Second language acquisition of intonation : the case of Dutch near-native speakers of Greek
This thesis focuses on the second language (L2) acquisition of intonation by Dutch near-native speakers of (Modern) Greek. Five experiments were carried out which can be divided into two main areas: one which was concerned with peak alignment (i.e. the timing of the intonational peaks with respect to the syllables), and another which focused on nucleus placement (the placement of the most prominent word in the utterance). The first three experiments were concerned with peak alignment in Greek prenuclear accents. A first experiment showed that there are cross-linguistic differences in the alignment of the peak in Greek and Dutch. In Greek prenuclear accents the peak is aligned just after the onset of the first postaccentual vowel. In Dutch, however, the peak is aligned earlier, and is influenced by the phonological length of the accented vowel of the word bearing the prenuclear accent. (Specifically, the peak is at the end of the accented vowel when that vowel is long, but at the end of the following consonant when it is short). The next experiment showed that most non-native (Dutch) speakers of Greek failed to exhibit native-like peak alignment in the L2. The speakers aligned the peak in their Greek data as
Mennen, Ineke
Second language acquisition of intonation : the case of Dutch near-native speakers of Greek. This thesis focuses on the second language (L2) acquisition of intonation by Dutch near-native speakers of (Modern) Greek. Five experiments were carried out which can be divided into two main areas: one which was concerned with peak alignment (i.e. the timing of the intonational peaks with respect to the syllables), and another which focused on nucleus placement (the placement of the most prominent word in the utterance). The first three experiments were concerned with peak alignment in Greek prenuclear accents. A first experiment showed that there are cross-linguistic differences in the alignment of the peak in Greek and Dutch. In Greek prenuclear accents the peak is aligned just after the onset of the first postaccentual vowel. In Dutch, however, the peak is aligned earlier, and is influenced by the phonological length of the accented vowel of the word bearing the prenuclear accent. (Specifically, the peak is at the end of the accented vowel when that vowel is long, but at the end of the following consonant when it is short). The next experiment showed that most non-native (Dutch) speakers of Greek failed to exhibit native-like peak alignment in the L2. The speakers aligned the peak in their Greek data as
second_language_acquisition intonation case dutch near native speaker greek focus second_language_acquisition intonation dutch near native speaker modern_greek carry divide_two main_area concerned peak alignment time intonational peak respect syllable another focused nucleus placement placement prominent word utterance first three_concerned peak alignment greek accent first show cross_linguistic difference alignment peak greek dutch greek accent peak align onset first vowel dutch however peak align earlier influenced phonological length accent vowel word bearing accent specifically peak end accent vowel vowel long end follow consonant short next show non_native dutch speaker greek failed exhibit native like peak alignment speaker align peak greek data