STiLL - Speech Technology in Language Learning May 25-27, 1998 Marholmen, Sweden

Can Language Learners Ever Acquire the Intonation of a Second Language?

Ineke Mennen

Department of Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh

This paper reports the results of a production experiment which investigated the acquisition of some aspects of second language (L2) intonation in adulthood. The aspects of intonation under investigation were (i) the timing of the peak (alignment), and (ii) the pitch range. It was found that most of the Dutch speakers of Modern Greek, even though they were very advanced, had failed to acquire native-like production for these aspects of intonation. Non-native alignment was consistently earlier than, and pitch range was narrower than in native speakers' Greek. It is suggested here that in the teaching of intonation attention should not only be given to the intonation patterns (the different melodies) of a foreign language, but also to phonetic detail.

Full Paper

Bibliographic reference.  Mennen, Ineke (1998): "Can language learners ever acquire the intonation of a second language?", In STiLL-1998, 17-20.