Vowel perception and production in Turkish children acquiring L2 German

First language (L1) phonological categories strongly influence late learners' perception and production of second language (L2) categories. For learners who start learning an L2 early in life (“early learners”), this L1 influence appears to be substantially reduced or at least more variable. In this paper, we examine the age at which L1 vowel categories influence the acquisition of L2 vowels. We tested a child population with a very narrow range of age of first exposure, controlling for the use of L1 vs. L2, and various naturally produced contrasts that are not allophonic in the L1 of the children. An oddity discrimination task provided evidence that children who are native speakers of Turkish and began learning German as an L2 in kindergarten categorized difficult German contrasts differently from age-matched native speakers. Their vowel productions of these same contrasts (un-cued object naming) were mostly target-like.

► Vowel perception and production in 10-year-old children exposed to L2 since age 4.
► Difficult vowel contrasts are categorized differently from age-matched monolinguals.
► All vowel contrasts are produced target-like in an un-cued picture naming task.
► L1 interference affects L2 vowel perception even when exposure starts very early.
► Intensity of use and importance of L1 are central factors.