Interfaces between L1 & L2 syllabification preferences of CVCV (pseudo-)words by English and French adult listeners

International audienceThe present study deals with a linguistic unit that has been and still is widely studied in phonology (Blevins, 1995; Duanmu, 2009; Goldsmith, 2009). The syllable has numerous definitions in the different branches of phonetics and experimental psycholinguistics (Gordon, 2006, Cairns et al., 2011) and it is known to be an important perception unit in French (Mehler et al., 1981; Cutler et al., 1986). In the field of English linguistics, the syllable is rather known as a unit less important than the foot as regards rhythm in English. Though, it may be of some help to discuss the complexity of syllabification strategies in English when French learners of that language are concerned. The perceptual experiment conducted here underlines behavioral differences between Parisian French and American English native speakers with regard to the syllabification preferences for CVCV (pseudo-)words perceived. All participants had English either as an L1 or an L2. The goal of this experiment is to check the hypothesis that French dominant listeners prefer the */ˈCV-CV/ syllabification pattern (i.e. "ti-my") for English ˈCVCV (pseudo-)words - as they do for French CVCV words (i.e. "ti-mi") - that is unlike English dominant listeners who prefer other syllabification patterns such as /ˈCVC-V/ (i.e. "tim-y") or /ˈCVC-CV/ (i.e. "tim-my") in that particular word context (1st stressed lax vowel + single intervocalic consonant + unstressed vowel). Some participants were English-French bilingual speakers but French dominant due to their recent, important and long exposure to their L2 and gave answers similar to the French native participants. Therefore syllabification preferences seem to depend on the phonological system of the dominant language of the listener