Acquiring new contrasts in L2 vs. L3: Chinese dialectal speakers’ acquisition of Mandarin and English phonetic contrasts

A central question in L3 phonology is whether the acquisition of L3 sounds is more influenced by the sound systems of L1, L2, or a combination of the two. The current study investigates two groups of Chinese dialectal speakers’ acquisition of new phonemic contrasts in Mandarin (L2) and English (L3). Both dialectal groups (Northeastern, Southwestern) have a neutralized /s/-/sh/ contrast in their native dialects and have to acquire the contrast for L2 Mandarin (/s/-/ʂ/) and L3 English (/s/-/ʃ/). The Southwestern speakers’ native dialects also lack the /n/-/l/ distinction, which is present in both L2 and L3. Although an L2-to-L3 transfer would be facilitative in all three cases, we only found definitive evidence for L2-to-L3 transfer in the production of the /s/-/sh/ contrast by Southwestern speakers, mainly among the male speakers. We discuss the results of selective L2-to-L3 transfer with the L2 Status Factor Model and the Scalpel Model.