Target-like distribution of Norwegian lexical pitch accents in spontaneous speech produced by L2 speakers

In this paper, we present a study of tonal patterns of Accentual Phrases (APs) in spontaneous speech produced by ten Second Language (L2) speakers of Norwegian. The speakers are multilingual, and their dominant language is either Lingala or Swahili. Analyses of 1000 APs (100 per speaker) show that all the speakers produce the expected lexical pitch accent in a significant majority of the cases. Our initial hypothesis that the Lingala speakers, by virtue of speaking a language with lexical tones, have an advantage over the Swahili speakers in the acquisition of the Norwegian lexical pitch accents is not supported by the data.