A C T A U N I V E R S I T A T I S L O D Z I E N S I S FO LIA L IN G U IST IC A 36, 1997
Ew a W aniek-K lim czak
H O W T O S T U D Y S E C O N D L A N G U A G E S P E E C H : T H E IS S U E O F T H E O R Y
1. INTRODUCTION
T h e p resent article is an a tte m p t to bring to g eth er findings an d p rob lem s cen trin g aro u n d the issue o f the dynam ic study o f the second lan g uag e speech p ro d u c tio n . In p artic u la r, we shall review an d discuss th eo retical p re req u isites fo r th e em pirical stu d y aim ing a t u n co v e rin g a co m plex p a tte rn o f co n d itio n in g p resen t in the acquisition o f n o n -n a tiv e sound structure.
A s th e stu dy o f second language sound system involves p h o n o lo g ical as well as socio-psychological perspective on n o n -n a tiv e pho netics, w e shall discuss the the com patibility o f m a jo r theories w ith th e d em an d s o f the dynam ic acco u n t in th e follow ing order: first, th e ap plicab ility o f the p honolo gical th eo ry to the ph o n etic d a ta will be discussed, an d secondly, the fun ctional perspective will be ad o p ted , i.e. chosen socio-psychological theories relev an t to the study o f second language use will be reviewed and dicussed.
T h e article is organised as follows: section 2 introd uces basic assu m p tio n s fo r a second language speech study, section 3. co n tain s an overview o f th eo retical phonological an d p h o n etic problem s w ith the m o del o f second language acqu isitio n (3.1.) an d the co n stru c tio n o f p h o n etic re p re se n ta tio n w hich w ould enable us to co m p are speech across subjects o n th e level o f p h o n etic im p lem en tatio n (3.2.); section 4. is devoted to the in tro d u c tio n o f basic sociolinguistic m odels applicable to the second lan g uag e sp eak ers in general (4.1.), and in an im m ig ran t situ atio n in p a rtic u la r (4.2.).
2. BASIC ASSUM PTIONS
U n d e rtak in g a study o f second language use, one is faced w ith a n u m b er o f dilem m as which need to be solved before p ro p e r investigation. T h e basic q u estio n concerns general beliefs as to the n a tu re o f linguistic study, stem m ing from the a ttitu d e to w ard s language as a p h en o m en o n .
T h e dich o to m y betw een tw o ap p ro ach es to th e study o f language: em pirical an d ra tio n a l, bears directly o n th e study o f speech. Seen as a m ultidim ensional p h en o m en o n , speech can be ap p ro ach c d and studied as a physical reality w ithin the realm o f experim ental phonetics; p h o n etic im p lem en tatio n o f a p artic u la r sp eak er’s p ho no lo gical, i.e. linguistic system co n stru c te d by phonology; and m o re generally, th e fu n ctio n al perspective can be added to view speech as the m an ife sta tio n o f sp eak ers’ beliefs, attitu d e s, values, etc., studied w ithin socio-psycholinguistics. T h e unified p arad ig m fo r the functional study o f p hon etic im p lem en tatio n strategies in second langu age speech p ro d u c tio n should in c o rp o ra te elem ents o f all the th ree ap p ro ach e s, aim ing a t finding the co m m o n g ro u n d betw een them .
T h e p resen t discussion focuses on the use o f th e second lan g u ag e in a n a tu ra l social setting, i.e. in th e second language environm ent. R ecognizing social c o n d itio n in g fo r th e lan g u ag e use, we a rc co n cern ed w ith th e sp ea k ers’ acquisition o f the second language, th e o rg a n iz atio n o f their linguistic know ledge an d the co n d itio n in g o f th eir actu al p erfo rm ance.
3. THE ACQUISITION OF SECOND LANGUAGE PHONETICS: LOOKING FOR A THEORETICAL MODEL
H a v in g decided a b o u t the b ac k g ro u n d ap p ro ach to the speech analysis study, we can begin the discussion o f theo retical m odels o f g ra m m a r from th e p o in t o f view o f th eir applicability to the second lang uag e p ro d u c tio n d a ta . T h e basic requirem ents o n the th eo ry reflect th e characteristics o f second langu age acquisition and learning, w hich is a dynam ic process; we need tools to describe, explain and predict language p ro d u c tio n a t a given p o in t o f language acquisition.
It is im possible to m ak e ap rio ristic assu m p tio n s a b o u t th e com p etence o f th e second lan g u ag e user: th e crucial q u e stio n is th e n a b o u t th e phon o lo g ical rep resen ta tio n con structed by the second lan guage sp eak er and th e strategies em ployed in p honetic im p lem en tatio n o f the ph on olog ical system .
Second language user acquires a second language in a process sim ilar, alth o u g h n o t identical to the first language [ H a t c h 1983; L o c k e 1983;
J a m e s 1988]: co n fro n ted w ith a variety o f sounds, he/sh e categorises them , searching for a system o f co n trasts which w ould enable him /h er to use the so unds in th e m o st native-like way. T h e m echanism s used in the stru ctu rin g o f the d a ta can be expected to differ from the first lan gu age ac q u istio n to th e extent o f th e first language com petence influence on new d a ta ca te g o risatio n .
T h e first language experience m ay result in categorising second lang uag e so unds into “ new ” and “ sim ilar” [ F l e g e 1987]; it m ay result in using the sam e o r d ifferent strategies in the im p lem entation o f p h o n o lo g ical c o n tra sts [ K e a t i n g 1984]; w hatever the hypotheses as to th e re latio n sh ip betw een tw o types o f acqu isition, they can be studied and verified o n the basis o f th e phono lo gical re p resen ta tio n constructed by the learner.
T h e com p arab ility o f represen tatio n s form s a prereq uisite fo r th e co m p arab ility o f rules, “ if the represen tatio n s are inco rrect, th en the rules c a n n o t be c o rre c t” [ A r d 1989: 243]. P honological analysis is based on the re co g n itio n o f a given level o f rep resen tatio n o f speech. T h e degree o f ab stra ctn ess o f the re p resen ta tio n believed to reflect the sp ea k ers’ sound system depends on the tenets o f the th eo ry an d co n stitu tes o n e o f the crite ria fo r the assessm ent o f the psychological reality o f a given theory.
T h e co n sid eratio n s concerned w ith the problem o f speech rep resen ta tio n , th e degree o f abstractn ess un d ersto o d as the distance betw een physical reality and its linguistic idealization fall w ithin the scope o f th e general d ilem m a w orded by A . E instein in 1933, in Spencer L ecture, O xford “ O n th e M eth o d o f T heoretical Physics” as follows:
We are concerned with the eternal antithesis between the two inseparable com ponents o f knowledge, the empirical and the rational. The structure o f the system is the w ork o f reason; th e em pirical contents and their m utual relations m ust find their representation in the conclusions o f the theory. In the possibility o f such a representation lie the sole value and justification o f the whole system, and especially the concepts and fundam ental principles which underlie it. A p art from th a t these latter are free inventions o f the hum an intelect, which cannot be justified either by the nature o f the intellect or in any other fashion a priori, [quoted after M . H a l l e and K. N. S t e v e n s 1979: 335]
T h e re p resen tatio n s posited for phon ological system o f th e speak ers and the rep resen ta tio n system for p h o n etic im p lem en tatio n strategies em ployed by these speakers arc tw o sides o f the sam e coin: the re latio n sh ip betw een th em requires th a t they m eet and perm eate each other.
