Publication |Sophia Linguistica
Yuriko Yokoe
Cross-language speech perception is often studied within the scope of L1-L2 relationship,
and there have been only a few papers focusing on L3 perception. This paper conducted
an experiment on the perception of universally detested /tl, dl/-initial clusters with three
groups of participants, including bilingual listeners. The results revealed that bilingual
listeners exhibit the influences of both L1/L2 in an intermediate manner. The paper
suggests that the experience of becoming bilingual modifies one’s perception in a way
that it shifts to an intermediate state between the two languages. Another finding is that
the experience of learning L2 may contribute to enhance one’s perceptual sensitivity
towards L3 sounds. Focusing on L3 perception provides us with the possibility to better
understand the dynamics of using multiple languages.