The role of L1-dialect in L2 production

Abstract This study compared the productions of American English (AE) vowels /i/, /u/, /ɛ/, /ɔ/, /ɪ/, /æ/, /ʊ/, /ʌ/, and /ɑ/ between speakers of two Chinese dialects, the Leshan dialect (LSd) and the Xining dialect (XNd). The participants were native speakers of XNd ( n = 120) and LSd ( n = 120) with advanced English proficiency. Their vowel productions were compared with those of 22 native AE speakers. The results showed that (1) XNd and LSd participants significantly differed in F1 and/or F2 from AE participants when producing /ɪ/, /æ/, /ʌ/, and /ʊ/ and /ɪ/, /ɑ/, /ɔ/, and /ʌ/, respectively; (2) compared with AE participants, XNd participants had significantly longer durations of /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /ʌ/, /ɛ/, and /æ/, and LSd participants had significantly longer durations of /ɪ/, /ʌ/, and /ɛ/. Overall, the vowels that differed in production from that of native speakers were absent in both the L1 dialects and L1 of participants.