T h e acoustical signal p roduced by the h u m an vocal tra c t and perceived by h u m an au d ito ry system needs to be represented in a way w hich enables co m p ariso n . T h e basic assu m p tio n underlying the rep resen ta tio n o f speech rem ains the ability o f fluent speakers o f a language to p erform seg m entatio n o f utteran ces in this language in spite o f variability o f the aco ustical signal.
T h e d ecom position o f segm ents into a m atrix o f distinctive featu res provides a to o l fo r an analysis o f speech system w ith reg ard s to w ell-defined p ro p erties o f these segm ents. T h e decom po sitio n o f segm ents in to a set o f pro p erties enables us to look fo r cross-language as well as w ithin lan gu age regularities, co m p are the segm ents and predict changes as well as areas o f interference. H ow ever, in o rd e r fo r distinctive features to be effective in th e case o f languages-in-contact o r interference study, they need to be well specified w ith reference to their phon etic con ten ts.
T h e general acceptance o f the N a tu raln ess C o n d itio n fo rm u late d by P o s t a l [1968] an d the assum ptio n concerning the existence o f n o n -a rb itra ry relations between phonological or lexical representations and the corresponding phonetic ones results in the placem ent o f phonetic constraints on phonological rep resen tatio n s. It is the p h o n etic contents o f distinctive featu res w hich form s the b ac k g ro u n d fo r cross-linguistic studies o f soun d stru ctu re .
T h e th eo retical fram ew ork allow ing for the cross-language co m p ariso n on p h o n etic level needs to be ad e q u a te to the study o f the p ho netics o f th e first language o f the speaker, i.e. the m o th e r to ngue, as well as the p honetics o f the second language. T h u s, in th e study concerned w ith the physical pro p erties o f second language, we need to look for th e th eo retical m odel o f g ram m ar capable o f describing, explaining, an d p redictin g the processes o b tain in g b o th at th e physical and classificatory p h o n etic level o f the first and th e second language used by the speaker. M o reo v er, we need the re p resen ta tio n o f the second language ph on etics and the m e th o d s o f m a p p in g th e p h o n etic tran sc rip tio n o n to th e physical rep resen ta tio n , and
vice versa.
3.1. Generative grammar as a theory of second language acquisition
G en erativ e g ra m m a r has been the m o st influential th eoretical fram ew o rk o f recent tim es. T h e phonological co m p o n en t o f th e g ram m ar w as developed in the SPE [The Sound Pattern o f English, C h o m s k y a nd H a l l e 1968] an d later m odified w ith the m odification o f the gram m ar. A lth o u g h the im p act o f the th eo ry c a n n o t be overestim ated, th e practical ap p lica tio n o f the descriptive techniques o f classical generative p ho n o lo g y in th e studies o f second language phonetics and p h o nolo lo gy has been extrem ely lim ited. T h e m ain reason for difficulty in ap p licatio n o f th e th eo ry in th e second lan guage co n tex t lies in the lack o f the native speaker co m peten ce w hich one m igh t refer to in co n stru c tin g individual g ram m ars o f the speakers.
In classical fo rm u latio n , C hom sky and H alle state th a t th e p ho no lo g ical c o m p o n en t is a system o f rules which relate surface stru ctu re s, i.e. th e
o u tp u t o f the syntactic co m p o n en t, to p honetic re p resen tatio n . T h e surface stru ctu re s c o n ta in lexical rep resen tatio n s w hich are specified fo r tho se phono lo g ical pro p erties w hich are n o t supplied by general rules; the general rules are determ ined by linguistically significant generalisations, observed in altern atio n s. As the result, the o rg a n isa tio n o f the g ra m m a r assum es th a t the w hole lexicon is available for the ideal speaker-hearer: such a re q u ire m e n t is clearly to o strong and u n ten ab le in th e second lan gu age user situ atio n .
T h e com petence o f a non-native language speaker needs to be determ ined individually o n the basis o f w hat an individual speaker know s a t a given m o m e n t, th e task extrem ely co m p licated , if n o t im p ossib le. Since th e prerequisites fo r generative ph onological analysis are n o t m et in th e second language learnin g /acq u isitio n situ atio n , the ap p licatio n o f the th eo ry c a n n o t be straig h tfo rw ard .
A lth o u g h C h o m s k y [1980] believes th a t th e know ledge o f lan gu age involves the know ledge o f gram m ar, he claim s th a t “p ra g m a tic com p etence m ig h t be a cognitive system d istin ct an d differently stru ctu red from g ra m m atical co m petence” [ C h o m s k y 1980: 90]. T h ere are certain general principles, rules and represen tatio n s which are believed to be included in th e h u m an genotype. T h e unified system o f principles w ith a deductive stru c tu re and som e open p aram eters to be specified by experience form U niversal G ra m m a r (U G ).
T h e basic elem ents considered by the g ram m ar are sentences, com posed o f w ords organized into phrases; the gram m ar generates m en tal representation o f the p h o n etic form o f the sentences (form ) and logical re p resen ta tio n (m eaning), the elem ents o f w hich m u st be set by experience to a large extent. It is un d er the co n d itio n s set by experience th a t h u m an m ind develops, finally reaching the steady state gram m ar. L an g u ag e A cguisition D evice (L A D ), or U G m ay be th o u g h t o f as “ an ab stract p artial specification o f th e genetic p ro g ram th a t enables the child to in terp re t ce rtain events as linguistic experience and to co n stru c t the system o f rules an d principles on th e basis o f experience” [ C h o m s k y 1980: 187]. T h e U G form s a m atrix , a fram ew ork w ithin w hich the experience is processed; a t a relatively fixed age the stage o f ‘steady sta te ’ is finally reached, and subsequent m odifications o f the g ra m m a r are o f m in o r ch aracter.
L angu age acquisition is consequently viewed as a period o f reach ing th e steady state, bu t the in term ediate stages, i.e. betw een the beginning o f acqu isitio n and the steady state attain ed , are o f no interest to th e g ram m ar. In fact, C hom sky proposes th a t the in p u t-o u tp u t system , w ith experience fo rm in g the in p u t for L anguage A cquisition D evice which m a p s experience in to the g ra m m a r, and the g ram m ar as the o u tp u t, be idealized as an in stan tan eo u s m odel, ignoring the in term ed iate states.
T h e ap p ro ach to language acq uisition presented so fa r offers m an y insights to th e n a tu re o f second language acq uisition as well; how ever, a n u m b er o f problem s need fu rth e r discussion. T h e m o st im m inent q u estio n reg ard s the developm ental aspect o f acqu isition , viewed as a fu n ctio n o f time. F u rth e r questions concern the n ature o f linguistic experience determ ining th e d ev elopm en t o f the gram m ar: the relation ship betw een th e c o m p o n en ts o f linguistic capacities o f the speaker, i.e. com petence an d p erfo rm an ce in view o f th e first and second language acquisitio n as well as th e influence o f the first language g ram m ar o n the second language acqu isitio n requ ire consid eratio n .
