2.3 Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH)

• Eckman (1981) proposed the Markedness Difference Hypotheses (MDH), which groups the phonemes into marked or unmarked ones.

－ Unmarked sounds exist in most languages

around the world, like /p/, /d/, /a/,and /i/.

－ Marked sounds do not exist in most languages

such as the voice contrast stop coda, /ʒ /,/θ/, and /ð/.• For L2 learners, it is generally effortless to acquire

unmarked sounds, while the more marked a phoneme is, the more difficult it is to pronounce it without an accent.

2.5 The predictions of each SLA theory• If CAH is supported, /θ/, /ð/, and /ʒ / should be more

difficult to acquire than /tʃ /,/dʒ / and /ʃ /.

－ According to CAH, new sounds are difficult to acquire.

• If SLM is supported, /tʃ /, /dʒ / and /ʃ / should be more difficult to master than /ʒ /,/θ/,/ð/.

－ According to SLM, new phonemes are difficult to acquire but easy to master. In contrast, similar phonemes are easy to acquire but difficult to master.

• If MDH is supported, the difficulty level of the following phonemes should be /ʒ /> {/θ/ and /ð/}>{/tʃ /, /dʒ / and /ʃ /}.

－ According to MDH, this order is consistent with the markedness level.

2.5 SLA theory: Three main theories about second language pronunciation acquisition.

SLA theory

Identical phonemes:

Similar phonemes:

New sounds:

The relative degree of difficulty should not only focus on L1 and L2, but also on the universal languages.

Marked sounds: 2. SLM 3.MDH3.MDH

1. CAH

Similar phonemes:

New sounds:

The comparison of L1 and L2 is not sufficient

Unmarked sounds:

more difficult to masterEX. /ʒ /

easier to acquire

2.5 The predictions of each SLA theory

/ʒ /

/θ/

/ð/

/tʃ /

/dʒ /

/ʃ /CAH

SLM

MDH

TaiwaneseSLA

learners?

Chapter 3 Methodology

3.5

Research

question

and

hypotheses

3.1 Participants

3.2 Material

3.3 Measurement

3.4 Research

design

.

Chapter 3 Methodology

• If a linguist wants to know whether L2 learners produce fricatives like L2 native speakers, he or she will inspect the peak of fricative frequency and the CV transient.

• This thesis aims to figure out the authentic SLA situation pronunciation acquisition in Taiwan, and few researchers have undertaken the acoustic analysis of fricatives and affricates.

• More specifically, the peak of fricative frequency and the CV transient of the six phonemes, /ʒ /,/θ/,/ð/,/tʃ /, /dʒ / and /ʃ /, are evaluated to better understand the Taiwanese SLA.

Group1

3.1 Participants

36 male

6 English native

speakers(age 21)

The thirty-six participants are divided into four groups based on their age and mother tongues.

Group2

10 Junior high school

students (age 13)

Group3

10 Senior high school

students (age 17)

Group4

10 University

students (age21)

3.1 Participants• Flege (1992) examined the perception and production

of a novel second language, and found that an additional four years of English learning experience did not lead to any significant difference.

－ One of the hypotheses in this study is that an additional four years of English learning experience in a non-English spoken country does not improve the speaker’s English pronunciation.

3.1 Participants• Few researchers have investigated the efficacy of

having an extra eight years of L2 learning in a non-L2 country.

－ The second hypothesis of this paper is that an additional eight years of English learning experience in a non-L2 spoken country can improve L2 learners’ pronunciation.

3.2 Material• The focus of this paper is to examine how the four

groups pronounce the following six phonemes, /ʒ /,/θ/,/ð/,/tʃ /, /dʒ /, and /ʃ /.

• These six sounds are useful for comparing the contrastive analysis hypotheses (CAH), the speech learning model(SLM), and the markedness differential hypothesis (MDH).

• The six phonemes are distributed in different positions in eighty-eight selected English words.

