aokoye wrote:PeterMollenburg wrote:3. I cannot explain why it is some adult learners try in vain to erase their foreign accent when learning a new language, but cannot. However, they were children once who have no foreign accent in the mother tongue, and children learn to speak their native tongue(s) by listening to and mimicking the sounds of that language which is around them. They don't learn to read first, they listen and they pronunce words eventually like the natives that they are. Listening is essential to their pronunciation. What would they produce if surrounded by silence? Grunting? Jibberish? Random sounds? (eventually possibly speech as in point 1 above) They must hear what it is they need to pronounce to meet there needs.
So nitpicking - everyone has an accent regardless of whether or not we're talking about their L1. Not nitpicking: you're talking about first language acquisition which is different than second language acquisition.
The example of deaf people is interesting but I think that the function of hearing in relation to pronunciation is likely far different in deaf people who speak nonsigned languages than it is in a hearing person learning an L2. It's also very related to age, much more so than accent is for hearing children who are learning an L2. I have a feeling you're comparing apples to oranges in comparing the pronunciation of L2 (or L1) deaf English speakers to L2 hearing English speakers but I could be wrong.
I disagree, they're all languages, and all illustrate the use of listening with regards to developing pronunciation. Yes 2nd language acquisition is a potentially very different situation, but from my experience (point nbr 2), without listening how on earth could I even learn to pronounce French? I need to hear it! And if I couldn't hear, the result would be substantially inferior. I simply cannot separate them. For me listening is an essential element of being able to pronounce words, utterances, expressions, and i'm not necessarily suggesting flawless pronunciation only.