Production of Czech consonants r and l in Chinese speakers
Vol.12,No.1(2022)
It is generaly known that the production and perception of r and l consonants cause difficulties for Chinese speakers in the acquisition of L2 phonology. In this study, the production of alveolar vibrant / r / and lateral approximant / l / in Chinese speakers in Czech is analyzed, taking into account their position in the word and phonetic combinatorics. A total of 500 realizations (229 for / r / and 271 for / l /) were analyzed, with a distinction between the initial position before a vowel, the intervocalic position, the final position after a vowel and in a consonant group, including the syllabic position. On the basis of listening analysis with control of acoustic properties, the frequency of canonical pronunciation and types of incorrect realizations were monitored, such as approximant [ɹ], l-vocalization, deletion, confusion, presence of creaky voice, etc. The canonical realization was 42.8% for / r / and 71.2% for / l /.
The most common incorrect pronunciation of r was the exchange for l (30% of all realizations), for l it was vocalization (19%). Roughly speaking, the consonant r preserves in consonant groups, in contrast to l, for which the successful position is initial before a vowel, intervocalic and in a consonat cluster before a vowel.
Czech as L2; Chinese as L1; r-sound; l-sound; alveolar trill; lateral approximant; l-vocalisation
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