Backward transfer of English intonation in L1 Dutch: Music to my ears
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2017-08-24
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en
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The transfer of linguistic features has mostly been researched from an L1 to an L2. This research investigates the backward transfer of intonation patterns from L2 English to L1 Dutch. Two experiments were set up to investigate the influence L2 English intonation has on the production of L1 Dutch intonation patterns of students of English. Participants were gathered from the English Bachelor program of the Radboud University in Nijmegen. Experiment 1 consisted of a longitudinal study in which participants had to read a Dutch and English text in the first and third year of their studies. The main observation from experiment 1 was that the pitch range was larger in the third year of the participants’ studies. Experiment 2 used three dialogues in which Dutch and English were alternated between characters. These two experiments showed that the participants had acquired the English intonation structure and patterns in their native language. These patterns deviated from the Dutch norm as they had three intonation levels instead of two which is normally used in Dutch. A larger pitch range was also identified when three intonation levels were used. These findings show that backward transfer of intonation is possible even when the native language is still positively reinforced.
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Faculteit der Letteren