Phonetic Implementation Must Be Learnt: Native versus Chinese Realization of Focus Accent in Dutch

The strategies adopted by native speakers of Dutch and Chinese speakers with different levels of proficiency in Dutch in the realization of degrees of focus enhancement were significantly different on six variables. The participants with higher proficiency did not outperform the learners with lower proficiency. The Chinese subjects appear to abstain from phonetic enhancement rather than transferring L1 patterns of realization.