The Acquisition of Italian Stops by Igbo Speakers

Abstract

This research explored the acquisition of Italian singleton stops by Igbo speakers. The voiceless and voiced stop phonemes /p t k/ and /b d g/ are present in both Italian and in the Igbo languages. This creates a perfect condition to check the learning strategies implemented in Italian L2. The theoretical framework taken up in this study was the Speech Learning Model. According to this approach, the sounds of L2 can be perceived by learners as the same, similar or as new compared to those present in their L1, depending on the greater or lesser acoustic and perceptive distance established between them. A spectro-acoustic analysis achieved on the stops produced by Igbo learners of Italian showed the presence of sound categories with a different acoustic structure. In Italian L2 stops have undergone an important phonetic adaptation that makes them perceptually different from what is achieved by native Italians.