Event Details

This is a seminar of the L2 Speech Forum, an initiative of NOVA University Lisbon, the University of Toronto, and Lancaster University.

Presenter(s): Vita Kogan (Lisbon), Anna Winkler (Vienna), Susanne M. Reiterer (Vienna)

Date: Friday, June 28, 2024, 2pm to 3pm

About: The NLT L2 Speech Forum brings together researchers and students from three partner universities, NOVA University Lisbon, the University of Toronto, and Lancaster University (hence "NLT"). The forum was established in 2022; we use this space to present and discuss ongoing work, including PhD research, in an informal, friendly and cooperative setting. To learn more, please email Professor Patrick Rebuschat, p.rebuschat@lancaster.ac.uk. If you are working or studying at our partner universities, please email Professor Susana Correia (NOVA), susanacorreia@fcsh.unl.pt, or Professor Anabela Rato (Toronto), anabela.rato@utoronto.ca.

Abstract:

With the spread of easy-to-access language-learning apps and online platforms, recreational L2 learning – learning a foreign language/L2 as a hobby – is getting momentum. Often time the choice of L2 is based on the phonesthetic properties or how pleasant a particular language sounds to a prospective learner. Phonesthetics as a source of learner motivation has been never explored before, even though it might have an emotive and pedagogical potential to support language learning even in the context where L2 choice is assigned by the institution or circumstances (e.g., the use of synesthetic activities that emphasize specific L2 phonetic features in Wrembel (2010)).

In a series of studies, we asked participants to rate a number of European languages in terms of eroticism, beauty, well-structuredness, and status/prestige and also asked about their familiarity with the languages, L1 and L2 backgrounds, demographics, mobility, musical/singing experience, personality traits, and how much they liked the speakers’ voices (Kogan & Reiterer, 2021; Reiterer et al., 2020; Winkler et al., 2023) Overall, polyglots rated the languages of the experiment significantly higher perceiving them as more erotic and beautiful in comparison to their monolingual peers. This finding suggests that polyglots might experience the so-called “phonetic chill” – the aesthetic pleasure one derives from listening to the sounds of a foreign language, that might inspire and stimulate their learning. The qualitative data – participants' free-style comments – support this assumption. That being said, the picture is more complex with both the inherent phonological features of the languages (e.g., sonority, syllabic structure, intonation, and rhythm) and the sociocultural stereotypes about the languages (e.g., French sounds beautiful because of the associations of romance and hedonism) driving the phonaesthetic judgments. In Study 3, we also observed the significant effect of personality traits on phonaesthetic preferences with introverts rating languages higher for eroticism and beauty and neurotics lower across the border. It is to be determined if the phonetic chill is a prerequisite or a result of extensive language learning and/or exposure to foreign languages (mobility). That being said, using phonaesthetics as a pedagogical device to complement the L2 classroom might be an efficient way to increase learners' motivation and support the acquisition of L2 phonetics and phonology.

References

• Kogan, V. V., & Reiterer, S. M. (2021). Eros, beauty, and phonaesthetic judgements of language sound. We like it flat and fast, but not melodious. Comparing phonetic and acoustic features of 16 European Languages. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 15, 578594.
• Reiterer, S. M., Kogan, V., Seither-Preisler, A., & Pesek, G. (2020). Foreign language learning motivation: Phonetic chill or Latin Lover effect? Does sound structure or social stereotyping drive FLL?, Psychology of learning and motivation, 72, 165-205.
• Winkler, A., Kogan, V. V., & Reiterer, S. M. (2023). Phonaesthetics and personality –Why we do not only prefer Romance languages. Frontiers in Language Sciences, 2, 2.
• Wrembel, M. (2010). Sound symbolism in foreign language phonological acquisition. Research in Language, 8, 1–14.