Influence of orthographic forms on second language (L2) pronunciation in Cantonese experienced L2 learners of English

Abstract

This study explored the influence of orthographic forms on second language (L2) pronunciation in Cantonese experienced L2 learners of English with different levels of L2 proficiency and phonological awareness. Fifty-four native Cantonese undergraduate students completed a homophonic recognition task and a word-reading task involving the pronunciation of “silent letter” that indicate the orthographic influence. Participants’ phonological awareness were measured by three tasks: segmentation, phoneme deletion and pseudo-homophone read aloud. Participants’ English proficiency level was based on their results in a local public exam. The average error rates for the homophonic recognition and word-reading tasks were 38.5% and 36.8%, respectively. More than 50% of participants pronounced the silent letter in the word-final position. Orthographic effects on L2 pronunciation was negatively correlated with phonological awareness and L2 proficiency in Cantonese experienced ESL learners with more than 10 years of English language instruction. Cantonese speakers displayed unique tendency of orthography-induced final plosive epenthesis. These results suggested that orthographic forms affect L2 learners’ pronunciation, especially those with lower L2 proficiency, even their first language’s writing system is not phonologically transparent. This study provided implications on both theoretical and educational contexts.