The Impact of L2 Dialect on Learning French Vowels: Native English Speakers Learning Québécois and European French

Abstract

This article examines how a second language (L2) dialect affects how accurately the L2 is perceived and produced. Specifically, the study examined differences between the production and perception of French vowels /i/, /y/, and /u/ by learners of either Québec French (QF) or European French (EF). These vowels differ across the two varieties, both acoustically and because of assibilation of /t-d/ before /i-y/ for QF versus EF. As a result of these differences, QF has an additional acoustic cue with which to contrast /u/ and /i-y/. Anglophone learners of QF or EF were asked to identify and discriminate both QF and EF vowels and to produce the vowels in several phonetic contexts. Results indicate that QF learners were more accurate at discrimination and identification of these vowels as produced by both QF and EF speakers and that L2 dialect exposure affects how well learners perceive and produce these French vowels.