Adult Learners and a One-day Production Training – Small Changes but the Native Language Sound System Prevails

Theories and models of non-native phonetic acquisition emphasise the significance of the native sound system in the learning process. On the basis of extensive research, it is evident that the mother tongue phonology prevents the learner from perceiving redundant sound contrasts, which are of importance in the target language. These phonological difficulties are naturally reflected in the production patterns as well, and learners tend to articulate according to the native model. In this study the aim was to see, whether a short production training results in articulatory changes. For this purpose we trained native speakers of Finnish and American English to produce a non-native vowel contrast embedded in a pseudo-word context /ty:ti/ - /tʉ:ti/. We analysed the first two formants from both the baseline and after-training productions. The results showed significant group differences in the formant frequencies and in their standard deviations. These findings indicate that both groups produced the pseudo-words according to the mother tongue model and that a short training was not enough to overcome the strength of the native language sound system. However, training did reduce deviations of the formant frequencies, which implies that the learners found a more homogeneous production pattern with training.