Production and identification of English word-final nasal consonants by Brazilian EFL learners

Denise Cristina Kluge; Barbara Oughton Baptista

doi:10.5007/2175-8026.2008n55p15

Authors

Denise Cristina Kluge UFPF-Litoral
Barbara Oughton Baptista

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2008n55p15

Abstract

This preliminary study aims at investigating the production and perception of the English nasals /m/ and /n/ in word-final position by a group of 10 intermediate Brazilian EFL learners. Production data was collected by means of a Sentence Reading Test considering preceding vowel as phonological context. Perception was assessed by means of an identification test contrasting native-like vs. nonnative-like pronunciation of the target nasal consonants. The results from production suggest that the lack of fully realized word-final nasals in Brazilian Portuguese influenced the Brazilian learners’ production, as they frequently nasalized the preceding vowel and deleted the following nasal consonant. The results from the identification test revealed that it was easier for the participants to identify the native-like realization of English word-final nasals when it was presented in contrast to the nonnative-like realization.

Author Biographies

Denise Cristina Kluge, UFPF-Litoral

"Denise M. Osborne received a B.A. in Portuguese and English from Centro Universitário do Planalto de Araxá (1986), a B.A. in Applied Linguistics: Teaching a Foreign Language from City University of New York (2006). She is currently a M. A. candidate inApplied Linguistics at Teachers College Columbia University. She also teaches Portuguese as a foreign language in several schools, including the Chazen Institute of Columbia University and immersion courses at SUNY New Paltz in New York."

Barbara Oughton Baptista

Barbara Oughton Baptista holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics(California University at Los Angeles, 1992) and has been a Professor at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) since 1979, working at the English Graduate Program in English and Literature. She has conducted and supervised research in the areas of L2 phonological acquisition, and her work has been published in journals such as Language and Speech, System, International Review of Applied Linguistics, Ilha do Desterro, and Revista de Estudos da Linguagem.