L3 phonology: contributions of L1 and L2 to L3 pronunciation learning by Hong Kong speakers

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to investigate the influence of 24 Hong Kong learners’ first and second languages (L1 and L2 – Cantonese and English, respectively) on the acquisition of Mandarin as a third language (L3) and to discuss how multilingual learners acquire L3 pronunciation features. The most frequent phonological features in L2 English and L3 Mandarin pronunciations were first analysed and reported. A questionnaire survey and a follow up interview were then conducted. The results of the feature analyses show that the most frequent errors in L2 English pronunciation were /ð/→/d/ and /v/→/f/ among consonants and absence of contrasts between /ɪ ʊ/ and /iː uː/, and the most common errors in L3 Mandarin were h→k and n→l among consonants, eng→ang within vowels, and confusion of tone change. The questionnaire responses indicated that the learners’ perceptions generally agreed with their actual phonological productions. The learners made use of pronunciation strategies in their L2 and L3 pronunciation learning. The interview data revealed the impact of typological distance, L2 and L3 language proficiency levels, and phonological properties of L1 on language interaction.

KEYWORDS:

• L2/L3 phonology
• phonological transfer
• pronunciation learning and teaching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Hsueh Chu Chen http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0947-7246

Qian Wen Han http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9144-9724

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Education University of Hong Kong [grant number Internal research grant].