The pronunciation of the L3 Polish labiovelar approximant by Ukrainian-Russian bilinguals.

The interplay between cross-linguistic influence from the back-ground languages and L3 phonotactics

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the interplay between cross-linguistic influence from the background languages and L3 phonotactics in the pronunciation of the L3 Polish labiovelar approximant by Ukrainian-Russian speakers. The predictions were developed based on the Speech Learning Model’s mechanism of equivalence classification. The multilinguals were asked to read out Polish words containing the target sound in a number of contexts and positions in the word. The realizations were classified based on an auditory analysis aided by spectrogram consultation. The results revealed that the multilinguals mostly considered the L3 Polish labiovelar approximant as a new sound and produced it on target. The majority of substitutions included a velarized lateral followed by a labiodental fricative. The results of Chi-square tests pointed to significant effects of both context based on L1 distribution of a similar sound and position in the L3 Polish word on the realization of the L3 Polish labiovelar approximant. The paper offers a novel investigation of the realization of an L3 sound which does not have equivalents with phonemic status in the L1 and L2 and addresses the issue of L3 phonotactics. A final contribution is the application of the Speech Learning Model to multilingual phonology acquisition.