Abstract
In this research, we investigated the acquisition of English stress by trilingual speakers (Kazakh/Russian (L1)-Russian/Kazakh (L2)-English (L3). Stress in Kazakh, as a Turkic language, is on the final position (Johnson, 1998) and was cued by fundamental frequency (Kirghner, cited from Kondibaeva, 2010). However, in Russian, stress was cued by duration and intensity (Hamilton, 1980; Kuznetsova, 2006). In this research, we used two different trilingual groups in which the Kazakh-Russian-English trilingual group has Kazakh as a dominant language and first language; on the other hand, the Russian-Kazakh-English trilingual group has Russian as a dominant language with the advanced level of Kazakh. However, both groups have high level of English (IELTS = 6.5 and above). All participants from both groups produced the noun-verb stress pattern words in sentences. In the production of ten female speakers from each group, average fundamental frequency, duration, average intensity, and first and second formant frequencies for vowels were collected in the stressed and unstressed syllables. The result showed that for Russian-Kazakh-English speakers, duration and intensity are stronger cues than F0. Kazakh-Russian-English trilinguals used all parameters, but duration was strongly associated with final lengthening. The results will be discussed in terms of L1/L2 transfer into the acquisition of L3.