Variability and systematicity in L1+L2 speech patterns

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Eleanor Chodroff

L2 speech is commonly characterised by its deviation from L1 phonetic targets and occasionally by a marked increase in phonetic variability. In this project, you will investigate the variability and critically, also the stability of phonetic realisation across a speaker’s L1 and L2 speech productions. We will use the ALLSSTAR Corpus (Archive of L1 and L2 Scripted and Spontaneous Transcripts and Recordings) or an alternative collection of bilingual speech to investigate these questions. We will also consider how these observational patterns of phonetic variability and stability may relate to a principles of economy, uniformity, and a broader understanding of L2 speech representations. Example phonetic dimensions to investigate include stop voice onset time, sibilant spectral properties, vowel formants, among others.

• R or Python
• Praat