T h e im plications o f generative th eo ry o f acqu isition fo r th e d ev elo p m en tal aspects o f second language learning have been investigated by C o o k [1985, 1988], w ho concluded th a t certain principles o f U niversal G ra m m a r m ay have a d eterm ining effect on the o rd e r and type o f stru ctu re s acquired in the process o f second language learning. T h e n o tio n s o f co re and p eriphery o f the g ra m m a r an d p aram eter setting have been m en tio n ed as highly significant for the study o f the developm ent o f second lan gu age gram m ar.
In the case o f phonology , it is proposed by Jam es [J a m e s 1987, 1988] th a t alth o u g h certain p aram eters o f U niversal G ra m m a r, such as left vs. right b ranching prosodic structure, m ight be set in th e process o f establishing the core o f th e phonological g ra m m a r o f targ e t language, th e role o f U niversal G ra m m r in foreign language phon olog ical d ev elop m ent ca n be seen in 1) the type o f structu res, such as re p resen ta tio n s, rules, u n its and features, w hich co n stitu te a subset o f universally possible ones, 2) th e o rd e r o f em ergence o f the three m ain sub-representations o f phonological structure: lexical, pro so d ic and rhythm ic, w ith the lexical re p resen tatio n being acquired p rio r to the p ro so d ic one an d the p ro so d ic p rio r to th e rh y th m ic one in the developm ent o f the foreign language ph onology.
P h o n etic re p resen tatio n is specified as a p ro d u c t o f featu re values o f th ree phono log ical sub-representations; thus th e specification will rcflect the developm ent o f different com ponen ts a t relatively different stages. U nderlying rep resen ta tio n is believed to be the basic one, cen tral fo r th e w hole system , to w hich p rosodic and rhythm ic specifications arc add ed in the p ro cess o f g ra m m a r developm ent.
It can be claim ed th a t the underlying lexical re p resen ta tio n fo rm s the co re o f the phonological rep resen tatio n ; the specification o f th e lexical p ro p erties o f w ords needs to be detailed w ith regard to th e th eir syntactic role as well as the m o rpho-lexical and structu re-reg ularizing fu n ctio n , w hich is in the focus o f atte n tio n o f the theo ry o f Lexical P ho no log y, as prop osed by K i p a r s k y [1982, 1985], M o h a n a n [1982, 1986] an d R u b a c h [1984, 1985].
G en erativ e g ram m ar has been form u lated as a th eo ry o f lan gu age acqu isitio n and use w ith the ideal sp eaker-hearer relatio n in m in d . C o n sequently, som e o f the basic tenets o f the theory are u n ten ab le in the second language learner/user case; the basic problem is co nnected w ith the assum ed availability o f the linguistic in p u t for setting p aram eters o f core g ra m m a r an d the stru ctu re o f underlying represen tatio n s. H ow ever, it is the very difference betw een the first an d second language acq u isitio n , especially in the case o f the a d u lt second langu age learn er, w hich m ak es the th eo ry insightful in to the language developm ent in b o th cases.
T h e p ro b lem o f the influence o f the first language o n th e d ev elo pm en t o f the second one has long been a central issue fo r the second lan gu age acqu isitio n studies. C o n trastiv e analyses have been a ttem p ted w ith th e use o f several m ethodologies w ithin generative fram ew o rk, c o n tra stin g rules, featu res and surface rep resentations. T h e c o n tra st o f units, a ttrib u te s, rules a n d re p re se n ta tio n s is based on th eir u niversal ty po lo g y an d m a y be claim ed to constitute p a rt o f the U niversal G ram m ar; how ever, the individual values o r fo rm s o f these universal categories v ary fro m la n g u ag e to language, w hich has been recognized as a m a jo r p ro b lem for c o n tra stiv e phono lo g ical studies [ J a m e s 1988].
T h e com p ariso n o f underlying stru ctu res and rules across languages involves pro blem s for all fram ew orks. G enerative th eory faces th e d ilem m a w ith the co m p ariso n betw een the form and o rd erin g o f rules, w hich arc language-specific and consequently incom p arab le; as G u ssm an n p u t it: “ W hatev er can be com pared in strict, unam b ig u o u s term s relates to ph o n ic su b stan ce an d is o f little significance, while the crucial fo rm al aspects o f stru ctu re can only be ap p ro ach ed in an indirect ap p ro x im a tiv e an d p artly im pressionistic fa sh io n ” [ G u s s m a n n 1984: 34].
A possible way o u t has been suggested by R u b a c h [1983, 1984b], w ho pro p o ses th a t the co m p ariso n o f rules be m a d e w ith th e reference to the level a t w hich p a rtic u la r rules o p erate in the gram m ars. H e show s th a t the results o f the con trastiv e analysis d epend on the fram ew o rk cho sen fo r the study to a large extent: in the case o f interference studies, he p o in ts to the fact th a t “p honological interference finds its source n o t only in the stru ctu re o f p h o nem ic/underlying systems an d in the laws o f p h o n o ta c tic s/ m o rp h em e stru c tu re conditions b u t also in phono lo g ical rules o f the n ativ e lan g u ag e” [ R u b a c h 1983: 149]. T h e pow erfulness o f the s ta n d a rd m odel is show n to be responsible for the inadequacy o f th e m odel fo r studies o f phono lo g ical interference. H ow ever, m o st problem s are believed to be overcom e by the cyclic m odel o f generative p ho no lo gy , w hich h as been fu rth e r developed into Lexical P honology.
T h e fram ew ork o f cyclic phonolog y has been fu rth e r refined in the fo rm u latio n o f Lexical P honology. In Lexical P h on olo gy , th e subset o f
postcyclic rules o p eratin g in an exceptionless, co n tex t sensitive w ay has been p o stu lated as a separate, post-lexical level. A s th e rules respo nsible fo r interference belong to the exeptionless g roup, they have been assigned the post-lexical level o f application.
G enerally speaking, rules w hich are closer to surface re p re se n ta tio n are claim ed to be m o re likely to tran sfer from the first lan gu age to the second. In the case o f the distinction between m orphophonem ic rules and phonological rules [ L i n e l l 1979], phonological rules and processes [ D o n e g a n and S t a m p e 1979] o r m o rp h o p h o n em ic and p h o n etic rules [ H o o p e r 1979], it is alw ays th e low er level type o f rules w hich are believed to be conducive to the transfer.
T h e study o f second language p ro d u c tio n w ith reference to th e first language needs the basis o f com p arab le rep resen tatio n s to w hich th e rules apply, and com p arab le set o f features which rules o p erate on. R epresentations m u st be clearly specified by m ean s o f a set o f features w hich they are claim ed to represent. T h e existence o f a m inim al set o f features p ro p o sed in th e SPE seam ingly provides the basis fo r co m p arab ility o f p h o n etic segm ents in tw o languages; how ever, despite the fact th a t the SPE featu res arc defined in term s o f artic u la to ry and acoustic p ro p erties, they d o n o t relate in a direct w ay to the physical p aram eters o f the speech signal.
3.2. The Structure of Phonetic Representation
T h e stu d y o f live speech in v aria b ly begins w ith th e speech signal p ro d u c e d by th e sp ea k er an d perceived by th e h ea rer. T h e lin g u istic co n stru c t closest to the physical reality is th e p h on etic re p resen ta tio n o f speech. T h e relevance o f clear definition o f the ph on etic re p resen ta tio n stem s from the basic need fo r tertium co m p aratio n is o n th e on e h a n d , and the im p o rtan ce o f theoretical im plications for th e availability o f a given fram ew o rk fo r second language acquisition studies on th e o th er.
