Acquisition of the English Voiceless Interdental Fricative

This study investigates the production of the English interdental fricative [θ] by Chinese learners of English, using a variationist framework. Twenty-seven Chinese participants were asked to evaluate the acceptability of four possible substitutes for the variable (th) and to perform four oral production tasks. The results indicated that immediate phonetic environment and speech style accounted for the accurate production of [θ]. Learners who had good control over the pronunciation of [θ] used monitoring strategies, whereas those who had lower production accuracy depended on phonetic salience strategies. Lexical frequency slightly facilitated accurate production of [θ]. In addition, speakers from both This study is the result of the project titled “Style, Proficiency, and Attitude in Acquisition o