Temporal patterns of native Mandarin Chinese speakers’ productions of English stop-vowel syllable

Abstract

Second language (L2) production can be a kind of interlanguage, a relatively stable system bearing the nature of both the native language (L1) and L2. Within such a system sound components of a syllable may bear their own interlanguage characteristics and yet interact with the other component sounds. The present study investigates temporal patterns of L1–L2 interaction at the syllable level. Audio recordings were made of English stop-vowel syllables produced by native speakers of Mandarin who were fluent in English (ChE). Native English productions (AmE) of these syllables and native productions of Mandarin (ChM) stop-vowel syllables were acquired as native norms. Temporal measures included stop closure duration, voice-onset time (VOT), vowel duration, and syllable duration. Results show that the internal timing components of ChE often deviate from AmE, with the closure duration, VOT, and vowel duration being intermediate to AmE and ChM. However, at the syllable level, ChE productions tend to follow the overall patterns of AmE. Temporal deviations were often compensated by temporal compensation of other components in the syllable, maintaining a balanced consonant/vowel distribution. These findings have implications for a broader understanding of L2 productions.