LINGUIST List 11.587

Thu Mar 16 2000

Qs: Isolates Research, L2 Speech Perception

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

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  1. Hank Mooney, Isolates research query
  2. s-tokuma_eibun, Question on L2 speech perception

Message 1: Isolates research query

 Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 14:25:20 -0800
From: Hank Mooney <HMooneymfi.com>
Subject: Isolates research query

Does anyone know of any research specifically aimed at linguistic
isolates, i.e., language that cannot be shown to be related to any
others (Zuni, Burushaski, Basque, etc.)? I've wondered if these
languages might have any features in common.

Hank Mooney
hmooneymfi.com
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Message 2: Question on L2 speech perception

 Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 11:53:01 +0900
From: s-tokuma_eibun <s-tokuma_eibunstar.sagami-wu.ac.jp>
Subject: Question on L2 speech perception

Dear linguists,

I'm posting this mail on behalf of one of my colleagues who is
interested in L2 speech perception and recently asked if there was any
paper/study which proved/disproved phonetically or psychologically
that "L2 learners are weak in noise"(i.e. the listening comprehension
score of L2 learners is more influenced by noise by that of L1
speakers). 

He observed the phenomenon from his personal teaching
experience that his Japanese students cannot comprehend some English
sounds in an noisy environment which the same students can tell 100%
in a quiet language laboratory. I've had a similar experience, and we
wondered if it has been proven, or it is just our imagination.

Can anybody help us?

Thank you very much.

===================================
Shinichi TOKUMA (Dr)
Dept of English Language and Literature,
Sagami Women's University,
2-1-1, Bunkyo, Sagami-hara, 228-8533,
Kanagawa, JAPAN
e-mail:tokumasagami-wu.ac.jp
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