It Doesn’t Sound French, or Does It?

Language learners often struggle with L2 prosody, including aspects such as articulation rate, run length, and speech rhythm. We examined these temporal aspects of prosody in text readings by Canadian Anglophone learners of French. We compared their L1 English and L2 French productions, and their L2 French productions with L1 French data from native speakers. We analyzed learners’ pre-test and post-test productions. Learners had slower articulation rates in the L2 but showed native-like rhythm and similar (in pre-tests) or longer (in post-tests) runs compared to L1 French speakers. Our study confirms that prosodic acquisition is multilayered and influenced by other aspects of French sound structure.