Previous research on crosslinguistic influence in third language (L3) phonetic and phonological production has found that both the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) are possible sources of influence. Such research, however, has mainly examined language triads involving European languages and structures (e.g. vowels, VOT) shared by all three languages. In the present study, we seek to expand the empirical basis for assessing the relative contribution of learners’ L1 and L2 via a study of L1-Mandarin–L2-English–L3-French learners’ production of obstruent coda voicing, a feature and structure lacking in their L1. Two hypotheses are tested: that greater influence will come from the learners’ L2 English, and that such influence will be most common among learners of high L2, low L3 oral proficiency as measured by an accentedness task. Participants completed a carrier sentence reading task involving nonce words. We analysed two phonetic parameters: vowel–consonant (VC) duration ratio and percentage (%) obstruent voicing. Considerable support was found for primarily L2-based influence. However, the data did not support any effect of L2 or L3 proficiency. This study is one of the first to examine the production of multiple phonetic parameters for a single phonological contrast. Our results provide new evidence for L2 facilitative transfer, especially when the L1 has a different syllable structure from the L2 or L3. They also reveal that L2-based transfer may affect some phonetic cues but not others. In the present instance, in a subset of speakers we found evidence of transfer affecting only one of the two phonetic cues (the VC duration ratio or % obstruent voicing). These findings further illuminate the complex nature of L3 acquisition.
ArchibaldJ (2022) Segmental and prosodic evidence for property-by-property transfer in L3 English in Northern Africa. Languages7: 2–20.
2.
BarrDJLevyRScheepersCTilyHJ (2013) Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language68: 255–78.
3.
BatesDMaechlerMBolkerBWalkerS (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software67: 1–48.
4.
BenrabahM (1991) Learning English segments with two languages. In: RomeasP (ed.) Proceedings of the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. London: International Phonetic Association, pp. 334–37.
5.
BoersmaPWeeninkD (2024). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer: Version 6.3.10 [computer program]. Available at: http://www.praat.org (accessed April 2025).
6.
BouavichithDDavidsonL (2013) Segmental and prosodic effects on intervocalic voiced stop reduction in connected speech. Phonetica70: 182–206.
7.
Cabrelli AmaroJWrembelM (2016) Investigating the acquisition of phonology in a third language: A state of the science and an outlook for the future. International Journal of Multilingualism12: 395–409.
8.
CabrelliJPichanC (2021) Initial phonological transfer in L3 Brazilian Portuguese and Italian. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism11: 131–67.
9.
ChangSE (2015) Degree and direction of foreign accent in L2 and L3 Korean speech. In: The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (ed.) Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. London: International Phonetic Association.
10.
ChenM (1970) Vowel length variation as a function of the voicing of the consonant environment. Phonetica22: 129–59.
11.
ChengRL (1966) Mandarin phonological structure. Journal of Linguistics2: 135–62.
12.
ChihMT-C (2013) E/LE en Taiwán: Problemas de apreciación fonética en estudiantes universitarios de grado [Spanish as a foreign language in Taiwan: Problems with the phonetic assessment of undergraduate students]. SinoELE9: 17–32.
13.
ColantoniLSteeleJ (2008) Integrating articulatory constraints into models of second language phonological acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics29: 489–534.
14.
Cortés MorenoM (2014) Dificultades lingüísticas del español para los estudiantes sinohablantes y búsqueda de soluciones motivadoras [Spanish linguistic difficulties for Chinese-speaking students and a search for motivating solutions]. Monográficos SinoELE10: 173–208.
15.
CrowtherCSMannV (1992) Native language factors affecting use of vocalic cues to final consonant voicing in English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America92: 711–22.
16.
DavidsonL (2016) Variability in the implementation of voicing in American English obstruents. Journal of Phonetics54: 35–50.
17.
DelattreP (1965) Comparing the phonetic features of English, French, German and Spanish: An interim report. Heidelberg: Groos.
18.
DenesP (1955) Effect of duration on the perception of voicing. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America27: 761–64.
19.
