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Issues in Foreign Language Speech
Research
Invited speaker: Dr. Ocke-Schwen Bohn (Aarhus
University).
Organizer: Dr. María Luisa García Lecumberri (University of the Basque Country).
The phonetic component of linguistic communication is in many cases the most salient characteristic of non-native speakers. Nevertheless, researchers have devoted less attention to the acquisition of foreign language (FL) speech than to the acquisition of other linguistic areas.
Over the past few decades there has been great progress in understanding the nature of human speech production and perception, and in applying these insights to FL speech. However FL speech research, though sharing many characteristics with native language (NL) research, has its own conditionings which assail investigators. Many of the issues stem from the fact that the acquisition of FL speech takes place when another sound system (NL) has already been established. Additionally, FLs –as opposed to NLs- may be acquired through a diversity of routes (ranging from formal instruction to immersion, with native and/or non-native input, etc.). Moreover, the populations object of study display varied competences, which introduces a myriad of speaker variables to account for achievement differences. All these and other circumstances complicate the task of analyzing FL speech.
This workshop is designed to offer a comprehensive perspective of the issues and problems that FL speech researches must be aware of and control. For that purpose, invited talkers will cover topics ranging from FL speech perception models to methodological considerations.
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