2026/01/21 by Magdalena Kachlicka, Ashley E Symons, Yaoyao Ruan +3 · 1 voice
Psychology · Neuroscience · #Phonetics and Phonology Research #Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism #Second Language Acquisition and Learning
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s1366728925100850
Abstract Learning a second language (L2) is challenging partly due to perceptual strategies inherited from learners’ first language. For example, speakers of tone languages like Mandarin over-use pitch in English prosody perception and production. We developed a novel training paradigm to help Mandarin learners adopt more native-like strategies by enhancing their use of duration relative to pitch cues during prosody categorization. After prosody training, participants used duration more during phrase boundary categorization but showed no clear change for contrastive focus and lexical stress, suggesting that cue weighting training is most effective when targeting a feature’s primary cue. The control group, who practiced English vocabulary, relied more on pitch in lexical stress categorization and phrase boundary production after training, suggesting that without targeted instruction, listeners default to existing strategies. Our findings demonstrate that although default strategies in L2 speech perception are difficult to resist, lifelong perceptual habits can be adjusted with training.