Deletion of /t, d/ and the Acquisition of Linguistic Variation by Second Language Learners of English

Abstract

This study investigated second language (L2) learners' acquisition of English /t, d/ deletion patterns in word-final consonant clusters, (a) focusing on how constraints such as grammatical conditioning and phonological environment affect deletion of /t, d/ in L2 acquisition and (b) determining the extent to which these L2 learners had acquired native-speaker-like patterns of deletion in ways that may be similar to patterns attested for first and second language acquisition in previous research. Seven native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, all graduate students at a Midwestern university in the United States, participated in the study. Findings indicate that the participants had not yet acquired targetlike use of /-t, -d/ deletion patterns for all constraints. Following the linguistic environment, possibly due to the influence of sonority, appeared to be the easiest constraint to acquire. Other linguistic constraints, such as preceding linguistic environment and grammatical conditioning, appeared to be more difficult to acquire, probably due to the effects of first language transfer.

The deletion of /t, d/ in Hong Kong English

“…However, when the category of consonant is analyzed by type of consonant, the findings are not as clear-cut. A few studies, notably Hansen Edwards (2011) for Mandarin Chinese L1 speakers of English and Guy (1991a) on AmE dialects, found liquids (/l/ for Guy 1991a) to favor deletion more than obstruents while Bayley (1996), also on research on Mandarin Chinese L1 speakers of English, found that obstruents and liquids both favored deletion more than other following environments. In the current study, a following liquid had the strongest effect on deletion with a VARBRUL weight of 0.734, followed by a following obstruent (0.571).…”

“…These findings are consistent across a range of Englishes, including world Englishes (cf. Khan 1991;Bybee 2002;Lim & Guy 2005;Gut 2007;Hoffman & Walker 2010;Hansen Edwards 2011) and therefore appear to be universal, rather than variety-specific. A few studies, notably on York English (Tagliamonte & Temple 2005) and one study on pan-AmE dialects (Guy 1991aa) have found that liquids may have a stronger effect on deletion than obstruents, though it is unclear why this is the case.…”

“…Guy 1980;Neu 1980;Labov 1989). However, child L1 and adult L2 learners of English have been found to delete more on bimorphemic than monomorphemic forms, likely due to past tense acquisition processes (Labov 1989;Guy & Boyd 1990;Bayley 1996;Roberts 1997;Hansen Edwards 2011). An increased probability for deletion on bimorphemic over monomorphemic forms has also been found across a variety of world Englishes: Lim and Guy (2005) found that for informal speech data, SingE speakers had higher rates of /t,d/ deletion in semi-weak verbs over monomorphemic forms.…”

“…However, variation of this ordering has been found across different varieties of English, and therefore may be variety-specific: A preceding liquid has been found to favor deletion more strongly than sibilants for Jamaican Creole (Patrick 1991) and Mandarin Chinese L2 speakers of English (Hansen Edwards 2011). Nasals have also been found to have the strongest effect on deletion for different varieties of Canadian English (Hoffman & Walker 2010;Walker 2012) and for Mandarin Chinese learners of English L2 (Bayley 1996;Hansen Edwards 2011), and SingE (Lim & Guy 2005). The effect of the preceding linguistic environment may in itself be conditioned by word frequency; the high rates of deletion for sibilants and nasals, for example, could be explained by the frequent occurrence of words such as just, and, and the negative suffix n't.…”

“…These findings have subsequently been confirmed for speakers of a range of Inner Circle Englishes (Kachru 1985) including dialects of AmE, British English (BrE), New Zealand English, and Scottish English (cf. Guy 1980;Santa Ana 1991, 1992Bayley 1994;Holmes & Bell 1994;Tagliamonte & Temple 2005) as well as children acquiring English as their first language (L1) (Guy & Boyd 1990;Roberts 1997) and second language (L2) learners of English (Bayley 1994;Hansen Edwards 2011). It has also been found to exist in a number of world Englishes, including Singapore English (SingE), Indian English, and Nigerian English (NigE) (Khan 1991;Gut 2007).…”