The Acquisition of L2 Modern Standard Arabic Stress Patterns by L1 Chinese Native Speakers

Abstract

Chinese learners of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) as a second language (L2) show many pronunciation difficulties that lead to unintelligible verbal communication with Egyptian native speakers. These difficulties are resulted from many variables, such as the differences between the phonological system of the learners' first language (L1) and the learned one. These pronunciation challenges can occur across segmental and supra-segmental levels. MSA is regarded as a non-tone language, while Chinese is a tone one. Hence, this study aims at describing the acquisition of MSA stress by L1 Chinese speakers. The participants of the current study are twenty Chinese students aged 20 -22. Each participant was asked to read thirty words that represent the MSA stress rules. The percentage of mean of the correct productions of stress positions by the participants was calculated. Results of the current study show that Chinese participants have the ability to place MSA stress in the right position.