Featural approaches to second language phonetic acquisition posit that the development of new phonetic norms relies on sub-phonemic features, expressed through a constellation of articulatory gestures and their corresponding acoustic cues, which may be shared across multiple phonemes. Within featural approaches, largely supported by research in speech perception, debate remains as to the fundamental scope or ‘size’ of featural units. The current study examines potential featural relationships between voiceless and voiced stop consonants, as expressed through the voice onset time cue. Native English-speaking learners of Spanish received targeted training on Spanish voiceless stop consonant production through a visual feedback paradigm. Analysis focused on the change in voice onset time, for both voiceless (i.e. trained) and voiced (i.e. non-trained) phonemes, across the pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest. The results demonstrated a significant improvement (i.e. reduction) in voice onset time for voiceless stops, which were subject to the training paradigm. In contrast, there was no significant change in the non-trained voiced stop consonants. These results suggest a limited featural relationship, with independent voice onset time (VOT) cues for voiceless and voices phonemes. Possible underlying mechanisms that limit feature generalization in second language (L2) phonetic production, including gestural considerations and acoustic similarity, are discussed.

第二语言语音习得的惯用方法是，新语音规范的发展依赖于子语音特征，该子语音特征是由一系列发音手势及其相应的声音提示表示的，这些手势可以在多个音素之间共享。在主要由语音感知研究支持的特征方法中，关于特征单元的基本范围或“大小”的争论仍然存在。当前的研究检查了无声和有声停止辅音之间潜在的胎儿关系，如通过声音开始时间提示所表达的。西班牙语为母语的英语学习者通过视觉反馈范例接受了针对西班牙无声停止辅音制作的有针对性的培训。分析的重点是无声（即训练有素）和有声（即有声）的语音开始时间的变化 未经训练的音素），遍及前测，后测和延迟后测。结果表明，无声停止的语音开始时间有了显着改善（即减少了），而无声停止则受训练范式的影响。相反，未训练的浊音辅音没有明显变化。这些结果暗示了有限的胎儿关系，具有针对无声和语音音素的独立语音开始时间（VOT）提示。讨论了可能的潜在机制，这些机制限制了第二语言（L2）语音产生中的特征概括，包括手势注意事项和声学相似性。相反，未训练的浊音辅音没有明显变化。这些结果暗示了有限的胎儿关系，具有针对无声和语音音素的独立语音开始时间（VOT）提示。讨论了可能的潜在机制，这些机制限制了第二语言（L2）语音产生中的特征概括，包括手势注意事项和声学相似性。相反，未训练的浊音辅音没有明显变化。这些结果表明有限的胎儿关系，具有针对无声和语音音素的独立语音开始时间（VOT）提示。讨论了可能的潜在机制，这些机制限制了第二语言（L2）语音产生中的特征概括，包括手势注意事项和声学相似性。