T h e search for p h o n etic rep resen tatio n system w hich w ould en ab le acoustic speech d a ta analysis in the fram ew ork assum ing perm eability betw een p hono lo g ical an d p h o n etic level in th e g ra m m a r is crucial fo r the p re sen t study. T h e discussion o f different possibilities o f re p resen ta tio n o f chosen p h o n etic p aram eters, i.e. Voice O nset T im e, closure d u ra tio n and vowel d u ra tio n in a rep resen ta tio n system will be offered in C h a p te r T h ree; o n the basis o f this discussion, a tem p o ral p a ram eter re p resen ta tio n system will be p ro p o sed in C h a p te r Five. A t present, how ever, let us review the classical generative g ra m m a r views o n the n a tu re o f p h o n etic re p resen ta tio n an d m o re recent developm ent o f altern ativ e solutions.
T h e d efinition o f ph o n etic re p resen ta tio n in generative g ra m m a r is far from straig h tfo rw ard ; in the SPE, it is said to be “ a re p resen ta tio n o f w h a t the speaker o f a language takes to be the p h o n etic p ro p erties o f an u tte ra n c e ” , d eterm in e d by th e sp e a k e r’s “ h y p o th esis as to its su rface stru c tu re an d his know ledge o f the rules o f the ph on olog ical c o m p o n e n t” [ C h o m s k y and H a l l e 1968: 294]. T h u s, the re p resen ta tio n is believed to be a linguistic co n stru ct, em bodying “ all gram m atically d eterm in ed facts a b o u t the p ro d u c tio n and p ercep tio n ” [ C h o m s k y a nd H a l l e 1968: 294], reflecting th e ph o n etic (physical) p roperties a t the sam e tim e.
P h o n etic tran sc rip tio n is u n d ersto o d as the rep resen ta tio n o f th e spea- k c r-h c a re r’s in te rp re ta tio n o f the p roperties o f the signal ra th e r th a n the directly observable properties themselves; consequently, there is no discrepancy betw een the q u asi-co n tin u o u s n a tu re o f speech signal an d the discrete sym bols used in th e re p resen tatio n system , o r the p ro b lem o f identical signals having different represen tatio n s, etc. A p e rso n ’s in te rp re ta tio n o f a speech event is an active process, “ a process in w hich the physical stim ulu s th a t strikes the h ea rer’s ea r is utilized to form hy potheses a b o u t the deep stru c tu re o f the sentence” [ C h o m s k y and H a l l e 1968: 295].
A lth ough C hom sky and H alle say th a t n o t each deep structure determ ines a single p h o n etic re p resen ta tio n due to the existence o f o p tio n a l rules, given th e d eep stru c tu re a n d th e rules o f th e lan g u ag e th e re p re se n ta tio n s , including the term inal one, i.e. th e phonetic representation, can be generated.
P h o n etic tran sc rip tio n is said to be related to th e surface re p resen ta tio n o f syntactic stru ctu re o f a sentence by rules o f th e ph on olog ical co m p o n en t. H o w ev er, th e lexical item s w hich are th e fo rm a tiv e s o f th e sy n ta c tic stru c tu re c a n n o t be represented by the p h o n etic form if we w a n t to keep th e ex p la n a to ry p o w er o f th e th eo ry . In s o fa r as th e v a ria tio n in th e p h o n etic form is concerned, we need the re p resen ta tio n cap ab le o f ren d erin g regularities: in the SPE term s, p h o n etic rep resen ta tio n results from the ap p lica tio n o f phono logical rules to the “ tw o-dim ensional m a trix in w hich the colum ns stand fo r the successive units and the row s are labeled by the nam es o f the in d iv id u a l p h o n e tic fe a tu re s” (SPE: 296); th e m a trix is re p resen ted by a th ree -d im en sio n al fe a tu ra l co m p o sitio n w hen fe a tu re geom etry is applied.
P ho nological re p resen ta tio n as a lexical m a trix is a b s tra c t in a sense th a t it is n o t necessarily a su b m atrix o f a p h o n etic rep resen ta tio n . T h e p h o n etic features used in the lexical entries are o f classificatory, b in ary n a tu re ; the phonological features are ab stra ct, alth o u g h n o t a rb itra ry , categorial m ark ers. T he p h o n etic features in the p h o n etic re p resen ta tio n d o n o t need to be binary: they arc “ physical scales, assum ing n u m ero u s coefficients, as determ ined by the rules o f the ph ono lo g ical c o m p o n e n t” . (SPE: 297).
T h e am biguity o f the SPE definition o f p hon etic re p resen tatio n p rov ok ed the suggestions th a t an ad d itio n al level o f p h o n etic rep resen ta tio n needs to be introduced. L adefoged (1980) proposes to distinguish betw een a system atic p h o n etic level and a physical o r a rtic u la to ry ph o n etic level [ L a d e f o g e d 1980]; K e a t i n g [1984] in trodu ces three levels: a p hon o lo g ical level, a m odified system atic p h o n etic level, which co ntain s p h o n etic categories c o n tra stin g in a language, and a pseudo-physical level, w hich c o n ta in s all p a ra m e te rs necessary fo r a p h o n etic d escription o f a language. T h e SPE m odel represents lexical item s as m atrices o f binary p h o n etic features; each segm ent is represented by a bundle o f distinctive features given a “ + ” or “ — ” value. T h e inventory o f binary features is static, p ho no lo g ical rules m ay change the values o f the features, add o r delete a segm ent. P h o n etic rules, o n th e o th er h an d , conv ert the binary values in to th e q u a n tita tiv e values co rresp o n d in g to a c o n tin u o u s ph o n etic scale.
G enerally speaking, p h o n etic im p lem entation is believed to be a p urely a u to m a tic consequence o f the tra n sla tio n o f pho no lo gical surface fo rm s into a set o f in stru ctio n s for the vocal trac t, w hich reacts in a pred ictab le, c o n v e n tio n a l w ay, o n th e basis o f universal prin cip les. A n d a lth o u g h a rtic u la to rily -m o tiv ated p h o n etic features are used in the SPE specification o f phono lo g ical rep resen ta tio n , the lack o f the o rg a n isa tio n o f featu res docs n o t let them p revent highly ab stra c t represen tatio n s.
U n d e r the th eo ry o f universal phonetics p ro po sed by P atricia K e a t i n g [1985, 1990], the surface stru c tu re o f phon ological rep resen ta tio n serves as in p u t fo r the universal p honetic level, p rovid ing th e p h o n etic categ o ry m a p p in g system , w hich is connected to the low-level p h o n etic level by m ean s o f the p h o n etic detail rules. P h on etic rules a c co u n t fo r th e v aria tio n w ithin these categories. T h u s, the n o n-categorial ph o n etic co n tin u ity has been divided in to tw o parts: the first p h o n etic co m p o n en t ‘in term ed iate s’ betw een discreteness o f pho n o lo g y and co n tin u ity o f phonetics.
