Grit Mehlhorn

Pushing the positive: encouraging phonological transfer from L2 to L3

Abstract Compared to monolinguals, multilingual learners possess a larger repertoire of phonetic-phonological parameters, have a higher degree of language and meta-linguistic awareness, and have developed increased phonological knowledge. This, combined with the increased cognitive flexibility that accompanies experienced learners, supports their acquisition of the pronunciation of further foreign languages. This paper first considers the dearth of research in the field of L3 phonology with respect to transfer phenomena. In a second step, it explores phonetic similarities between English (as L2) and German (as L3) which can be used to promote positive transfer by learners of the target language German, before turning to pedagogical implications of these similarities. Finally, we consider the necessity for further research in the area of L3 phonetics, especially when considering language constellations whereby L2 and L3 are more closely related to each other than to the L1.

Phonetics/phonology in third language acquisition: Introduction

This special issue provides a state-of-the-art overview of the theories, models and research methodology in the phonological acquisition of a third language (L3). The present contributions have been selected from a number of papers given at a satellite workshop of the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), which was held at the University of Freiburg (Germany) from 3 to 4 August 2007 and was organised by Ulrike Gut (now Augsburg), Grit Mehlhorn (Leipzig) and Magdalena Wrembel (Poznań). Its aim was to explore new methods and fresh theoretical input for investigating and modelling third language phonological acquisition. The field of L3 acquisition research is a very young discipline in linguistics and one that is still struggling with terminological difficulties and inconsistencies. There is as yet not even an agreed definition of the term ‘third language’ (see De Angelis, 2007, pp. 8 12). Research on L3 acquisition was sparked off by the growing empirical evidence for and the recognition of the fact that the acquisition process of a foreign language is systematically different depending on whether another foreign language has previously been learned or not. Thus, the term ‘third language’ is typically used to stress the differences between ‘second’ (L2) and ‘further’ language acquisition and is often used to refer to any language acquired after a ‘second language’ has been learned, however imperfectly. In order not to exclude a speaker’s fourth, fifth, etc. language, De Angelis (2007, p. 11) favours the somewhat longer and more awkward term ‘Third or Additional Language Acquisition’ for this phenomenon. The papers in this special issue, although using the shorter terms ‘third language’ or ‘L3’, share the common definition of L3 acquisition as being distinct from L2 acquisition due to the availability of prior linguistic knowledge and language learning experience. So far, research on phonology and phonetics in Third or Additional Language Acquisition has been very limited in scope. Current theories and the few extant empirical investigations of the acquisition of the phonology of a foreign language focus primarily on the influence of the native language on the acquisition of a second language or a third language and typically conceptualise this influence as a limiting and restricting factor based on negative transfer and interference. Positive effects of previously learned languages such as already acquired meta-linguistic competence and the application of specific learner strategies gained in L2 acquisition to L3 learning have as yet remained largely unexplored. Three of the papers in this special issue present research on the question whether the L2 exerts a positive influence onto the L3 and explore which factors might facilitate this kind of positive transfer. Ulrike Gut investigates possible sources and directions of cross-linguistic influence in the phonologies of four trilingual speakers in her contribution ‘Cross-linguistic influence in L3 phonological acquisition’. Focussing on vowel reduction and speech rhythm in L3 English and L3 German, she finds conflicting evidence for L2 L3 cross-linguistic influence. Her data suggest International Journal of Multilingualism Vol. 7, No. 1, February 2010, 1 3