Sonority and markedness among onset clusters in the interlanguage of ESL learners

Fred R. Eckman · Gregory K. Iverson

102 citations0/0 files storedSecond language Research

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Phonetics and Phonology Research EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning Language Development and Disorders

Abstract

This paper is intended as a contribution to an evergrowing body of literature on the role played by principles and parameters of Universal Grammar in second-language acquisition theory. A recent paper by Broselow and Finer (1991) proposes that markedness as defined in terms of the multivalued Minimal Sonority Distance (MSD) parameter is definitive in their subjects' knowledge of certain consonant clusters in syllable onsets. This parameter provides for the characterization of the various types of consonant clusters allowed in the onsets of syllables in different languages. The object of Broselow and Finer's study was to determine whether L2 learners find clusters which are relatively more marked according to the MSD parameter to be more difficult to learn than cluster types which are relatively less marked. The present paper, however, argues that it is typological markedness (Hawkins, 1987) rather than sonority distance per se which better explains L2 learners' knowledge of English clusters in syllable onsets. In line with Clements' (1990) comprehensive investigation of sonority relations within the syllable, this paper argues that markedness alone suffices to account for the observed interlanguage patterns. Using Clements' principles, which themselves actually follow from the overall theory of markedness, the interlanguage obstruent results reported by Broselow and Finer fall out automatically.

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References

1990The role of the sonority cycle in core syllabification 1977MARKEDNESS AND THE CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS HYPOTHESIS 1993Autosegmental and metrical phonology 2021Second Language Research 1984On the major class features and syllable theory 1987An Introduction to Japanese Phonology 1991Parameter setting in second language phonology and syntax 1991The Structural Conformity Hypothesis and the Acquisition of Consonant Clusters in the Interlanguage of ESL Learners

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