T h e categorical p h o n etic re p resen ta tio n is defined as “clusters o f featu re values aligned w ith elem ents o f internal segm ent stru c tu re ” [ K e a t i n g 1990: 324]. T h e fe atu res used in th is re p re s e n ta tio n a re still o p en to discussion, b u t the basic inventory is based o n tra d itio n a l, pho netically m o tiv a te d phono lo g ical features. T his categorical re p resen ta tio n , th e o u tp u t o f pho n o lo g y , needs to be m ap p ed o n to tw o o th er p h o n etic re p resen ta tio n s, w hich co rresp o n d to the idealised physical re p resen ta tio n s referrin g to c o n tin u o u s sp a tia l an d te m p o ra l re la tio n sh ip s. T h e re p re se n ta tio n s arc dom ain-specific: artic u la to ry p aram etric re p resen ta tio n is the o u tp u t o f a rtic u la to ry rules, while acoustic p aram etric rep resen ta tio n is th e o u tp u t o f aco u stic rules. T h e p aram eters used in these re p resen tatio n s are related to features: th e term p aram eters stresses the physical n a tu re o f b o th rep resen tatio n s.
In artic u la to ry p honology m odel [ B r o w m a n a nd G o l d s t e i n 1986, 1990] the p roposed n a tu re o f p hon etic re p resen ta tio n is different: ra th e r th a n suggesting the extension o f discreteness and categorical p ho no lo gical w orld in to th e dom ain o f phonetics as in the case o f th e universal ph on etics m odel, it is p roposed th a t artic u la to ry based, m u lti-tiered p h o n etic rep resen ta tio n be the o u tp u t o f phonology. P ho nological form s are represented by m e a n s o f u n its org an ised in term s o f sp a tio -te m p o ra l re la tio n s; these re la tio n s form a fo u r-d im e n sio n a l re p re se n ta tio n c o rre sp o n d in g to th e pho n etics o f the speech units.
T h e division o f lab o u r betw een phonolog ical rules an d p h o n etic im p lem en tatio n bears directly o n th e n a tu re o f p h o n etic re p resen ta tio n . W hen p h o n etic im plem entation principles p rove to be responsible fo r m o st regular, alth o u g h n ondistinctive aspects o f language-specific sound stru ctu re , which needs to belong to the internalised system o f th e language users, surface phonological representation becomes m ore abstract. T he categorical com ponent o f th e th eo ry o f p honology seems to have less w o rk to do: it is the p h o n etic, n o n -categorial co m p o n en t which needs to be investigated in o rd e r to represen t the dynam ics o f language use.
In th e SPE, the com parability o f phonetic representations w ithin-languagc an d across languages, is based on the assu m p tio n th a t tw o units are d istin ct if they differ in th e value o f a t least one feature; sequences o f un its arc d istin ct if they co n tain d istinct units o r units in a different o rd e r o r n u m b er. In term s o f m o re recent fo rm u latio n s o f generative g ra m m a r, the stru c tu ra l entities form subsystem s o f rules an d principles o f U niversal G ra m m a r; the co m p arab ility is based on the p aram eters, o r p a ram eter setting across different language-specific gram m ars.
T h e actual p h o n etic rep resen tatio n s need to be con stru cted by the learn er o f the second language; the co n stru c tio n is believed to be based o n the core g ram m ar, while the p aram eters can fun ctio n as reference p o in ts fo r the recognition o f new vs. sim ilar elem ents [ F l e g e 1987]. T h e c o rrect un derlying form s m u st be learned: the o b serv atio n m a d e by К i - p a r s k y and M e n n [1977] w ith reference to th e first lan gu age acq u isi tio n , offers an im p o rta n t insight in to the second language learner situ a tio n . In view o f th e fact th a t the ideal spcaker-h earer k now ledge o f the lexical item s o f a language is unavailable to th e second lan g uag e learn er, we m u st lo o k for a n o th e r basis for th e co n stru ctio n o f p h o n etic rep resen tatio n .
T h e recognition o f th e need for th e co n stru c tio n o f th e rep resen ta tio n o n the basis o f actual d a ta available to the speak er seems to be the basic a ssu m p tio n fo r the study o f second lang uage acq uisition an d use. T h e e x p lan a to ry an d predictive pow er o f the phonolo gical th eo ry fo r th e second language use study rem ains in close relationship to th e degree o f abstractn ess
allowed in the phonological representations. T h e co n stru ctio n o f the ph o n etic rep resen ta tio n involves a certain degree o f ab stractn ess in the ca te g o riza tio n o f th e speech signal in perception and p ro d u ctio n ; how fa r rem oved from the physical reality can the phonolo gical re p resen ta tio n be w ith o u t losing relevance to the actual speech analysis, is an o pen q uestion.
4. FUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVE: T H E INFLUENCE O F SO CIAL AND PSY CH O LO G IC A L FA CTO RS ON T H E A C Q U ISIT IO N O F SE C O N D LANGU AG E PH O N O L O G Y
T h e study o f the second language speech p ro d u c tio n ca n co n c en trate on theoretical aspects o f the com patibility o f a given linguistic th eo ry w ith th e real-life d a ta , o r o n the investigation o f th e extra-linguistic fa cto rs influencing the studied perform ance. T h e aim o f the p resent article is to check the com patibility o f existing m odels with th e specific typ e o f study, aim in g a t a w holistic view o f the p h en o m en o n o f second lan g uag e speech. T h e developm ent o f second language proficiency can be studied fro m the p o in t o f view o f second language acquisito n as a d y nam ic process o r as a certain stage o f language proficiency which enables second lang uag e users to fu n c tio n w ithin th e m ajo rity , i.e. second lan gu age com m u n ity . As we shall discuss the use o f pho netic p aram eters by th e speak ers a t on e m o m en t in th eir linguitic developm ent, it is the la tte r a p p ro a c h we we shall use. H ow ever, the dynam ism o f language developm ent will be p resen t in the co m p ariso n s across subjects and g rou ps o f subjects: we shall c o m p are the use o f individual p honetic param eters an d th e co m b in atio n o f these param eters in the relatio n to socio-psychological co n d itio n in g o f second langu age acquisition. T h e influence o f social and socio-psychological fa c to rs on the second language acqu sition and p ro d u c tio n h as lon g been recognized and studied. H ow ever, recent years seem to have b ro u g h t a tru e w ealth o f studies and m odels offering n u m ero u s insights in to the n a tu re o f the second language speech. T h e sociolinguistic q u a n tita tiv e analysis in tro duced by L a b о V in the studies o f The So cia l Stratification o f English in N ew Y ork C ity [1966], and Sociolinguistic P atterns [1972b] a lth o u g h c o n cerned w ith m o n o lin g u al com m unities in the first place, offers a n excellent fram ew o rk fo r the study o f v aria tio n w ithin bilingual o r m ulti-lin gu al com m unities as well.
B ilingualism has been extensively studied w ithin th e fram ew o rk o f social psychology; th e studies o f L am b ert and his associates [ L a m b e r t 1967; G a r d n e r a nd L a m b e r t 1972] were devoted to the investigation o f the effect o f su bjects’ attitu d e s and cultural beliefs on individual differences betw een subjects; the studies o f social m ark ed n ess in speech led to the
fo rm u la tio n o f A c co m m o d a tio n T h eo ry advocated by G iles an d associates [ G i l e s , B o u r h i s and T a y l o r 1977; G i l e s , S c h e r e r a nd T a y l o r 1979; B e e b e and G i l e s 1984]; according to th e A c c u ltu ra tio n M o del fo rm u lated by S c h u m a n n [1978, 1986] social an d affective fa cto rs c o m bined co n stitu te a prim ary cause o f v ariation .
