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14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-14)San Francisco, CA, USA |
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14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS-14)San Francisco, CA, USA |
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The phonetic performance of an adult learner in L2 is marked by the use of L1 units. It has been said that the production of a "new" phone of L2, i.e. having no corresponding sound in L1, may be eventually mastered. The production of a "similar" phone, i.e. having a corresponding sound in L1, may be blocked by the perceptual mechanism of equivalence classification. This paper observes [u] in General American English (GAE) and in French (F), and GAE[ju] and F[y] in L1 and L2. We invalidate conclusions based on static data which maintain that English speakers better master F[y] as a "new" phone, than F[u] as a "similar" phone. Dynamic data show the importance of taking the entire gesture into consideration.
Bibliographic reference. Lauret, Bertrand (1999): "Production of a "new" phone: the vocalic gesture", In ICPhS-14, 1157-1160.