Next meeting (4/17), Olga Dmitrieva (Purdue University) will be talking about “Phonetic first language attrition – where next?”. Our meeting will take place at the regular time and place on Wednesday from 4-5pm in Cresap 101.

Abstract: “In this talk I will review some of my recent work investigating the effects of second language (L2) learning on the production and perception of first language (L1) sounds. One project addressed the effects of learning French or Russian as a second language on the production of word-initial and word-final voicing distinctions in English-speaking learners. Another study investigated how the perception of word-final voicing in Russian was affected by second language experience in English.

I will focus in particular on the insights these findings may offer about the circumstances under which L2 effects on L1 are likely to occur and factors which may be at play in intensifying or mitigating such effects. I would like to finish by highlighting the questions that still remain to be addressed and initiating a discussion about the productive directions in which research in this area should develop in the near future.”