Distributional Learning and Language Activation: Evidence from L3 Spanish Perception Among L1 Korean–L2 English Speakers

This study investigates L3 Spanish perception patterns among L1 Korean–L2 English bilinguals with varying L3 proficiency levels, aiming to test the applicability of traditional L2 perceptual models in multilingual contexts. We conducted two experiments: a cross-linguistic discrimination task and a cross-language identification task. Results revealed unexpected outcomes unique to multilingual contexts. Participants had difficulty reliably discriminating between cross-linguistic categories and showed little improvement over time. Similarly, they did not demonstrate progress in categorizing sounds specific to each language. The absence of a clear correlation between proficiency levels and the ability to discriminate and categorize sounds suggests that input distribution and language-specific activation may play more critical roles in L3 perception, consistent with the distributional learning approach. We argue that phoneme distributions from all three languages likely occupy a shared perceptual space. When a specific language is activated, the relevant phoneme distributions become dominant, while others are suppressed. This selective activation, while not crucial in traditional L1 and L2 studies, is critical in L3 contexts, like the one examined here, where managing multiple phonemic systems complicates discrimination and categorization. These findings underscore the need for theoretical adjustments in multilingual phonetic acquisition models and highlight the complexities of language processing in multilingual settings.