We will shed some light on the processes and mechanisms involved in the development of L3 speech perception. More specifically, we will analyse the adaptive processes by which multilinguals accommodate new features and modify the existing ones.
This study aimed at gaining a better understanding of the complex mechanisms of L3 speech perception by looking at how previously acquired features affect L3 speech perception depending on whether given features were acquired through the first or the second language. We also explored the influence that L3 exerts on the categorization of L1 and L2 sounds. We examined the perception of labial stops in 12 English(L1)/Spanish(L2), (Group A) and 13 Spanish(L1)/English(L2), Group (B) learners of French (L3). The design also included three monolingual control groups, from which we obtained the baseline data. All groups participated in a series of identification tests in which listeners had to identify stimuli from a VOT continuum as either /p/ or /b/, in the 3 languages. The main results were: a) learning an L3 may alter the L1 and L2 VOT perception; the results indicated that monolingual boundary locations were significantly different than those of Group A and Group B; b) the perception of English and French stops was different for the two experimental groups whereas they exhibit the same Spanish perception pattern; c) It is not always the case that trilinguals make use of different perception systems when listening to L1, L2 and L3: the English/Spanish/French multilinguals exhibited the same category boundary when tested in Spanish and French but not when tested on English stimuli while the Spanish/English/French learners place the boundaries in English, Spanish and French /b/-/p/ distinction in the same way.
