, Lin Jia, Fei Gao & Jianqin Wang
2022. Visual–Auditory Integration and High-Variability Speech Can Facilitate Mandarin Chinese Tone Identification. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 65:11 ► pp. 4096 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue