Graduation Year
2020
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Linguistics and Cognitive Science
Reader 1
Jennifer Ma
Reader 2
Michael Diercks
Reader 3
Nicole Holliday
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2019 Emelia P BensonMeyer
Abstract
The present study addresses language contact processes in which the phonetic systems of the languages that bilinguals speak interact. Specifically, language transfer with respect to English and German was examined, focusing on native German speakers (L1) who learned English as a second language (L2). It employed as its central method an analysis of their vowel systems, both language-specifically and cross-linguistically. Extralinguistic variables were also considered, ranging from speakers’ age of acquisition (AOA) of English to their length of residence in an English-speaking environment to their consideration of home. Results indicated statistically significant differences between speakers’ production of /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ for English and German, following a general trend of English productions as lower and more fronted than their German counterparts. Wide variability among participants produced inconsistent results, underscoring the complexity of speakers’ vowel systems as a result of their interactions with extralinguistic variables.
Recommended Citation
BensonMeyer, Emelia, "Language Transfer Between English and German: A Phonetics-Based Study of Interactions Between Speakers' Native and Second-Language Vowel Systems" (2020). Scripps Senior Theses. 1482.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1482
Included in
First and Second Language Acquisition Commons, German Linguistics Commons, Phonetics and Phonology Commons
