The present study adopts an acoustic approach to analyze Mandarin Chinese speakers’ production of English and Mandarin alveolar and velar nasal codas /n, ŋ/ in different preceding vowel contexts. Its purposes are to explore the interrelationship between nasal codas and the preceding vowels in both L1 (First Language) and L2 (Second language) production and to identify and explain similarities and differences between the L1 and L2 production. Specifically, 20 native Mandarin Chinese speakers performed a word-list reading task involving 22 English and Mandarin test words with three types of rimes, VN (Vn or Vŋ, i.e., a monophthong vowel followed by /n/ or /ŋ/), VGn (a diphthong vowel followed by /n/), and VG (a diphthong vowel). In total, 88 tokens (22 words x 4 repetitions) were collected for each speaker, and all tokens were measured by using the phonetic software, Praat. First, mean F1-F0 and F3-F2 (differences between the first and fundamental formant frequencies and between the third and second formant frequencies) over the first and the second half of vowel duration were measured to estimate vowel height/backness changes over the duration. Also, N1/N2/N3 (the first, second, and third nasal formants) at the midpoint of nasal murmur duration and the band energy difference (∆dB) between 0-525 Hz and 525-1265Hz bands over the nasal murmur duration were calculated to predict the alveolar or velar nasal place. Last, the vowel and nasal murmur duration (V_D & N_D) in each token were used to indicate the degree of vowel-nasal coupling. Two-tailed paired-wise t-tests and repeated measures one-way ANOVA tests were used to examine the statistical significance of the above acoustic measurements across test words. The main results show that there is a strong vowel-nasal coarticulation effect in Mandarin VN and English VGn production but not in English VN production; specifically, nasal place in Mandarin VN and English VGn rimes covaries with vowel quality change over the duration. In contrast, there is a significant durational difference among English VN rimes but not among Mandarin VN and English VGn rimes; specifically, Vŋ rimes are longer than Vn rimes in English. The strong vowel-nasal coarticulation effect in the Mandarin VN and English VGn production and the significant durational difference in the English VN production can be both related to rhythmic factors.

Cette étude s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’application des connaissances acquises grâce à des expériences de phonétique expérimentale à l’enseignement de la prononciation des voyelles dans le cadre du FLE. Les formants des voyelles orales françaises et arabes prononcées par des natifs indiquent que les voyelles /iː aː uː/ de l’arabe diffèrent phonétiquement des /i a u/ du français, en particulier /iː uː/ qui se rapprochent plutôt de /e o/ du français. L’étude acoustique des voyelles du français montre que la voyelle /u/ perd son identité quand elle est réalisée par des apprenants jordaniens : les formants de /u/ réalisée par des débutants sont proches de /ø/ et ceux par des apprenants avancés sont proches de /o/. Les études perceptives confirment que /u/ est confondue avec /o ø/ et indique que les apprenants réalisent seulement un timbre des paires: [e-ɛ], [ø-œ] et [o-ɔ] et qu’ils réussissent à reproduire et identifier /y/ et /ø/ pourtant absentes de leur système phonologique. En revanche, les voyelles nasales représentent, pour eux, une grosse difficulté. Ils les confondent entre elles et avec des voyelles orales. L’étude aérodynamique des voyelles /ɑ̃ ɛ̃ ɔ̃/ des apprenants jordaniens montrent qu’ils synchronisent différemment l’arrivée du débit d’air nasal et qu’ils répartissent différemment sa quantité sur les voyelles par rapport aux natifs. La mesure des formants au début des voyelles nasales montre que les apprenants ne possèdent pas les mêmes cibles articulatoires pour /ɑ̃ ɛ̃ ɔ̃/ que les natifs. Notre thèse s’achève par une réflexion portant sur des stratégies de correction phonétique, des propositions matérielles et techniques d’entraînement à la prononciation. / The dissertation deals with the application of knowledge acquired from experimental phonetics to the teaching of vowels pronunciation within the framework of French as a foreign language. The formants of French and Arabic oral vowels pronounced by natives indicate that Arabic vowels /iː aː uː/ differ phonetically from French /i a u/, in particular /iː uː/, which were realized more like /e o/ of French. The acoustic study of French vowels shows that the French /u/ loses its identity when it is produced by the Jordanian learners: The formants of /u/ realized by beginners are close to those of /ø/, and close to /o/ in the realization of advanced learners. The perceptive studies confirm that the learners merge /u/ with /ø o/ and reproduce only a single sound for the following pairs: /e-ɛ/, /ø-œ/ and /o-ɔ/ whereas they realize and identify correctly /y ø/ in spite of the absence of /y ø/ in their phonological system. By contrast, the nasal vowels /ɑ̃ ɛ̃ ɔ̃/ pose a serious problem for the learners. They are mutually merged and also confused with oral vowels. The aerodynamic study of French nasal vowels, pronounced by Jordanians learners indicates that they synchronize differently the onset of nasal airflow and distribute in different manner its quantity on the vowels with regard to the realization of natives. The formants measured at the beginning of /ɑ̃ ɛ̃ ɔ̃/ show that the learners do not have the same articulatory targets for the nasal vowels as the natives. The dissertation ends up with a reflection concerning strategies of phonetic correction, materials and technical propositions for pronunciation teaching

Esta investigação tem como propósito, por um lado, revisar as principais teorias que analisam a aquisição e a aprendizagem de língua estrangeira (LE) e os principais conceitos e modelos que abordam especificamente a aquisição e a aprendizagem dos sons em LE os conceitos de surdez fonológica de Polivanov (1931) e de crivo fonológico de Trubetskoy (1939); o Modelo de Aprendizagem da Fala (SLM, Speech Learning Model de Flege (1981, 1991, 1995); o Modelo de Assimilação Perceptiva (PAM, Perceptual Assimilation Model de Best (1993, 1994, 1995); e o Modelo do Imã da Língua Materna (NLM, Native Language Magnet de Kuhl e Iverson (1995) , no marco da interrelação entre a fonética, a fonologia e as várias disciplinas linguísticas, desde princípios do século XX; época em que são formuladas as teorias estruturalistas, até as últimas décadas, quando se incorporou a contribuição da neurolinguística. Por outro lado, tem como objeto de estudo refletir sobre as dificuldades dos estudantes brasileiros de E/LE, com base em toda a argumentação teórica dos autores acima nomeados. Tal reflexão compreende desde uma visão genérica dessas dificuldades, apresentadas em uma tipologia, a uma mais específica, privilegiando a análise das características acústico-articulatórias da produção dos sons aproximantes [, ð, ] e nasais [m, n, ] da língua espanhola, por estudantes universitários brasileiros de E/LE do centro da cidade de São Paulo. Considera-se semelhante investigação relevante para os estudos das dificuldades dos estudantes brasileiros de E/LE no aspecto fônico, sobretudo por versar sobre as dificuldades não somente do ponto de vista contrastivo. Contempla sobremaneira os vários elementos implícitos no referido processo como as estratégias cognitivas próprias do período de interlíngua dos estudantes bem como a análise das características acústicas e articulatórias dos sons aproximantes e nasais, permitindo identificar, compreender e apresentar estratégias de correção no âmbito da produção dos sons em E/LE. / This paper aims at two goals: reviewing mainstream theories which analyze both foreign language learning and acquisition and chief concepts and models that specifically approach the learning and acquisition of Spanish soundsthe concepts of phonologic deafness (POLIVANOV, 1931), phonological sieve (TRUBETSKOY, 1939), SLM - Speech Learning Model (FLEGE, 1981, 1991, 1995), PAM - Perceptual Assimilation Model (BEST, 1993, 1994, 1995), and the NLM - Native Language Magnet (KUHL & IVERSON, 1995)interrelating phonetics, phonology and areas of linguistics from the beginning of the 20th century until current views, such as neurolinguistics; reflecting upon the learning difficulties faced by Brazilian students of Spanish. This reflection will range from a more generic view of these challenges, following a given typology, to a more detailed examination, emphasizing the analysis of acoustic-articulatory characteristics of Spanish approximants [, ð, ] and nasals [m, n, ] uttered by Brazilians who are university students of Spanish, from downtown Sao Paulo City. The investigation and its results are considered highly relevant to Brazilian learners of Spanish as it approaches common pronunciation problems through different aspects besides contrastive analysis. It contemplates several elements such as typical interlanguage cognitive strategies and the acoustic and articulatory analysis mentioned above in order to identify and understand mispronunciation phenomena as well as present (self-)correction strategies to reach standard production of Spanish sounds.

