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Project B3 - Modifying representations by manipulations of the learning environment
PI and Ko-PI: Prof. Dr. Kauschke, Prof. Dr. Cysouw, Prof. Dr. Dohmas
Ph.D.-student: Alexia Despina Leonidou
Research context
The overall aim of Project B3 is to investigate the modifiability of linguistic representations. Can persistent non-target structures be altered by adjustments to the learning environment or by employing specific didactic methods, as utilized in language intervention or second language teaching? Such questions can be addressed in the context of research on first and second language acquisition.
Current doctoral project
Working title: Dynamics and stability of representations in Italian-German language contact: a psycholinguistic and sociophonetic analysis of [ə] and /y:/.
Project B3 investigates how Italian learners of German perceive and realise certain sounds that do not occur in standard Italian: the reduction vowel schwa and the rounded closed front-tongue vowel /y:/. In the literature (Maturi 2014), these vowels are described as two of the most difficult sounds in German for Italian learners of German. How and why a sound is perceived and realised can depend on various intersystemic and sociolinguistic factors. However, studies that systematically investigate both the perception and production of these sounds regarding such factors still seem to be lacking.
Aims
This PhD project investigates the role of intersystemic differences (absence/presence of certain sounds in the L1 vowel system) and sociophonetic factors such as individual language background (dialect, German and English proficiency) in the acquisition of the sound categories [ə] and /y:/.
Method
To investigate these phenomena, methods from psycholinguistics and sociophonetics are combined. First, a study on vowel discrimination was conducted based on Darcy & Krüger (2012). In addition, production data will be collected using three different tasks. The results of the German learners will be compared with those of two control groups, namely L1 German speakers and L1 Italian speakers with no knowledge of German.
Status of the work
Since the start of the project, the current state of research has been explored and the stimuli for the perception and production experiments have been prepared. In 2023, the recruitment and testing of more than 80 German and non-German learners took place at the University of Verona. The research stay was supported by the co-tutelle programme "International Doctoral Track in Linguistics" of the Universities of Verona, Bolzano and Marburg. At the same time, a control group of L1 German speakers was tested at the University of Marburg. The results of the perception study were presented at two conferences at the University of Konstanz and at the University Ca'Foscari in Venice. The production data are currently being analysed in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Birgit Alber, Free University of Bozen.
Links to other projects
The project is related to project A1 with regard to the processing of vowels.
References
Darcy I., Krüger F. (2012). Vowel Perception and production in Turkish children acquiring L2 German. Journal of Phonetics, 40, 568-581.
Kauschke, C. (2022) Inputspezifizierung und Bewusstmachung als Methoden sprachtherapeutischer Intervention. In K. Madlener-Charpentier & G. Pagonis (Hrsg.). Aufmerksamkeitslenkung und Bewusstmachung in der Sprachvermittlung. Kognitive und didaktische Perspektiven auf Deutsch als Erst-, Zweit- und Fremdsprache. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto. 101-127.
Madlener, K. (2016). Input Optimization. Effects of Type and Token Frequency Manipulations in Instructed Second Language Learning. In Behrens, H. & Pfänder, St. (Hrsg.), Frequency effects in language. What counts in language processing, acquisition and change. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton, 133-173.