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The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of familiarity with Brazilian-accented English (L2) in the intelligibility of speech samples when judged by native English listeners. Speech samples were collected from five native Brazilian Portuguese individuals from Southern Brazil, with a pre-intermediate level of proficiency in English. Following a Complex Dynamic Systems account (De Bot et al., 2007), this is a longitudinal study in which a group of four British listeners participated in weekly intelligibility transcription tasks, applied over the course of five weeks. This group was comprised of individuals who had recently arrived in Brazil. Results suggest that familiarity with a speaker’s L1 and accented-L2 has an effect on the intelligibility of what is heard. From the perspective of Complex Dynamic Systems, we argue that there is an alteration of a listener’s perception of his/her own language system due to exposure to it as an L2.

In this article, we investigate the effects of perceptual training on the perception and production of word-initial VOT patterns in English by Brazilian learners. The experiment consisted of a pre-test, a post-test and two delayed post-tests. The first delayed post-test took place one month after training, while the second one took place three years later. The results show a slight increase in the identification rates by the Experimental Group, and no significant increase between the pre-test and the final post-test in the production data. Based on these results, we draw attention to the need of associating perceptual training with additional awareness-raising tasks on phonetic-phonological aspects, combined with a continuous exposure to the target forms.

In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of perceptual training, administered to Argentinean learners, in the perception and production of word-initial voiceless stops in English. 24 participants were divided into 3 groups: (i) Group 1, which participated in 3 training sessions; (ii) Group 2, which, besides performing the same training tasks, was explicitly informed about the target item; (iii) Group 3 (control). All participants took part in a pre-test, a post-test and a delayed post-test. In all these phases, they participated in a consonant identification task and took part in a reading exercise. Our results show a significant increase of both experimental groups in identification. As for production, Group 2 exhibited a significant increase in /p/ and /t/ after training. These results are indicative of the effectiveness of perceptual training tasks in helping learners focus on Voice Onset Time.

This paper investigates the status of Terminal Devoicing in the light of connectionism, by revisiting this process in a more dynamic framework. It focuses on the acquisition of two acoustic cues that distinguish final voiced from voiceless stops in English: (1) percentage of voicing in the stop closure; (2) length of the vowel that precedes the obstruent. Data obtained from Brazilian students of English were compared to those collected from American speakers, in order to check whether the learners' productions differed significantly from native speech. Results showed that neither voicing in the closure nor vowel length were totally neutralized, which indicates that learners are starting to distinguish final voiceless and voiced stops.

This paper investigates the status of Terminal Devoicing in the light of connectionism, by revisiting this process in a more dynamic framework. It focuses on the acquisition of two acoustic cues that distinguish final voiced from voiceless stops in English: (1) percentage of voicing in the stop closure; (2) length of the vowel that precedes the obstruent. Data obtained from Brazilian students of English were compared to those collected from American speakers, in order to check whether the learners' productions differed significantly from native speech. Results showed that neither voicing in the closure nor vowel length were totally neutralized, which indicates that learners are starting to distinguish final voiceless and voiced stops.