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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  • Hank Mooney, Isolates research query
  • 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

    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