N u m ero u s studies discussed the in terrelatio n s betw een the tw o languages o f a bilingual on the basis o f the concept o f interference in tro d u ced by W e i n r e i c h [1953], B r i e r e [1968] an d others. T h e m odel developed by C u m m i n s [1979, 1984] stresses the fact th a t the efficiency o f second language acquisition can be predicted on the basis o f th e level o f the first lan guage developm ent.
T h e distinction betw een second language acq uisition vs. learn in g has been studied by K r a s h e n [1982; 1985]: language acq uisition is claim ed to be an u nconscious process, stim ulated by the in p u t an d p ro gressin g acco rd in g to a certain predictable o rd e r, w hereas form al learnin g equips th e learner w ith the m o n ito r used fo r ‘ed itin g ' the speech. K ra s h e n ’s m odel oflcrs yet a n o th e r angle in viewing v ariatio n in the speech o f th e second language user w ho is a m em ber o f a given m in o rity language speech com m unity. All subjects p articip atin g in o u r experim ent have experienced som e second language learning: regardless o f the ty pe o f form al train in g , they are all conscious o f the rules o f the g ram m ar an d p ro n u n c ia tio n w hen th ey speak o f ‘co rre c t’ English.
4.1. Theories o f Second Language Acquisition relevant to language minorities
T h e discussion o f a p artic u la r second language acq uisition o r learning th eo ry in the co n tex t o f the actu al speech d a ta elicited from the m em bers o f a m in o rity g ro u p is m ainly concerned w ith such aspects o f the th eo ry w hich offer insights in to the differences in p erfo rm an ce betw een individual speakers o f th e sam e g roup, i.e. sharing the sam e linguistic b ac k g ro u n d . T h e first language is the sam e, so is the second, targ e t language; th u s, the sam e co n d itio n s for interference o b tain , and yet there is high variability in overall proficiency, o r in p a rtic u la r aspects o f the ta rg e t language: in o u r case, it is th e variability in acquisition o f th e p h on etic p aram eters used in th e second tongue.
C lear definition o f the variables o f p ertin en t im p o rtan ce to th e second lan guage acquisition serves tw o purposes: it sets guidelines fo r the research p ro ced u res in to the second language p ro d u c tio n on th e one h a n d , and offers the basis fo r practical ap p lica tio n in form al and inform al lan guage in stru ctio n on the oth er. In so fa r as we exclude the individual lang uag e
system s, o u r search fo r the sources o f v aria tio n can be sp ea k er-in tern al o r speak er-external. In o th e r w ords, it is the influence o f the o utsid e w orld th a t causes variatio n , o r/an d certain characteristics o f an individual sp ea k er’s m ind an d em otion s th a t m odify his/h er linguistic perform an ce.
C lose re latio n sh ip betw een social an d psychological facto rs is p re sen t in socio psychological a p p ro a c h developed by L a m b e r t [1967, 1968], w ho stresses the fact th a t the developm ent o f second lan g u ag e proficiency h as im p o rta n t im plications for an individu al’s self-identity. H e d istinguishes attitu d e s, i.e. attitu d in a l reactions to th e language use w ithin o r across com m unities, from ap titu d es, i.e. cognitive abilities, intelligence, etc., and o rie n ta tio n , i.e. th e reaso n s fo r learn in g th e lan g u ag e. A ttitu d e s and o rie n ta tio n are responsible fo r the level o f m o tiv a tio n to learn th e targ e t language; aptitudes, attitu d e s an d m o tiv a tio n are claim ed to have a direct im pact on th e developm ent o f language proficiency.
W hen proficiency o f th e second language reaches a high level, it is believed to have an influence on self-identity o f the learner, resu ltin g in additive o r su btractive bilingualism , d ep en din g o n th e in terg o u p relation s. I f th e proficiency in the second language does n o t entail th e re d u ctio n o f th e first language im po rtan ce, o r its replacem ent, the resu ltin g bilin gualism is called additive, i.e. positive fo r self-identity; the second la n guage proficiency seen as a th rea t to the first lan gu age results in su b tractiv e bilingualism , which m ay lead to loss o f cu ltu ral iden tity o r alie n atio n .
Second language acquisition is viewed as one aspect o f a general process o f a c c u ltu ra tio n o f a n o n -n a tiv e sp ea k er o f a lan g u ag e in th e ta rg e t lan g u ag e speech c o m m u n ity in S c h u m a n n ’s th eo ry . A c c u ltu ra tio n an d second language proficiency are determ ined by the distance betw een a learn er an d th e ta rg e t lan g u ag e speech co m m u n ity ; a n u m b e r o f social an d psychological situ atio n s which determ ine social and psychological d istan ce are recognized, e.g. social equality betw een targ e t an d second lang uag e gro u p s fu nctions as a positive fa cto r, reducing the d istance, w hereas th e lack o f social equality increases the distance; no cu ltu re o r lan gu age shock is a psychologically positive facto r, while the experience o f c u ltu re or language shock increases the distance, actin g as a negative fa cto r, etc. [ S h u m a n n 1978; M c L a u g h l i n 1987].
T h e m ain factors influencing the variability in second language acquisition ac co rd in g to S chum ann are the following:
(1) A ffective variables in accultu ratio n : L anguage shock C u ltu re shock M o tiv atio n E go-perm eability
(2) Social variables in accultu ratio n : D om in ance
In teg ratio n strategy E nclosure
C ohesiveness Size
C u ltu ral congruence G ro u p attitu d e
In ten d ed length o f residence
T h e tw o types o f variables: social and affective are jo in tly trea ted as ‘a c c u ltu ra tio n ’ variable in this m odel. Social facto rs o p erate o n a g ro u p level, in co n tac ts betw een speech com m unities; the individual variables can be seen as m odifying factors acting against the g ro u p ones. T h e social fa cto rs determ in in g second lang uage acquisitio n o n the g ro u p level include social dom inance, integration strategy, enclosure, size, cohesiveness, congruence, a ttitu d e and intended length o f residence. A ffective variables are lan gu age shock, cu ltu re shock, m o tiv a tio n an d ego-perm eability.
In S c h u m a n n ’s fo rm u la tio n o f th e c o n d itio n s fo r second lan g u ag e acqu isitio n , psychological distance dep en d en t on the value o f affective variables fo r individual speakers is a m a jo r facto r. H ow ever, th e social e n v iro n m en t o f the second language, i.e. social co n d itio n in g , alth o u g h idepen d en t o f th e speaker, form s co n d itio n in g facto rs fo r psychological condicyioning. C learly, it is the influence o f social facto rs th a t decides a b o u t th e psychological distance.
B oth L a m b e rt’s and S ch u m an n ’s m odels are concerned w ith second lan g u ag e ac q u isitio n in “ n a tu r a l” setting s, u n d e rsto o d as an ev ery d ay c o n ta c t w ith the native speakers o f the targ e t lang uag e in n o n -in stru c tio n a l situ atio n s. T h ey stress the im p o rtan ce o f the re latio n sh ip s o b tain in g across id iv id u al co m m u n itie s w hich th e learn er belo ngs to , a n d betw een an individual learner vs. each com m unity. H ow ever, these re latio n sh ip s are viewed as relatively stable, static conditions d eterm ining th e process o f second langu age acquisition. In providing the to o ls for the fo rm u la tio n o f ce rtain p red ictio n s a b o u t the degree o f proficiency as th e fu n c tio n o f social/psychological distan ce o r attitu d es, o rien ta tio n an d a p titu d e , the theories fail to ac co u n t fo r a c o n sta n t process o f n eg o tiatio n in lan gu age use, the relativity o f g ro u p m em b ersh ip and self-definition o f g ro u p m e m bership.
