{"id":831,"date":"2021-10-12T09:06:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T09:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/?p=831"},"modified":"2022-02-21T12:14:17","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T12:14:17","slug":"seminar-oct-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/2021\/10\/12\/seminar-oct-20\/","title":{"rendered":"HL2C Seminar: Gabriela Tavares (NOVA), Phonological categorization of L2 Portuguese"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our next HL2C seminar will take place on Wednesday, October 20<\/strong> from 12pm to 1pm UK time (same as Lisbon). This talk is a joint initiative with Lancaster’s SLLAT Research Group.<\/p>\n

Presenters:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gabriela Tavares (NOVA University Lisbon), Andrea Deme (Hungarian Academy of Sciences & Eo\u0308tvo\u0308s Lora\u0301nd University), and Susana Correia (NOVA University Lisbon)<\/p>\n

Title:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phonological categorization of L2 Portuguese by Hungarian native speakers<\/p>\n

How to join: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Our seminars are free to attend. Simply sign up to the HL2C Mailing List<\/a> to receive the link to join us via Microsoft Teams link. You do not need a Teams account to access the talk.<\/p>\n

Abstract: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Empirical observations in the classroom suggest that Hungarian learners of L2 European Portuguese (EP) have difficulties acquiring variable stress and vowel reduction \u2013 in particular the two EP reduced vowels [\u0250] and [\u0268] \u2013 since these are absent in the Hungarian phonological system [1]. These features are essential from an intelligibility perspective, since in EP stress is variable and lexically contrastive [2] and vowel reduction is found to be the main clue for stress perception in this language [3].<\/p>\n

In this talk, we will present results of the first experiment of a larger project that seeks to develop pedagogical interventions that facilitate the acquisition of L2 Portuguese phonology. In this first step, we developed and empirically validated a forced-choice identification task to map the categorization of the EP oral vowels by Hungarian speakers in their native phonological system.<\/p>\n

This presentation will report the results of this forced-choice identification task. Forty-six Hungarian native speakers (age range 18 to 45) took part in this experiment. One group (n=32) had no experience in learning EP; the other group (n = 14) consisted of learners of EP with approximately two semesters of language classes (n=14). A group with native Portuguese speakers with no previous contact with Hungarian (n=30) served as our baseline condition. Participants completed a forced- choice identification task that required them to identify different auditory tokens of the nine EP oral vowels, inserted in a [\u0261V] context, among a set of real Hungarian words with a [\u0261V]CV structure, presented orthographically in a grid.<\/p>\n

We predicted that the ability of Hungarian native speakers to identify and discriminate contrastive EP sounds would depend on the phonetic proximity of EP vowels with Hungarian sounds [4, 5, 6]. Accordingly, we hypothesized that these speakers would categorize the unstressed vowel [\u0250] into \/\u025b\/, \/e\u02d0\/ or \/\u00f8\/, and [\u0268] into \/y\/ or \/\u00f8\/, as these are the closest L1 categories to the L2 vowels. We also expected some differences to occur after exposure to the target-language, and that these differences would be reflected in the categorization results. Results have partly confirmed the expectations, as [\u0250] was categorized into \/\u025b\/, but not into \/e\u02d0\/, and [\u0268] was categorized into \/y\/ and \/\u00f8\/. A comparison of data in the two experimental groups suggests a learning effect for [\u0268], but not for [\u0250].<\/p>\n

The data collected in this experiment shows overlapping situations in contrasts with [\u0250] and [\u0268]. According to the results, Hungarian speakers identify both non-native [\u0250] and [\u0268] into the single native category \/\u025b\/, which possibly causes discrimination difficulties [4]. As for [\u0268], considering that this segment is identified as a separated Hungarian category \u2013 \/y\/ or \/\u00f8\/ \u2013, discrimination of contrasts with this vowel won\u2019t be problematic [4].<\/p>\n

According to the above mentioned, an auditory perceptual training focused on tuning [\u0250] into a new category, separating it from \/\u025b\/, is expected to improve Hungarian speakers\u2019 ability to perceive better this EP vowel. To test this hypothesis, we are currently designing a sequence of oddity discrimination tasks focused on the overlapping situations mentioned above. This perceptual training will be followed by Hungarian learners of L2 Portuguese within a 5-week timeframe.<\/p>\n

[1] Mark\u00f3 A. (2017). Hangtan. In A. Imr\u00e9nyi, N. Kugler, M. Lad\u00e1nyi, A. Mark\u00f3, Sz. T\u00e1trai, & G. Tolcsvai Nagy (Eds). Nyelvtan (pp. 75\u2013206). Budapest: Osiris Kiad\u00f3.<\/p>\n

[2] Raposo, E., Nascimento, M. F., Mota, M. A., Segura, L., Mendes, A., & A. Andrade (Eds.) (2020). Gram\u00e1tica do Portugu\u00eas. Vol. III. Lisboa: Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Calouste Gulbenkian.<\/p>\n

[3] Correia, S., Butler, J., Vig\u00e1rio, M. & S. Frota (2015). A stress \u201cdeafness\u201d effect in European Portuguese. Language and Speech 58(1): 48\u201367.<\/p>\n

[4] Best, C. T. (1995). A direct-realist view of cross-language perception. In W. Strange (Ed.). Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research (pp. 171\u2013204). Baltimore: York Press.<\/p>\n

[5] Flege, J. E. (2003). Assessing constraints on second-language segmental production and perception. In N. O. Schiller & A. S. Meyer (Eds.). Phonetics and Phonology in Language Comprehension and Production: Differences and Similarities (pp. 319\u2013355). Berlin: De Gruyter.<\/p>\n

[6] Escudero, P. (2015). Linguistic Perception and Second Language Acquisition: Explaining the Attainment of Optimal Phonological Categorization. [Doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University, LOT Dissertation Series 113]. Repository: http:\/\/dspace.library.uu.nl\/handle\/1874\/7349.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our next HL2C seminar will take place on Wednesday, October 20 from 12pm to 1pm UK time (same as Lisbon). This talk is a joint initiative with Lancaster’s SLLAT Research Group. Presenters: Gabriela Tavares (NOVA University Lisbon), Andrea Deme (Hungarian Academy of Sciences & Eo\u0308tvo\u0308s Lora\u0301nd University), and Susana Correia (NOVA University Lisbon) Title: Phonological […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29],"tags":[39,33,27],"class_list":["post-831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seminars","tag-lancaster","tag-nova","tag-seminars","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9cul2-dp","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1167,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831\/revisions\/1167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/heritage-language\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}