1. Prosodic marking of information status in L1 and L2 dr.Laurent Rasier Université catholique de Louvain laurent.rasier@uclouvain.be

2. Introduction Little attention paid to prosody in L2 Little attention paid to prosody in L2 Important role in « foreign accent » Important role in « foreign accent » Social & communicative consequences Social & communicative consequences Research program: Research program: Learning process of prosody? Learning process of prosody? Difficulties? Difficulties? Factors influencing L2 prosody? Factors influencing L2 prosody? Use of (de)accentuation to signal information status in L2 Dutch & L2 French Use of (de)accentuation to signal information status in L2 Dutch & L2 French

3. Accent in L2 Distributional studies of accent in L2: Distributional studies of accent in L2: Overproduction in L2 Overproduction in L2 Overgeneralization of rules, transfer Overgeneralization of rules, transfer Markedness Markedness Accent in L2 Dutch and L2 French: Accent in L2 Dutch and L2 French: Poorly studied Poorly studied Difficult to acquire Difficult to acquire

4. Research questions Germanic vs. Romance languages: Germanic vs. Romance languages: Germ. lgues: accent // news value Germ. lgues: accent // news value Rom. lgues: accent ≠ news value Rom. lgues: accent ≠ news value Possible impact on L2 acquisition of accent Possible impact on L2 acquisition of accent Research questions: Research questions: Accentuation in L1 Dutch ≠ accentuation in L1 French? Accentuation in L1 Dutch ≠ accentuation in L1 French? Impact on acquisition of L2 Dutch and L2 French? Impact on acquisition of L2 Dutch and L2 French? What about prosodic transfer? What about prosodic transfer?

5. Methodology Experimental accent placement test in L1 & L2 Experimental accent placement test in L1 & L2 Description of geometrical figures Variation of name and/of colour 40 informants, advanced level 40 informants, advanced level 20 French-speaking learners of Dutch 20 Dutch-speaking learners of French Non-specialists (BAC2 students of economics)

6. Methodology (2) Situational contrasts Situational contrasts Control news value : Control news value : New: contextually unknwon Given: contextually known Contrastive: con- trast with preceding New + New Contrastive + Given (N) Given + Contrastive (F) Given + Contrastive (N) Contrastive + Given (F) Contrastive + Contrastive

7. Methodological framework L1 Dutch L2 Dutch L2 French L1 French Contrastive prosodic grammar – L1 Contrastive prosodic grammar – L2 1a 1b 2 2 1c 3a 3b 4 PROSODIC TRANSFER 5

8. Accent patterns in L1 Dutch Exp. Con. Accent patterns N (%) NN [Context: start of the game] een RODE DRIEHOEK een RODE driehoek 18 (90%) 2 (10%) GC [Context: een gele driehoek] een geel VIERKANT een GEEL VIERKANT Accent on each word 20 (50%) 18 (45%) 2 (5%) CG [Context: een blauw vierkant] een ROOD vierkant een ROOD VIERKANT 38 (95%) 2 (5%) CC [Context: een rood vierkant] een GELE STER een gele STER 38 (95%) 2 (5%)

9. Accent patterns in L1 French Exp. Con. Accent patterns N (%) NN [Context: start of the game] un CERCLE ROUGE UN cercle ROUGE un cercle ROUGE 12 (60%) 6 (30%) 2 (10%) GC [Context: un cercle rouge] un CERCLE BLEU UN cercle BLEU un cercle BLEU Accent on each word 24 (60%) 12 (30%) 2 (5%) CG [Context: un cercle bleu] un TRIANGLE BLEU un TRIANGLE bleu un triangle BLEU Accent on each word 40 (67%) 18 (30%) 1 (1,5%) CC [Context: un triangle vert] une ETOILE JAUNE une étoile JAUNE UNE étoile JAUNE une ETOILE jaune 50 (83,5%) 4 (6,6%) 2 (3,3%)

10. Typology of accent systems Contrast Dutch – French: Contrast Dutch – French: French: structural > pragmatic factors French: structural > pragmatic factors Dutch: pragmatic > structural factors Dutch: pragmatic > structural factors Eckmanns Markedness Differential Hypothesis Eckmanns Markedness Differential Hypothesis A more marked than B if A  B but B  ? A more marked than B if A  B but B  ? Pragmatic rules more marked than structural ones + marked rules more difficult than unmarked ones Pragmatic rules more marked than structural ones + marked rules more difficult than unmarked ones Accentuation in Dutch more marked than in French, so more difficult Accentuation in Dutch more marked than in French, so more difficult Structural rules only Structural & pragmatic rules Pragmatic rules only e.g. Portuguese, Spanish, Italian e.g. French, Romanian e.g. Dutch, German, English ? Pragmatic & structural rules UnmarkedMarked

