The role of phonology in non-native word learning: Evidence from cross-situational statistical learning

Abstract

Adults often encounter difficulty perceiving and processing sounds of a second language (L2). In order to acquire word-meaning mappings, learners need to determine what the language-relevant phonological contrasts are in the language. In this study, we examined the influence of phonology on non-native word learning, determining whether the language-relevant phonological contrasts could be acquired by abstracting over multiple experiences, and whether awareness of these contrasts could be related to learning. We trained English- and Mandarin-native speakers with pseudowords via a cross-situational statistical learning task (CSL). Learners were able to acquire the phonological contrasts across multiple situations, but similar-sounding words (i.e., minimal pairs) were harder to acquire, and words that contrast in a non-native suprasegmental feature (i.e., Mandarin lexical tone) were even harder for English-speakers, even with extended exposure. Furthermore, awareness of the non-native phonology was not found to relate to learning.

Constraints on novel word learning in heritage speakers

“…Secondly, although the group of heritage speakers we recruited reported relatively high proficiency in Mandarin listening (rating 3.34 out of 4) and speaking (rating 2.86 out of 4), they were still significantly more dominant in English in all language modalities (see Table 3 , HL dominance), and had very little Mandarin use outside of the family (including external family) context (see Table 4 ). This might explain why their performance in the learning task at the group level resembles that of the English-native speakers in previous research ( Ge et al, 2024 ).…”

“…To further understand Mandarin heritage speakers’ word learning performance, we ran exploratory analyses combining data from the current study and data from Ge et al (2024) since the two studies employed the same method and stimuli. This allowed us to compare Mandarin heritage speakers’ learning trajectory with English-native participants (who had no tonal experience) and Mandarin-native participants (who had continuous, extensive tonal experience).…”

“…Thirty bilingual speakers of Mandarin Chinese and English participated in this study. The sample size was inferred from Ge et al (2024) , 2 where the same stimuli and CSWL task were used and a significant learning effect was observed. Participants were recruited through email advertisements within university communities in Toronto, Canada, and through Prolific.…”

“… Ge et al (2024) found that the non-native phonology effect in CSWL was not only associated with segmental but also suprasegmental features. In addition to the segmental minimal pairs as in previous research (e.g., Escudero et al, 2022 ), Ge et al (2024) involved tonal minimal pairs (i.e., two words that differ only in lexical tone: /pa1mi1/ vs. /pa4mi1/ with numbers referring to Mandarin Tone 1 and Tone 4), which is a suprasegmental feature absent in non-tonal languages like English. A slightly different CSWL design is used to more closely resemble the minimal pairs learners encounter in the real world.…”

“…Here, we hypothesize that heritage speakers’ advantages in speech perception and recognition would further facilitate their acquisition of phonologically overlapping words in the target language. In this study, we focus on a suprasegmental feature that has been found to be difficult for late L2 learners in word learning—lexical tones ( Ge et al, 2024 ). L2 learners of Mandarin were found to fail in learning tonal minimal pair words from implicit exposure, whereas L1 Mandarin speakers could pick up novel tonal minimal pairs rapidly in the same situation.…”