Presentation

Phonetics Instruction and the /U/-/Y/ Distinction in French as a Foreign Language: A Preliminary Study

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Abstract

The distinction between /y/ and /u/ in French, which often proves difficult for native speakers of American English but is important for intelligibility (rousse ‘redheaded,’ n/adj., fem. /russe ‘Russian,’, poule ‘hen’/pull ‘pullover sweater’) due to its high functional load, has been often studied but not in the context of the effects of classroom phonetics and pronunciation instruction. This study investigates the efficacy of such instruction for learners of L2 French, by comparing progress in the acquisition of the distinction between /u/ and /y/ by university students enrolled in a French phonetics and pronunciation course with a control group of peers not enrolled in phonetics. Learners were recorded at the beginning and end of a semester; tokens of /y/ and /u/ were analyzed using Praat and native speaker ratings and compared to a set of native speaker recordings. Results did not suggest an effect for instruction but support a call for increased early pedagogical intervention in L2 French pronunciation.

How to Cite:

Sturm, J., (2016) “Phonetics Instruction and the /U/-/Y/ Distinction in French as a Foreign Language: A Preliminary Study”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 8(1).