11. Typology of accentuation rules Predictions (based on Eckmann 1987): Predictions (based on Eckmann 1987): Marked patterns more difficult than unmarked ones If marked in L2 but less marked than in L1, then not difficult The more marked in L1, the less likely to be transferred to L2 FR: - f inal accent NL: - rhythmic accent FR: - bridge accent NL: - / NL: - integra- tive accent (d.i. broad focus) UnmarkedMarked StructuralStructural / pragmatic Pragmatic / structural Pragmatic FR: - extended bridge ac- cent FR: - narrow focus - deaccen- tuation NL: - narrow fo- cus - deaccen- tuation

12. Accentuation in L2 Dutch/L2 French L2 Dutch: L2 Dutch: 48% correct L2 French: L2 French: 75% correct Easier D  F than F  D Easier D  F than F  D

13. Accent patterns in L1/L2 Dutch Exp. Con. Accent patterns L2 Dutch L1 Dutch NN [Context: start of the game] een RODE DRIEHOEK een rode DRIEHOEK een RODE driehoek accent on each word 12 (60%) 1 (5%) 6 (30%) 18 (90%) 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 0 (0%) GC [Context: een gele driehoek] een GEEL VIERKANT een geel VIERKANT accent on each word 28 (70%) 2 (5%) 10 (25%) 18 (45%) 20 (50%) 2 (5%) CG [Context: een rode driehoek] een GELE DRIEHOEK een GELE driehoek accent on each word 20 (50%) 14 (35%) 6 (15%) 2 (5%) 38 (95%) CC [Context: een geel vierkant] een GROENE STER een groene STER accent on each word 33 (82,5%) 0 (0%) 7 (17,5%) 38 (95%) 2 (5%)

14. Deaccentuation in L1/L2 Dutch

15. Accent patterns L1/L2 French Exp. Con. Accent patterns L2 French L1 French NN [Context: start of the game] un CERCLE ROUGE UN cercle ROUGE un cercle ROUGE Accent on each word 14 (73,5%) 3 (16%) 0 (0%) 2 (10,5%) 12 (60%) 6 (30%) 2 (10%) 0 (0%) GC [Context: un cercle rouge] un CERCLE BLEU UN cercle BLEU un cercle BLEU Accent on each word 22 (59%) 2 (5%) 7 (18%) 24 (60%) 12 (30%) 2 (5%) CG [Context: un cercle bleu] un TRIANGLE BLEU un TRIANGLE bleu un triangle BLEU Accent on each word 18 (30%) 40 (67%) 1 (1,5%) 32 (56%) 22 (38,5%) 0 (0%) 3 (5,5%) CC Context: un triangle bleu] une ETOILE JAUNE UNE étoile JAUNE une étoile JAUNE Une ETOILE jaune Accent on each word 50 (83,5%) 4 (6,6%) 2 (3,3%) 0 (0%) 43 (75,4%) 8 (14,1%) 0 (0%) 6 (10,5%)

16. Over-/Underuse in L2 French Overuse: Overuse: Narrow focus Accent on each word Underuse: Underuse: Bridge accent Extended bridge accent Not produced: Not produced: Final accent

17. Accentuation*pausing problem Accent on each word  contextually inadequate: Accent on each word  contextually inadequate: [een gele driehoek] *EEN euh GEEL // VIERkant [een gele driehoek] *EEN euh GEEL // VIERkant [un cercle bleu] *UN // TRIanGLE // euh: BLEU [un cercle bleu] *UN // TRIanGLE // euh: BLEU Accent on both lexical items in the phrase  not always contextually inadequate: Accent on both lexical items in the phrase  not always contextually inadequate: [start of the game] een ROde ehm // DRIEhoek [start of the game] een ROde ehm // DRIEhoek [een rode driehoek] *een GEle: // DRIEhoek [een rode driehoek] *een GEle: // DRIEhoek [un cercle rouge] un CERcle // BLEU [un cercle rouge] un CERcle // BLEU

18. Pausing*accentuation

19. Conclusion Accentuation Dutch ≠ accentuation French Accentuation Dutch ≠ accentuation French Impact on accentuation in L2: Impact on accentuation in L2: Transfer Transfer Link with markedness Link with markedness Pausing Pausing Future work: Future work: Phonetics & phonology of accent in L2 Phonetics & phonology of accent in L2 Use of prosody & syntax in the linguistic marking of information status in L2 Use of prosody & syntax in the linguistic marking of information status in L2

20. Thank you for your attention! Bedankt voor uw aandacht!