A n o th e r m odel o f second language acquisition ra th e r th a n lan g uag e use, concern ed w ith th e final outcom e o f the process in the form o f th e level o f com petence reached by the learners, has been p ro p o sed by G a r d n e r [1979, 1983]. H is w ork, based on his an d L a m b e rt’s experience, in c o rp o ra te s som e o f th e issues already discussed here; how ever, the m od el h
asso-cio -ed u catio n al basis, i.e. it assum es relevance to b o th fo rm al and in fo rm al lan guage acquisition settings.
T h e m ain claim o f the m odel concerns the im p o rtan ce o f social m ilieu, i.e. c u ltu ra l beliefs, in determ ining th e relative im p o rtan ce o f ind iv idu al differences, such as intelligence, ap titu d e, m o tiv a tio n and so on. T hese individual factors have an im pact on the developm ent o f bilingual proficiency, d ep e n d in g o n w h ether th e learn er has experienced fo rm al lan gu age learn in g o r in fo rm al lan guage experience. T h e im p o rtan ce o f individual a ttitu d e s as m a jo r variables stressed in all the above m entio n ed m odels as well as th e rela tio n sh ip betw een social and psychological fa cto rs gives g ro u n d to the p re d ic tio n th a t g ro u p in g o f subjects on th e basis o f social variab les allow s certain pred ictio n s as to the value o f affective variables. C o nseq u en tly , th e nativ e speakers o f P olish w hose English speech p ro d u c tio n is investigated in the co u rse o f o u r experim ent can be divided in to tw o g ro u p s o n th e basis o f social co n d itio n in g [e.g. in teg ra tio n strateg y, enclosure, c u ltu ra l congruence], and certain p redictions as to th e n a tu re o f affective variables ca n be m ade. T h e distance betw een each g ro u p an d th e m ajo rity lang uag e com m unity can be expected to depend on the value o f social and psychological variables.
H ow ever, before the discussion o f sociopsychological variab ility ca n be atte m p te d , the existence o f linguistic co rrelates o f th e variab ility, referred to as sociolinguistic m ark e rs, need to be established.
4.2. Social Marking in Spccch
A s freq uently m en tio n ed , speech as a p h en o m en o n ca n be analysed from v ario u s perspectives, d ep en d in g o n the objectives o f th e study.
A naly sin g speech from a purely linguistic sta n d p o in t, w e are m ain ly co n - cerned w ith aspects o f th e signal as the ca rrier o f th e m essage. H ow ever, as it is n o t possible to divorce th e referential m ean in g from th e in fo rm atio n a b o u t th e sp ea k er’s individual an d social id entity encoded in th e signal, the discussion o f the clues fo r a ttitu d e fo rm a tio n , w hich u nderlie c o m m u n ic a tio n in a social con tex t, form s an integral p a rt o f th e speech oriented research. In so fa r as we accept th e idea o f lang uag e being p a r t o f a system o f social norm s, a b a c k g ro u n d again st w hich an individual ca n act and vary w ithin certain lim its [ S a p i r 1927], we ta k e a sociolinguistic view. A social psychological perspective, on the o th e r h an d , affo rd s th e possibility o f c o n c en tratin g o n the process o f a ttitu d e fo rm a tio n .
It was already in 1929 th a t S apir noticed th e need fo r interd iscip linary stu d y o f linguistics; his statem en t, q u o ted by B r i e r e [1980] in the p ap e r
discussing th e prob lem o f co m m u nicative com petence, v ariab le rules and in te rd isc ip lin a ry re searc h seem s n o t to have lo st its relev ance to d ay : “ L inguists [...] are often accused [...] ju stly , o f failure to lo o k bey o n d the p re tty p a tte rn s o f their subject m a tte r [...] T hey m u st becom e increasingly concerned w ith the m an y an th ro p o lo g ica l, sociological an d psychological p ro b lem s w hich invade the field o f lan guage” [ B r i e r e 1980: 89; cf. S a p i r 1929: 214].
A s B r i e r e [1980] notices, a t the sam e tim e w hen C ho m sky claim ed th a t “ lingustic th eo ry is prim arily concerned w ith an ideal speak er-listen er, in a com pletely ho m o g en o u s speech com m unity , w ho know s its langu age perfectly an d is unaffected by [...] irrelevant co n d itio n s” [ C h o m s k y 1965: 3; B r i e r e 1980], G u m p erz intro d u ced the n o tio n o f d ifferen t rep erto ires available to various m em bers o f speech com m unity. S h ortly afterw ard s, F ish m a n n in tro d u ced the concept o f ‘d o m a in ’ [hom e, school, ch u rch , etc.], an d H ym es d efined the n o tio n o f ‘co m m u n icativ e c o m p e te n c e ’ w hich com plem ents C h o m sk y ’s concept o f purely g ram m atical co m peten ce by ad d in g a fu n ctio n al perspective.
In terd iscip lin ary studies o f linguistics focus o n variability in speech: the variability within m onolingual com m unities, bilingual/m ultilingual com m unities, w ithin one speaker, and across speakers o f th e sam e, o r differen t speech com m unities. Influenced by the investigation o f socially conditioned variability in pho n o lo g y an d phonetics o f the first language by L a b o v [1966, 1972a, b], th e research in to the sociolinguistics o f the second lan g u ag e v ariab ility w as begun in early 1970s, an d has been co n tin u ed by a grow ing n u m b er o f researchers [ D o w d , Z u e n g l e r , B e r k o w i t z 1990].
T h e cen tral d o m ain o f sociolinguistics can be defined as th e “ variety and diversity o f language related to the social fram ew o rk o f its sp ea k ers” [ L o v e d a y 1982]. T h u s, the sociolinguistic perspective po in ts to th e stu dy o f linguistic m a rk e rs p rovidin g social in fo rm atio n : in th e stu d y o f speech signal, these are the co m p o n en ts o f w h at is generally referred to as accent. U n d e rsto o d as a set o f system atic p ro n u n c ia tio n variables, o r system atic differences in acoustic p ro p erties o f speech so u nd s o f a given lan g uag e [ W e l l s 1982], accent is a su b ject-m atter o f sociophonetics.
T h e social aspects o f being bilingual o r m ultiling ual, a very im p o rta n t issue fo r the users and learners o f non-native languages, have been extensively studied by sociolinguists. T h e study has co n c en trate d o n m in o rity g ro u p s in different countries, the co n d itio n s fo r social acceptance an d lan gu age m ain ten an c e, the problem o f ethnic identity and solidarity. T h e th eories w hich seem m o st insightful for the second language ac q u isitio n c o n d itio n in g in th e bilingual situ atio n are based o n L a m b e rt’s social psychology m o d el o f second lan g u ag e ac q u isitio n [ L a m b e r t 1967] as a p recu rso r: the b eforem entioned S ch u m an n ’s th eo ry o f ac c u ltu ra tio n , and th e A ccom
-m o d a tio n T h eo ry prop o sed by G i l e s [1977, 1979] and associates [ G i l e s , B o u r g h i s , T a y l o r 1977].
