Building L2 phonology with contrast and alternation

Abstract This study investigates how alternations influence the acquisition of L2 phonological features, focusing on Mandarin speakers’ acquisition of voicing in Russian stops. Mandarin captures this contrast using [spread glottis], whereas Russian employs [voice]. Naive learners were divided into two training groups: the Root Condition (RC) group learned monomorphemic words; the Alternation+Root Condition (AC) group additionally learned forms with voicing assimilation. Across four days of training, both groups showed behavioral improvement in word identification and ABX discrimination. Neurophysiologically, both groups established representations for the learned contrast, but their Mismatch Negativity (MMN) patterns diverged: the RC group showed near-symmetric responses across /t/-standard and /d/-standard trials in an oddball paradigm, whereas the AC group had larger MMNs for /t/-standard than /d/-standard trials. These results show that exposure to phonological alternations can enhance perceptual discrimination and facilitate phonological learning. The implications are discussed from the perspective of feature theory and feature redeployment.