It is unclear what roles native language (L1) and second language (L2) play in the perception of lexical tones in a third language (L3). Listeners with different language backgrounds use different F0 cues in tonal perception. While English listeners use F0 height, Mandarin listeners rely more on F0 direction. The present study addresses whether knowledge of Mandarin as an L2 results in listener...

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) is a strong predictor of reading across languages. However, it remains unclear if the effects RAN in first language (L1) transfer to second (L2) and results vary as function orthographic proximity L1–L2. To fill this gap literature, we examined role accuracy fluency eight languages representing different writing systems. Seven hundred thirty-five university studen...

The current project investigated the extent to which several lexical aspects of second language (L2) speech—appropriateness, fluency, variation, sophistication, abstractness, sense relations— interact to influence native speakers’ judgements of comprehensibility (ease of understanding) and accentedness (linguistic nativelikeness). Extemporaneous speech elicited from 40 French speakers of Englis...

Autism may lead to distorted speech production. Studies on clinical populations investigating phonological processes in first (L1) and second (L2) language indicate that a higher number of processes is applied in L2 because L2 is a more difficult linguistic context. We investigated phonological processes in a Polish speaking adolescent with moderate-functioning autism who had intermediate profi...

This study aims at investigating whether Persian native speakers highly advanced in English as a second language (L2ers) can switch to optimal processing strategies in the languages they know and whether working memory capacity (WMC) plays a role in this respect. To this end, using a self-paced reading task, we examined the processing strategies 62 Persian speaking proficient L2ers used to read...

The assessment of second language (L2) speaking has long been an important yet challenging area of research in language testing. L2 testers are often concerned with designing authentic speaking tasks that resemble real-life speaking activities so that score interpretations are generalizable to non-test contexts. The conversational nature of speaking skills has promoted the widespread integratio...

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the influence of age (adult vs. child) and length of residence (LOR) in an L2-speaking country (3 vs. 5 years) on degree of foreign accent in a second language (L2). Korean adults and children living in North America, and age-matched groups of native English (NE) adults and children, recorded English sentences in sessions held 1.2 years apa...

The paper presents a method to visualize the timing related levels of prosodic organization that have an influence on the rhythmic shape of an utterance. Timing relations can be characteristic of a language or a speaking style. The method is illustrated on various languages classified as stress timed or syllable timed, on a rhythmically unclassified language and L2 speech. The visualization met...

The speculation, that the Saudi EFL learners with less exposure to target language exhibit more mother tongue influence on their second speaking, is apparent. phonetic similarity of two languages helps grasp lexical accent accurate articulation words from language. However, difference in sound patterns various prompts mispronounce frequently. This critical study endeavors evaluate influential a...

Previous research [9] suggests that Dutch learners of (British) English are not able to express sarcasm prosodically in their L2. The present study investigates whether explicit training on the prosodic markers of sarcasm in English can improve learners’ realisation of sarcasm. Sarcastic speech was elicited in short simulated telephone conversations between Dutch advanced learners of English an...