Esta investigação tem como propósito, por um lado, revisar as principais teorias que analisam a aquisição e a aprendizagem de língua estrangeira (LE) e os principais conceitos e modelos que abordam especificamente a aquisição e a aprendizagem dos sons em LE os conceitos de surdez fonológica de Polivanov (1931) e de crivo fonológico de Trubetskoy (1939); o Modelo de Aprendizagem da Fala (SLM, Speech Learning Model de Flege (1981, 1991, 1995); o Modelo de Assimilação Perceptiva (PAM, Perceptual Assimilation Model de Best (1993, 1994, 1995); e o Modelo do Imã da Língua Materna (NLM, Native Language Magnet de Kuhl e Iverson (1995) , no marco da interrelação entre a fonética, a fonologia e as várias disciplinas linguísticas, desde princípios do século XX; época em que são formuladas as teorias estruturalistas, até as últimas décadas, quando se incorporou a contribuição da neurolinguística. Por outro lado, tem como objeto de estudo refletir sobre as dificuldades dos estudantes brasileiros de E/LE, com base em toda a argumentação teórica dos autores acima nomeados. Tal reflexão compreende desde uma visão genérica dessas dificuldades, apresentadas em uma tipologia, a uma mais específica, privilegiando a análise das características acústico-articulatórias da produção dos sons aproximantes [, ð, ] e nasais [m, n, ] da língua espanhola, por estudantes universitários brasileiros de E/LE do centro da cidade de São Paulo. Considera-se semelhante investigação relevante para os estudos das dificuldades dos estudantes brasileiros de E/LE no aspecto fônico, sobretudo por versar sobre as dificuldades não somente do ponto de vista contrastivo. Contempla sobremaneira os vários elementos implícitos no referido processo como as estratégias cognitivas próprias do período de interlíngua dos estudantes bem como a análise das características acústicas e articulatórias dos sons aproximantes e nasais, permitindo identificar, compreender e apresentar estratégias de correção no âmbito da produção dos sons em E/LE. / This paper aims at two goals: reviewing mainstream theories which analyze both foreign language learning and acquisition and chief concepts and models that specifically approach the learning and acquisition of Spanish soundsthe concepts of phonologic deafness (POLIVANOV, 1931), phonological sieve (TRUBETSKOY, 1939), SLM - Speech Learning Model (FLEGE, 1981, 1991, 1995), PAM - Perceptual Assimilation Model (BEST, 1993, 1994, 1995), and the NLM - Native Language Magnet (KUHL & IVERSON, 1995)interrelating phonetics, phonology and areas of linguistics from the beginning of the 20th century until current views, such as neurolinguistics; reflecting upon the learning difficulties faced by Brazilian students of Spanish. This reflection will range from a more generic view of these challenges, following a given typology, to a more detailed examination, emphasizing the analysis of acoustic-articulatory characteristics of Spanish approximants [, ð, ] and nasals [m, n, ] uttered by Brazilians who are university students of Spanish, from downtown Sao Paulo City. The investigation and its results are considered highly relevant to Brazilian learners of Spanish as it approaches common pronunciation problems through different aspects besides contrastive analysis. It contemplates several elements such as typical interlanguage cognitive strategies and the acoustic and articulatory analysis mentioned above in order to identify and understand mispronunciation phenomena as well as present (self-)correction strategies to reach standard production of Spanish sounds.