Accuracy in English vowel production associated with proficient and less proficient Cantonese adult ESL Learners

Abstract

The present study examined the deviation of English vowels produced by proficient and less proficient Cantonese-English (CE) speakers in an attempt to study the influence of Cantonese on learning to speak English as a second language (ESL) and the difference in articulatory gestures associated with CE speakers of different proficiencies. Thirty proficient and 30 less proficient CE speakers were recruited. The first two formant frequencies (F1 and F2) were obtained from their productions of 11 English vowels. Euclidean Distance (ED), quadrilateral Vowel Space Area (qVSA), Formant Range Ratios (F1RR and F2RR), Formant Centralization Ratio (FCR), Vowel Articulation Index (VAI) and Average Vowel Spacing (AVS) values were then derived. ED values suggested that CE speakers demonstrated more difficulty in acquiring new vowels and back vowels, with less proficient speakers showing more deviations. qVSA and F1RR indicated that less proficient speakers exhibited more reduced vowel spaces and restricted vertical tongue movement respectively, which were coherent with spatial inspection. Results from spectral analyses are in line with Chen, Ng, and Li (2012) and do not support the Speech Learning Model (SLM) advocated by Flege (1995). qVSA and FnRR are also suggested to be potential parameters to detect articulatory differences in future ESL studies.