Examples of the words analyzed in this study

3.3 Measurement Linguists use two ways to measure the correctness

of fricative pronunciation (Chung, 2009).

LPC

► Examine noisy turbulence

► Comparing the peak of

fricative frequency to obtain

the locations of the four

groups’ tips of the tongue in

the production of these six

sounds.

Assistance of spectrogram

► Observing the F2 of the CV

transient, since F2 is also

related to the front or rear

location of the tip of the

tongue.

CV transient

3.3.1 LPC

• Noisy turbulence is influenced by the distance between the tip of the tongue and the lips (Chung, 2009).

• The greater the peak of the fricative frequency (LPC), the more to the front the tip of the speaker’s, while the reverse is true the smaller the peak of the fricative frequency (LPC) is.

 

3.3.1 LPC• After recording the sounds, the PRAAT software is used to measure the location of tongue in the form of an LPC number.

• The SPSS the statistical software is then used to identify whether or not the three Taiwanese groups differ significantly from the English native speaker group.

• In this study, independent samples t-tests are applied to know whether or not these groups perform with significant differences.

Sample of LPC

3.3.2 CV transient(supplementary data)

• With CV transient, formants one and two are observed.

－ Formant one (F1) shows the height of tongue. The smaller the number F1 is, the higher the tongue is.

－ Formant two (F2) is related to a front or rear location of the tip of the tongue. The bigger F2 is, the more to the front the tongue is.  

• This paper only needs the F2 data because both it and LPC are related to the front or back location of the tip of the tongue.

3.3.2 CV transient(supplementary data)

• Only vowels and sonorants have formants, and neighboring consonants can influence the formants of vowels.

• With the assistance of the CV transient, the locational relationship between the six sounds and vowels can also be known.

• The CV transient cannot be calculated using SPSS to know whether Taiwanese students differ significantly from English native speakers.

Sample of CV transient

3.4 Research design

3.5 Research question and hypotheses

H2

An additional eight more years

of English learning

experience in a non-English

spoken country are effective in

improving English learners’ pronunciation.

RQ1

The research question

examines which SLA theory can best explain the acquisition of

English pronunciation in

Taiwan.

H1

•

An additional four years of English

learning experience in a

non-English spoken country

does not improve English learners’ pronunciation.

Chapter Four: Results and Analysis

/ʒ /,/θ/,/ð/,

/tʃ /,/dʒ /,/ʃ /

as

4.1.1

Group 2 vs.

Group 1

4.1.2

Group 3 vs.

Group 1

4.1.3

Group 4 vs.

Group 1

4.1.4 The four

groups’ average

performances of

/ʃ/,/tʃ/,and /dʒ/

4.1.5 The effects

of an additional

four years of

English learning

experience

4.1.6 The ffects

of an additional

eight years of

English learning

experience

4.1 Coda garage teeth breathe teach bridge wish

4.2 Onset pleasure mother teacher teenager fisherman

before

/ɚ/

4.3 Onset thousand without chocolate John shop

before /a/

4.4 Onset thief these cheese jeans sheep

before /i/

RQ1 ： The predictions of each SLA theory?

/ʒ /

/θ/

/ð/

/tʃ /

/dʒ /

/ʃ /CAH

SLM

MDH

Taiwanese?

4.1 /ʒ/,/θ/,/ð/,/tʃ/, /dʒ/, and /ʃ/ as the coda

4.1.1 Group 2 vs. Group 1

Group N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean p value

garage 1 6 2922.17 321.024 131.057 .122

2 10 3562.80 982.586 310.721

breathe 1 6 4998.67 1346.727 549.799 .426

2 8 5450.13 679.166 240.121

teeth 1 6 5532.50 641.748 261.992 .202

2 10 5601.40 1385.170 438.029

bridge 1 6 3202.67 268.030 109.423 .105

2 9 3579.67 966.515 322.172

teach 1 6 3234.33 336.093 137.209 .385

2 10 3486.70 824.576 260.754

wish 1 6 3089.67 276.743 112.980 .000

2 9 4050.33 1474.352 491.451 *When p value is smaller than .05, the groups perform significantly differently.

