HOW DO L1 MANDARIN CHINESE LEARNERS PRODUCE L2 ITALIAN SINGLETON AND GEMINATE CONSONANT CONTRASTS?

Abstract

This study investigates L1 Mandarin Chinese - L2 Italian learners’ production of Italian singleton/geminate consonant contrast. 30 Chinese undergraduate students that varied in their Italian learning experience (10 first-year, 10 second-year and 10 third-year) and 10 native Italian speakers took part in a production experiment. They read, both in isolation and in carrier-sentences, 5 disyllabic minimal pairs contrasting in consonant length. Durations of target intervocalic consonants and preconsonantal vowels were measured and converted into duration ratios for statistical analyses. The results show that the Chinese learners were able to produce short-long differences for Italian singleton vs. geminate consonants, though their duration ratios were significantly smaller than those of the native speakers. As for preconsonantal vowels, while the native Italian speakers alternated between short vowels before geminate consonants and long vowels before singletons, the Chinese learners did not distinguish between pre-singleton and pre-geminate vowel durations. Moreover, though the three groups of Chinese learners had different learning experiences, they did not differ significantly in their productions of Italian consonant length contrast. These results indicate that, for Chinese learners, the mastery of Italian consonant length contrast represents a challenge and that an increased learning experience may not help.