Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This article reports empirical findings from an ongoing investigation into the acquisition of second-language (L2) phonemic contrasts. Specifically, we consider the status and role of the phenomenon of hypercorrection in the various stages through which L2 learners develop and internalize a target language (TL) contrast. We adopt the prevailing view in both sociolinguistics and second language acquisition studies that hypercorrection results from a certain amount of linguistic insecurity on the part of the speaker. Based on 53 Korean speakers’ production of English target phonemes, we conclude that a series of hypercorrection errors may well represent the final stage in the acquisition of a contrast, and further, that in order for hypercorrection to occur, there must be a formal connection between the TL contrast being acquired and the phonological structure of the learner’s native language.

Keywords

contrasts hypercorrection interlanguage interphonology L2 phonology phonological acquisition second language acquisition

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bybee

(2000) The phonology of the lexicon: Evidence from lexical diffusion. In: Barlow

Kemmer

(eds) Usage-based models of language. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 65–85.

Bybee

(2001) Phonology and language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Campbell

(1998) Historical linguistics: An introduction. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Eckman

Iverson

Fox

Jacewicz

Lee

(2011) Explicit training and implicit learning of L2 phonemic contrasts. In: Sanz

Leow

(eds) Implicit and explicit language learning: Conditions, processes, and knowledge in SLA and bilingualism. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 159–74.

Eckman

Iverson

(2013) The role of native language phonology in the production of L2 contrasts. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 35: 1–26.

Gierut

(1986) Sound change: A phonemic split in a misarticulating child. Applied Psycholinguistics 7: 57–68.

Gierut

(1988) Comparative research on language learning. Language Learning 38: 413–38.

Hammerly

(1982) Contrastive phonology and error analysis. International Review of Applied Linguistics 20: 17–32.

Hardy

(1993) Phonological learning and retention in second language acquisition. In: Eckman

(ed.) Confluence: Linguistics, L2 acquisition and speech pathology. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 235–48.

10.

Hecht

Mulford

(1982) The acquisition of a second language phonology: Interaction of transfer and developmental factors. Applied Psycholinguistics 3: 313–28.

11.

Janda

Auger

(1992) Quantitative evidence, qualitative hypercorrection, sociolinguistic variables – and French speakers’ ’eadhaches with English h/Ø. Language and Communication 12: 195–236.

12.

Johansson

(1973). Immigrant Swedish phonology. Lund: Gleerup.

13.

John

Cardoso

(2009) Francophone ESL learners’ difficulties with English /h/. In: Baptista

Rauber

Watkins

(eds) Recent research in second language phonetics/phonology: Perception and production. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 118–40.

14.

Kim

(2001) The place of articulation of the Korean plain affricate in intervocalic position: An articulatory and acoustic study. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 31: 229–57.

15.

Knowles

(1978) The nature of phonological variables in Scouse. In: Trudgill

(ed.) Sociolinguistic patterns in British English. London: Edward Arnold, 80–90.

16.

Kohler

(1971) On the in adequacy of phonological theories for contrastive studies. In: Nickel

(ed.) Papers in contrastive linguistics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 83–88.

17.

Labov

(1963) The social motivation of a sound change. Word 19: 273–309.

18.

Labov

(1966) The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington, DC: The Center for Applied Linguistics.

19.

Labov

(1972) Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia, PA: The University of Pennsylvania Press.

20.

Lado

(1957) Linguistics across cultures. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

21.

Major

(2001) Foreign accent. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

22.

Nemser

(1971) An experimental study of phonological interference in the English of Hungarians. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

23.

Odlin

(1989) Language transfer: Cross-linguistic influence in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

24.

Siegel

(2003) Social context. In: Doughty

Long

(eds) The handbook of second language acquisition. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 178–223.

25.

Stockwell

Bowen

(1965) The sounds of English and Spanish. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

26.

Wolfram

(1991) Dialects and American English. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

The role of hypercorrection in the acquisition of L2 phonemic contrasts

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References