Table 4.1. Group statistics of LPC for Group Two and Group One (as the coda)

4.1 /ʒ/,/θ/,/ð/,/tʃ/, /dʒ/, and /ʃ/ as the coda

＊ The order of the tip of the tongue from front to rear of Group One is {/θ/ (5532), /ð/(4998)}> {/tʃ /(3234), /dʒ /(3203), /ʃ /(3090), /ʒ /(2922)}.

＊ The order of the tip of the tongue from front to rear of Group Two is {/θ/ (5601), /ð/(5450)}>/ʃ /(4050), >

{/dʒ /(3580), /ʒ/(3536)/tʃ /(3487)}.

－ Only /ʃ/ is pronounced significantly differently, and the p value is .000.

－ Only in the production of /ʃ/ do Taiwanese junior high school students differ from American native speakers.

4.1.1 Group 2 vs. Group 1(English Native Speaker)

4.1 /ʒ/,/θ/,/ð/,/tʃ/, /dʒ/, and /ʃ/ as the coda

4.1.2 Group 3 vs. Group 1 Table 4.2. Group statistics of LPC for Group Three and Group One (as the coda)

Group N

Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean p value

garage 1 6 2922.17 321.024 131.057 .073

3 10 3657.90 1102.562 348.661

breathe 1 6 4998.67 1346.727 549.799 .661

3 10 5348.20 1574.735 497.975

teeth 1 6 5532.50 641.748 261.992 .435

3 10 5367.40 816.747 258.278

bridge 1 6 3202.67 268.030 109.423 .068

3 10 3826.30 1018.850 322.189

teach 1 6 3234.33 336.093 137.209 .006

3 10 4130.50 1189.397 376.120

wish 1 6 3089.67 276.743 112.980 .057

3 10 3805.50 1169.749 369.907

*When p value is smaller than .05, the groups perform significantly differently.

4.1 /ʒ/,/θ/,/ð/,/tʃ/, /dʒ/, and /ʃ/ as the coda

＊ The order of the tip of the tongue from front to rear of Group One is {/θ/ (5532), /ð/(4998)}> {/tʃ /(3234), /dʒ /(3203), /ʃ /(3090), /ʒ /(2922)}.

＊ The order of the tip of the tongue from front to rear of Group Three is {/θ/ (5367), /ð/(5348)} >

{/tʃ /(4130), /ʃ /(4050), /dʒ /(3826), /ʒ/(3658)}.

－ Only /tʃ / ( is pronounced significantly differently, and the p value is .006.

－ Senior high school participants produced /ʃ /, /tʃ / and /dʒ / with more difficulty than /θ/ and /ð/.

4.1.2 Group 3 vs. Group 1(English Native Speaker)

4.1 /ʒ/,/θ/,/ð/,/tʃ/, /dʒ/, and /ʃ/ as the coda

4.1.3 Group 4 vs. Group 1 Table 4.3. Group statistics of LPC for Group Four and Group One (as the coda)

Group N

Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean p value

garage 1 6 2922.17 321.024 131.057 .062

4 10 3573.80 1063.714 336.376

breathe 1 6 4998.67 1346.727 549.799 .720

4 9 4759.00 1377.230 459.077

teeth 1 6 5532.50 641.748 261.992 .327

4 10 5126.10 1372.902 434.150

bridge 1 6 3202.67 268.030 109.423 .050

4 10 3590.00 1115.961 352.898

teach 1 6 3234.33 336.093 137.209 .078

4 10 3630.70 1016.352 321.399

wish 1 6 3089.67 276.743 112.980 .046

4 10 3549.40 1326.832 419.581 *When p value is smaller than .05, the groups perform significantly differently.