DingHZhanYLiaoSYuanJ (2019) Preceding vowel duration and syllable-final stop voicing: An examination of L2 English production and perception by Chinese learners of English. In: CalhounSEscuderoPTabainMWarrenP (eds) Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. London: International Phonetic Association, pp. 3646–50.
20.
DochertyG (1992) The timing of voicing in British English obstruents. Berlin / New York: Foris.
21.
DuanmuS (2007) The phonology of Standard Chinese (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
22.
EagerC (2015) Automated voicing analysis in Praat: Statistically equivalent to manual segmentation. In: The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (eds) Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. London: International Phonetic Association.
23.
FaceTL (2006) Intervocalic rhotic pronunciation by adult learners of Spanish as a second language. In: KleeCAFaceTL (eds) Selected Proceedings of the 7th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, pp. 47–58.
24.
FlegeJEMunroMSkeltonL (1992) Production of the word-final English /t/–/d/ contrast by native speakers of English, Mandarin, and Spanish. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America92: 128–43.
25.
FritzCOMorrisPERichlerJJ (2012) Effect size estimates: Current use, calculations, and interpretation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General141: 2–18.
26.
GhazaliSBouchhiouaN (2003) The learning of English prosodic structures by speakers of Tunisian Arabic: Word stress and weak forms. In: SoléMJRecasensDRomeroJ (eds) Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. London: International Phonetic Association, pp. 961–64.
27.
HammarbergBHammarbergB (2005) Re-setting the basis of articulation in the acquisition of new languages: A third language case study. In: HammarbergB (ed.) Processes in third language acquisition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 74–85.
28.
Igarreta FernándezA (2015) La corrección de la pronunciación de los estudiantes sinohablantes en el aula de E/LE [Correcting Chinese speakers’ pronunciation in the Spanish-as-a-foreign-language classroom]. Foro de Profesores de E/LE11: 189–96.
29.
JohnsonKE (2008) Second language acquisition of the Spanish multiple vibrant consonant. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
KohlerKJKünzelHJ (1978) The temporal organization of closing–opening movements for sequences of vowels and plosives in German. Arbeitsberichte Institut für Phonetik und digitale Sprachverarbeitung Universität Kiel10: 117–67.
32.
KopečkováR (2014) Crosslinguistic influence in instructed L3 child phonological acquisition. In: PawlakMAroninL (eds) Essential topics in applied linguistics and multilingualism. Cham: Springer International, pp. 205–24.
33.
KopečkováRGutUWrembelMBalasA (2023) Phonological cross-linguistic influence at the initial stages of L3 acquisition. Second Language Research39: 1107–31.
34.
KopečkováRWrembelMGutUBalasA (2021) Differences in phonological awareness of young L3 learners: An accent mimicry study. International Journal of Multilingualism20: 408–24.
35.
KuznetsovaABrockhoffPBChristensenRHB (2017) lmerTest package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software82: 1–26.
36.
LaeuferC (1996) The acquisition of a complex phonological contrast: Voice timing patterns of English final stops by native French speakers. Phonetica53: 117–42.
37.
LandronS (2017) L’opposition de voisement des occlusives orales du français par des locuteurs taïwanais [Voicing contrast in French oral stops by Taiwanese speakers]. Unpublished PhD thesis, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France.
38.
LenthR (2020) emmeans: Estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means: R package version 1.4.6. Available at: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=emmeans (accessed April 2025).
39.
LiskerC (1978) Rabid vs. rapid. A catalogue of acoustic features that may cue the distinction. Haskin Laboratories Status Report on Speech Research54: 127–32.
40.
LlamaRCardosoW (2018) Revisiting (non-)native influence in VOT production: Insights from advanced L3 Spanish. Languages3: 1–17.
41.
LlamaRCardosoWCollinsL (2010) The influence of language distance and language status on the acquisition of L3 phonology. International Journal of Multilingualism7: 39–57.
42.
Lloyd-SmithAGyllstadHKupischT (2017) Transfer into L3 English. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism7: 131–62.
43.
Ortí MateuR (1990) Comparación fonética, diagnóstico y tratamiento de las dificultades de los estudiantes chinos para aprender español [Phonetic comparison, assessment, and treatment of Chinese students’ difficulties learning Spanish]. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines.
