Assimilation patterns predict L2 identification accuracy of English initial consonants

A large range of studies has generated predictions of second language (L2) speech learning problems from perceptual assimilation patterns of nonnative sounds to native (L1) categories. The present study extends our knowledge of assimilation patterns as a predictor of L2 speech perception by examining the relationship between perceptual assimilation and L2 identification. Specifically, we examine how nonnative listeners’ perceptual assimilation of the full range of English initial consonants predicts their identification accuracy. Four groups of non-native listeners, differing orthogonally with regard to their L1 (Danish, Finnish) and English-language immersion experience (immersion, non-immersion) participated. As predicted, assimilation patterns interacted with L2 experience in accounting for how the L2 learners identified English consonants for some assimilation types, while the predictions were less successful for other assimilation types.