Dutch speakers have difficulty distinguishing such Russian sounds as /tj/ and /tjj/, or /tj/ and /tʃ/. The Perceptual Assimilation Model stipulates that we analyse sounds in a second language in...Show moreDutch speakers have difficulty distinguishing such Russian sounds as /tj/ and /tjj/, or /tj/ and /tʃ/. The Perceptual Assimilation Model stipulates that we analyse sounds in a second language in terms of those from the first based on articulatory similarities. It predicts that if two sounds in a speaker’s second language are analysed as the same sound in the first, they will be difficult to distinguish. Proposing that Dutch speakers analyse Russian /tj/, /tʃ/, and /tjj/ as Dutch [tʃ], I used an AXB-task to systematically investigate Dutch speakers’ ability to distinguish the Russian sounds /t/ and /d/, the coronals /t/, /tj/, /tʃ/, and /tjj/, and the sibilants /ʃ/ and /ʃj/. Since stress affects the vowel quality of the vowel following plain and palatalised consonants differently, I also investigated the effect of stress. Last, participants indicated how easy it was to distinguish the contrast. Analyses revealed that the Dutch participants performed worse than the Russian speakers on /tj/-/tʃ/, /tj/-/tʃ/, /tʃ/-/tjj/, and /ʃ/-/ʃj/, while still having an accuracy of well above .50. Initial stress was only found to negatively influence discrimination of /tj/-/tjj/. The Russian speakers also performed worse on the /tj/-/tjj/ contrast, meaning results on this contrast are to be interpreted with caution. These results show that, while Dutch speakers experience difficulty with perceptually distinguishing sounds not available in Dutch, this difficulty is attenuated. This is important, because it confirms that Dutch learners of Russian should focus on these sounds, while at the same time suggesting that they already have a good head start.Show less