T h e p h en o m en o n o f style-shifting and social m a rk in g in th e second lan g u ag e o f bilin g u al sp eak ers has been no ticed a t d iffe ren t levels o f proficiency, even a t th e beginning level [ B e b e e a nd G i l e s , 1984]. C o n sequently, th e dynam ics o f speech v aria tio n needs to be included in all types od second language studies if we w ant to be able to in terp re t the second language p ro d u c tio n in a system atic way and d ra w any conclusions from the v aria tio n in h ere n t in it. T h e ex p lan ato ry th eo ry w hich seem s very insightful in this respect, is th e A c co m m o d a tio n T h eo ry prop o sed by G iles an d associates [ G i l e s 1977; G i l e s , S c h r e r e r a nd T a y l o r 1979].
T h e m odel is based on the claim o f social psychology [ G i l e s 1977] th a t sociolinguistics should n o t lim it itself to th e discussion o f th e reflection o f large scale sociological categories o f the language; th ere is a need fo r a n integ rated m odel w hich w ould com bine sociolinguistic variab les w ith such social psychological variables as: in terlo cu to rs’ feelings, m otives and values, their percep tio n o f each o th er and th e in tera ctio n in general. In th is sense, A c co m m o d a tio n T h eo ry can be viewed as an extended version o f S ch u m an n ’s concept o f relatively fixed social and psychological distance, enriched by the idea o f d ym an ie relatio n sh ip betw een in terlo cu to rs, w hose feelings o f social and psychological proxim ity flu ctu ate all th e tim e.
T h e o b serv atio n th a t people tend to ad ju st th eir speech in o rd e r to express th eir values and inten tio n s, has led to p o stu latin g tw o term s fo r tw o d istinct types o f style shifting: convergence - th e sp ea k er’s style-shift to w ard s th e in terlo cu to r; divergence - th e shift aw ay from th e in terlo cu to r, em ployed in o rd e r to m a in ta in or assert distinctivcness. D ivergence ten d s to o ccur w hen in terg ro u p categorization is explicit, co nsequ ently p ro v o k in g a th re a t to distinctivencss o r identity [ B e e b e and Z u eng ler 1983].
Speech is believed to co n tain social m ark e rs o p eratin g a t tw o levels [ G i l e s , S c h r e r e r a nd T a y l o r 1979]. Level 1 is argued to serve to categorize speakers a t a general biological o r social level; th e level 1 m ark e rs convey in fo rm atio n a b o u t gender, social class, ethn ic g ro u p o r physical size. Level 2 m ark e rs reflect such m o re subtle an d ch anging states as beliefs and m otives. T h e evidence fo r the existence o f tw o levels o f m a rk in g in speech com es from the studies o f B e e b e [1977], B e e b e and Z u e n g l e r [1983], Z u e n g l e r [1988], b u t th ere is a need to co n d u c t fu rth e r studies in o rd e r to d eterm in e the re latio n sh ip betw een social m ark e rs in the p ro n u n c ia tio n o f a language as the first o r th e second one.
T h e studies co nducted by B erkow itz, D ow d and Z u en gler [ D o w d , Z u e n g l e r a nd B e r k o w i t z 1990] p o in t to th e use o f earlier atested social m a rk e r o f E nglish as the first language, i.e. co n so n a n t clusters, d en tal fricatives and /г/, in English as the second language. T h e use o f /г/ as
a social m a rk e r in L 2 E nglish w as evident in all th ree studies, w hereas co n so n a n t clusters proved to be social clusters in the tw o first studies. T h e case o f /г/, consistently ap p e arin g as a m a rk e r in th e studies, suggests the tendency fo r som e so unds to be m o re likely to fu n ctio n as social m a rk e rs th a n others. T here is h ard ly any w ay to p redict w hich sou nd will play this role; ac co rd in g to I r u d g i l l [1981] so und s p ro duced w ith th e g reatest conscio u sn ess by n a tiv e sp eak ers ten d to u n d e rg o shifts, i.e. b eco m e m ark e rs, referred to as stereotypes by L a b o v [1972].
H ow ever, the degree o f consciousness involved in th e choice o f m ark e rs ca n vary; D o w d , Z u e n g l e r and B e r k o w i t z [1990] suggest th a t I ru d g ill’s claim covers only the m o st com m on m ark e rs, w hereas o th e r m a rk e rs o p erate on a less conscious or unconscious level. A cco rd in g to G i l e s , S c h r e r e r a nd T a y l o r [1979], b o th p ro so d ic and p h o n etic v a ria n ts ca n c a rry social m ean in g . T h e n a tu re o f p h o n e tic d a ta , th e co n tin u ity o f th e investigated signal p osits problem s w ith assessm ent o f the L2 p ro d u c tio n i.e. ju d g e m e n t co n c ern in g th e degree o f c o n fo rm ity o f a given sou n d w ith the L I norm . T h e ran ge o f acceptab ility is necessary in o rd e r to re n d er o u r ju d g em en t as to the closeness o f a given sou nd to the LI sound reliable. M oreover, we need to know th e range o f acceptability an d the value ju d g em en t fo r the c o m p arab le L I p ro d u c tio n .
5. CONCLUSIONS
1 he p resen t review o f c u rren t theories an d fram ew o rk s p erta in in g to th e d y n am ic stu d y o f second language speech p ro d u c tio n d a ta w as m e a n t to in tro d u ce basic p roblem s ra th e r th an p ro v id e answ ers. T h e m a in issue, i.e. th e q u estio n o f the possibility o f achieving the goal o f a unified analysis o f such d a ta w ithin a unified fram ew ork, rem ains open fo r fu rth e r inves tig atio n . W e have n o t m anaged to provide any solutions; how ever, w h a t we ho p e to h ave achieved is the preview o f n u m ero u s p rob lem s th a t need to be addressed by a holistic functional stud y o f speech.
T h e analysis o f speech d a ta elicited from the second lan g uag e lan gu age users requires unified re p resen ta tio n system , which w ould be re a d a b le by the p h o n o lo g ical th eo ry in o rd e r to a tte m p t any g en eralisatio ns as to the ac q u isito n o f the p hon ological system ; the elicitation o f th e d a ta needs to be p erfo rm ed w ithin strict m etho d o lo g ical guidelines o f an a d e q u a te so- cio-psychological th eo ry in o rd e r to allow socio-psychological gen eralisation s o f the results; finally, the variables chosen for th e analysis need to be carefully selected and m otiv ated w ith respect to th e p h o n o lo g ical th eo ry as well as the socio-psychological fram ew o rk.
O nce th e theoretical prerequisite fo r the study are m et, th e d y nam ic n a tu re o f physically real speech p a tte rn s ca n be included in to th e analysis o f speech variability. B ridging the gap betw een physical reality an d th e stru c tu re o f th e category-based system m ean s getting closer to th e process o f system fo rm a tio n ; the im p o rtan ce o f finding new insights in to th e actu al w o rk o f a bilingual m ind c a n n o t be overestim ated. W e believe th a t it is only th ro u g h th e holistic m eth o d o lo g y th a t we ca n learn m o re a b o u t system s a t w ork; an d we need to k now m o re a b o u t th e dy m am ic linguistic system o f th e second lan guag e user in o rd e r to w iden the scope o f lan g u ag e p ro d u c tio n studies an d p ractical applicatio n s o f th e th eoretical studies to lan guage teaching and learning.
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