| The present study investigated the production and perception of English lexical stress by Nanchang dialect speakers of English.Nanchang dialect is a tonal language with pitch as the main acoustic correlate of its tones,while English is a stress language with F0,duration,intensity and vowel quality as the primary acoustic correlates of stress.In these years,researchers have been focusing on second language learners’ acquisition of English lexical stress.Most studies investigated L2 learners’ use of acoustic correlates in either stress production or perception,while few studies simultaneously explored the use of acoustic correlates in the realizing as well as processing of English lexical stress.These studies have indicated that influenced by the prosodic systems of their first languages,L2 learners,especially those whose first languages(L1s)are tonal languages,often encounter difficulties in acquiring English lexical stress.Meanwhile,the performances of L2 learners of different tonal L1 backgrounds vary.However,due to the limited research participants and their L1 s,research on stress acquisition by learne rs of tonal L1 s is not comprehensive.Besides,since few studies focused on both production and perception,the relationship between production and perception in terms of English lexical stress remains to be explored.Taking Nanchang dialect speakers and native English speakers as research subjects and Stress Typological Model and cue-weighting theory as the theoretical framework.The current study attempts to investigate the influence of Nanchang dialect on stress acquisition by comparing the performance of NC speakers and NE speakers in producing and perceiving English lexical stress.Nanchang dialect is chosen because as a tonal language whose prosodic system differs from those of tonal languages that were investigated before,it not only provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of the influence of the L1 prosody system on L2 speech learning,but also makes it possible to give an account for the relationship between production and perception in terms of L2 stress.The specific research questions are as follows:1)How do Nanchang dialect speakers and native English speakers use acoustic correlates(F0,duration,intensity and vowel quality)to differentiate stressed syllables from unstressed ones in producing English lexical stress?2)How are the similarities and differences in the utilization of acoustic correlates made by Nanchang dialect speakers and native English speakers in stress production to be explained from a cross-linguistic perspective?3)How do Nanchang dialect speakers and native English speakers use acoustic correlates(F0,duration,intensity and vowel quality)to differentiate stressed syllables from unstressed ones in perceiving English lexical stress?4)How are the similarities and differences in the utilization of acoustic correlates made by Nanchang dialect speakers and native English speakers in stress perception to be explained from a cross-linguistic perspective?An experimental group of 12 L1 NC speakers and a control group of 12 L1 NE speakers were invited to participate in two experiments.The production experi ment was conducted first,in which the reading materials were made up of seven pairs of disyllabic real words with identical spellings and different stress patterns.Eight pairs of disyllabic nonwords with different stress patterns were used in the followi ng perception experiment.The findings of the study are as follows:1)Both the L1 NC and L1 NE groups employed F0,duration,intensity and vowel quality to realize English lexical stress.F0 and intensity were used by both groups in the same pattern.But L1 NC speakers differed significantly from L1 NE speakers in the use of duration and vowel quality.2)Nanchang dialect may affect L1 NC participants’ production and perception of English lexical stress to certain degree.Nanchang dialect is a tonal language in which pitch is used the most,while duration,intensity and vowel quality are seldom used to realize lexical tones.There was no significant difference bet ween L1 NE group and L1 NC group in the use of F0 and intensity in the production of English lexical stress;but these groups differed significantly from each other in the use of duration and vowel quality in production.These results showed that the use o f acoustic correlates in Nanchang dialect might have an impact on L1 NC learners’ English stress production.3)When perceiving stress,both L1 NE and L1 NC listeners were sensitive to all acoustic cues.L1 NC listeners performed like L1 NE listeners in a ll cue conditions.However,the cue-weighting of acoustic cues differed across L1 NC and L1 NE groups.For L1 NC listeners the ranking order was F0 / vowel quality / duration > intensity,while the ranking order for L1 NE listener s was vowel quality > F0 / duration > intensity.4)In light of the acoustic characteristics of Nanchang dialect,L1 NC listeners might be affected by their first language when perceiving English lexical stress,which was manifested by their use of F0 and int ensity.However,L1 NC group and L1 NE group differed significantly from each other in the use of duration and vowel quality in production,but not in perception.Hence,it can be concluded that the prosodic features of an L1(Nanchang dialect)may have an impact on L1 NC learners’ acquisition of English lexical stress,but this impact is not absolute.This study has the following significance: 1)the new empirical results which are obtained by selecting participants strictly and employing reliable experimental methods support Stress Typology Model and cue-weighting theory.2)The understanding of the relationship between the production and percep tion of stress has been deepened through investigating L1 NC speakers’ production and perception of English lexical stress simultaneously.3)The study is of reference value and guidance significance to the pronunciation pedagogy.Based on the findings,it is suggested that explicit teaching and training in duration and vowel quality is necessary for L1 NC learners. |
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