Phonetics and phonology in third language acquisition: Discrimination of consonants in Chongqing Dialect, Standard Mandarin, and English

It is estimated that over half the world's population speaks more than one language regularly, with
approximately 13% (~1 billion people) speaking three or more languages (Grosjean, 2010). Linguistic
analyses of multilingualism have, so far, largely focused on western, educated, industrial, rich and
democratic (WEIRD) countries, and have primarily investigated Indo-European languages (Liu & Lin,
2021; Rocha-Hidalgo & Barr, 2022). Due to this bias in the existing research, it is essential to expand
knowledge to different multilingual populations to gain a better understanding about the full diversity of
human behaviour. Here, I consider the context of third language acquisition in Chongqing, south-west
China.
Chongqing is a large city of more than thirty-two million people in mainland China (Chongqing
Population Bureau, 2021). Most Chongqing people speak Chongqing Dialect as their first language (L1)
and Standard Mandarin as their second language (L2). They usually begin to learn English systematically
as their third language (L3) in secondary school. It is extremely common in China for people to use a
local language (referred to as a 'dialect'), Standard Mandarin, and then learn English as an L3. It is crucial
to understand the influences on the acquisition of English by Chinese dialect speakers. For example, in
2020/21 there were 143,820 Chinese students in the UK (Universities UK, 2022), many of whom learnt
English as their L3.
It is now accepted knowledge that proficient bilinguals develop two separate, but interacting, sound
systems. However, much less is known about the acquisition of L3 sounds. L3 speech production and
perception broadly differ from L2 because of the complicated sources resulting from contact with
multiple languages. Previous phonological studies suggest that L2 transfer is mainly restricted to the
very beginning stage of L3 learning (Gut, 2010; Wrembel et al., 2019). However, previous work is
concentrated on European languages and has not considered dialects of Mandarin Chinese. Here, we focus on L1 speakers of the Chongqing dialect, where there is no contrast between [n] and [l].
A lack of difference between /n/ and /l/ is a well-known non-standard feature of the Southwestern
Mandarin, apparently transferred from speakers' L1 (Zhang & Levis, 2021). My project will ascertain the
extent to which confusion between /l/ and /n/ also transfers to L3 English phonetics.
Project Overview
My PhD project will investigate how the [l] and [n] merger in Chongqing Dialect (L1) will influence
Standard Mandarin (L2) and English (L3) sound systems. Secondly, it will discuss the extent to which
social and linguistic factors (e.g. L2 status, L3 experience, the level of proficiency) and perception
abilities in discriminating these two consonants influences production of these consonants in Standard
Mandarin and English. Thirdly, it aims to contribute to theories of language interaction effects in L3
acquisition. This study builds on my MA research, where I will investigate the extent to which L1
Chongqing dialect speakers can perceive /l/ and /n/ in L2 Standard Mandarin and L3 English.