John Field Universities of Reading and Cambridge, uk

Questions about L1 processes

• How do expert listeners process syllables?
• L1: [ˡspɔ:t]  L2: [eˡspɔ:t] [sɪˡpɔ:t]
• How do expert listeners recognise words by association with words heard earlier?
• DOCTOR – nurse
• How do expert listeners deal with unfamiliar words?
• How do expert listeners make use of intonation patterns and pauses in the input?
• How do expert listeners recognise words in connected speech?

An approximate process

• Listening, even in L1, is an approximate process
• The listener decodes the input, about a syllable behind the speaker
• But listeners often cannot identify words accurately until several syllables afterwards.
• So, at both word and syntax level, a listener has to construct a provisional message which may have to be revised.

• ð
• ə
• k
• æ
• p
• t
• ɪ
• n
• z
• ɪ
• ŋ
• k

• æ
• b
• ɪ
• n
• s
• ɪ
• k
• s
• t
• i:
• n
•