The symbiosis between perception and grammar in loanword phonology

This paper takes the view that loanword adaptation results from attempts to match the non-native percept of the L2 input, within the confines of the L1 grammar. Neither a purely perceptual nor a purely grammatical account can explain the facts. The L1 grammar includes constraints specific to mimicking foreign inputs. Where not all aspects can be replicated, the grammar prioritizes. In the Cantonese vowel data examined here, tone (the reflex of English stress) and consonants are more carefully replicated than vowel quality, and vowel length is even less important than vowel quality. The paper examines acoustic and psycholinguistic data on L2 vowel perception, and looks closely at the adaptation of English [æ] and [ ▪] in English loans into Cantonese, which lacks both these vowels.