Spanish listeners’ perception of American and Southern British English vowels

Abstract

L2 studies demonstrate that learners differ in their speech perception patterns. Recent explanations attribute this variation to the different initial stages with which learners start their L2 development. Spanish listeners’ categorization of Standard Southern British English and American English vowels is compared. The results show that, on the basis of steady-state F1 and F2 values, listeners classify the vowels of these two English varieties differently. This finding suggests that the dialect to which learners are exposed determines their initial stage for L2 perception and the tasks they need to perform to successfully acquire a new sound system.