The perception of English vowels by native Korean and Mandarin speakers

Second language learners often experience difficulties discriminating L2 contrasts absent in their L1. Theoretical frameworks, (e.g., SLM, PAM, L2LP), make predictions about the acquisition of phonemes based on existence equivalent or similar L1 phonemes, but do not explicitly consider extent allophonic variability as a contributing factor. The present study compared perceptual discrimination English /ɪ-i/ and /ɛ-æ/ by with Mandarin Korean backgrounds. Both languages have only one phoneme for two relevant contrasts. Furthermore, [ɛ] is an allophone highly variable mid vowel /E/, while /ɛ/ lacks this variability. Allophonic may condition to accept diverse qualities acceptable renditions corresponding phoneme, therefore lowering discriminability. In AX task, 16 Standard 14 speakers were vowels, but, predicted, group was less accurate pairs. These findings suggest that needs be considered when making theory-driven concerning specific phonological categories.