44.
ParrishK (2021) The production of L3 stop-initial words by Spanish/English bilinguals. International Journal of Multilingualism21: 131–48.
45.
PatienceM (2018) Acquisition of the tap–trill contrast by L1-Mandarin–L2-English–L3-Spanish Speakers. Languages3: 1–34.
46.
PatienceM (2019) An analysis of global and local crosslinguistic influence in L1-Mandarin–L2-English learners of L3 Spanish. Estudos da Língua(gem)17: 183–207.
47.
PatienceMQianW (2022) The role of task complexity and dominant articulatory routines in the acquisition of L3 Spanish. Languages7: 1–26.
48.
PatienceMSteeleJ (2023) Relative difficulty in the acquisition of the phonetic parameters of obstruent coda voicing: Evidence from Mandarin-speaking learners of French. Language and Speech66: 625–51.
49.
PenneyJCoxFSzakayA (2021) Effects of glottalisation, preceding vowel duration, and coda closure duration on the perception of coda stop voicing. Phonetica78: 29–63.
50.
PlonskyLOswaldFL (2014) How big is ‘big’? Interpreting effect sizes in L2 research. Language Learning64: 878–912.
51.
PortRF (1981) Linguistic timing factors in combination. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America69: 262–74.
52.
PortRFDalbyJ (1982) Consonant/vowel ratio as a cue for voicing in English. Perception and Psychophysics32: 141–52.
53.
PyunK-S (2005) A model of interlanguage analysis: The case of Swedish by Korean speakers. In: HufeisenBFouserRJ (eds) Introductory readings in L3. Tubingen: Stauffenberg, pp. 55–70.
54.
R Core Team (2023). R: A language and environment for statistical computing [software]. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available at: http://www.R-project.org (accessed April 2025).
55.
SingmannHKellenD (2019) An introduction to mixed models for experimental psychology. In: SpielerDHSchumacherE (eds) New methods in cognitive psychology. New York: Routledge, pp. 4–31.
56.
SlabakovaR (2017) The scalpel model of third language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism21: 651–65.
57.
SnoerenNDHalléPASeguiJ (2006) A voice for the voiceless: Production and perception of assimilated stops in French. Journal of Phonetics34: 241–68.
58.
SteeleJ (2002) Representation and phonological licensing in the L2 acquisition of prosodic structure. Unpublished PhD thesis, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
59.
SypiańskaJCalZ (2020) The influence of level of proficiency in the L2 and L3 on the production of the L3 Spanish apico-alveolar sibilant. Research in Language18: 89–107.
60.
WangDNanceC (2023) Third language phonological acquisition: Understanding sound structure in a multilingual world. Language and Linguistics Compass17: 1–17.
61.
WestergaardMMitrofanovaNMykhaylykRRodinaY (2017) Crosslinguistic influence in the acquisition of a third language: The Linguistic Proximity Model. International Journal of Bilingualism21: 666–82.
62.
WieseR (1988) Silbische und lexikalische phonologie: Studien zum Chinesischen und Deutschen [Syllabic and lexical phonology: Studies of Chinese and German]. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.
63.
WrembelM (2010) L2-accented speech in L3 production. International Journal of Multilingualism7: 75–90.
64.
WrembelM (2014) VOT patterns in the acquisition of third language phonology. Concordia Working Papers in Applied Linguistics5: 750–70.
65.
WrembelM (2015) In search of a new perspective: Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of third language phonology. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
66.
WrembelMGutUKrzysikILewandowskaHBalasA (2019) Acquisition of rhotics by multilingual children. In: CalhounSEscuderoPTabainMWarrenP (eds) Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. London: International Phonetic Association.
67.
XuNDemuthK (2012) Acoustic analysis of English codas by Mandarin learners of English. In: CoxFDemuthKLinS, et al. (eds) Proceedings of the 14th Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology. Canberra: Causal, pp. 41–44.
68.
ZhuYMokP (2023) Cross-linguistic influences on the production of third language consonant clusters by L1-Cantonese–L2-English–L3-German trilinguals. International Journal of Multilingualism21: 1700–17.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
