L1 allophones and L2 sound perception

The bi-level input processing model posits two levels of speech sound processing. In this model, context-bound allophones are encoded separately at a lower level of processing. If this is the case, second language learners should exhibit some facilitation effect when perceiving non-native phonemes that are used as context-bound allophones in their first language. Using a cue-weighting design, the current study tested the hypothesis that Canadian French listeners should be able to apply their sensitivity to spectral changes in the high front tense-lax vowel allophones in their first language to perceive the high front tense-lax vowel phonemes in English. Our results demonstrate that most of the Canadian French listeners could perceive the English vowel contrast in a way similar to North American native English listeners. We further discuss possible explanations as to why some could not, and why a previous study with Spanish listeners did not demonstrate such facilitation effect.