Persistenza di categorie fonologiche nell’italiano L2

This paper is focused on the strategies of acquisition of Italian stops in L2 Italian by three German adult learners. The phonetic realization of voiced and unvoiced stops was verified by means of a spectro-acoustic analysis. The presence and the duration of the VOT were distinctive parameters. Many studies have shown that the VOT is one of the more resistant phonetic parameter during the acquisition of a second language. The results obtained show that in Italian L2 the voiced stops are mostly unvoiced, while the voiced ones are generally aspirated, in line with the German pronunciation. In the interlanguage the duration of VOT thus plays an important role, taking shape as an effective phonological discrimen between stops classes. Empirical data were interpreted according to the theoretical principles of OPM, (Ontogeny and Phylogeny Model) (cf. Major 2001). In such perspective, the role of the mother tongue (L1), the target language (L2) and the universal linguistics (U) are jointly considered