The Acquisition of English Short A and E by Second Language Learners

The Acquisition of English Short A and E by Second Language Learners

The Roles of Vowel Height, Duration and Task for German Learners of the English Short A and E Contrast

LAP Lambert Academic Publishing ( 2010-10-13 )

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A common problem for English as a Second Language (ESL) learners is producing Short A and E accurately and maintaining the contrast between them. Traditionally, vowel height has been considered to be a distinctive feature between vowels. Vowel duration and the voicing of consonants have been considered to be redundant features. It is unclear the extent to which vowel height, duration, word-final voicing, and attention to speech affect the accuracy of learners'' Short A and E productions. This book provides a study that was conducted of 20 native German speakers in order to determine the role of distinctive and redundant features in their pronunciation of Short A and E. Vowel height, duration and the production of [t] and [d] were found to promote the L1 German speakers'' production of the Short A and E contrast. The book will be of interest to ESL/EFL pronunciation specialists and anyone interested in the fields of Second Language Phonology and Second Language Acquisition. It will be useful for people who are interested in gaining an in-depth understanding of the complexity of English learners'' pronunciation of Short A and E.

Book Details:

ISBN-13:

978-3-8433-5537-7

ISBN-10:

3843355371

EAN:

9783843355377

Book language:

English

By (author) :

Joanna Labov

Number of pages:

276

Published on:

2010-10-13

Category:

General and comparative linguistics