Phonetic drift

This chapter provides an overview of research on the phonetic changes that occur in one’s native language (L1) due to recent experience in another language (L2), a phenomenon known as phonetic drift. Through a survey of empirical findings on segmental and suprasegmental acoustic properties, the chapter examines the features of the L1 that are subject to phonetic drift, the cognitive mechanism(s) behind phonetic drift, and the various factors that influence the likelihood of phonetic drift. In short, virtually all aspects of L1 speech are subject to drift, but different aspects do not drift in the same manner, possibly due to multiple routes of L2 influence coexisting at different levels of L1 phonological structure. In addition to the timescale of these changes, the chapter discusses the relationship between phonetic drift and attrition as well as some of the enduring questions in this area.https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eQbh17Z4YsH8vY_XjCHGqi5QChfBKcAZhttps://drive.google.com/open?id=1eQbh17Z4YsH8vY_XjCHGqi5QChfBKcAZhttps://drive.google.com/open?id=1eQbh17Z4YsH8vY_XjCHGqi5QChfBKcAZAccepted manuscriptAccepted manuscrip

The development of voice onset time in French immersion children

xiii, 118 leaves : ill. ; 29 cmThis thesis sought to examine the acquisition of French stop consonants assessed through the acoustic measure of voice onset time (VOT) in French immersion students from grades 1, 3, and 5. A speech production and speech perception task were administered in both English and French. Word-initial voiced and voiceless stops were investigated. Production analysis revealed that children maintained two separate language systems in the realization of all voiceless stops and the voiced stop /g/, whereas an interaction between their English and French sound systems was observed in the realization of the voiced stops /b/ and /d/. In the French perception task, children showed consistency in correctly identifying the voiceless tokens but demonstrated difficulty in the identification of the voiced tokens. The results are discussed in terms of the cross-language phonetic differences between English and French, the particularity of the learning environment, and the influence of an English dominant society

Master of Arts

thesisResearch has demonstrated that an early age of onset may be advantageous for second language acquisition. Generally, such studies use subjects who have learned the target language through naturalistic immersion. However, few studies explore the phonological acquisition of students in immersion education programs. This study investigates whether first graders with 1 year of German dual language immersion (DLI) (experiment subjects) are able to perform significantly better than their nonimmersion peers (control subjects) on an oddity vowel discrimination task contrasting the vowels /ʊ/ and the German /ʏ/. The experiment and control groups were tested using an “odd man out” paradigm with four options: vowel A, B, or C as the odd vowel in a change trial, or X indicating that all vowels in the trial were the same. The DLI group did not perform better than the nonimmersion group; however, the nonimmersion group was more likely to select “same” while the DLI group more often selected A, B, or C. These results may indicate that DLI students with 1 year of immersion experience have begun forming a new phonological category for the German vowel /ʏ/ but are not yet able to correctly distinguish it from their more established /ʊ/ category

A Psycholinguistic Perspective on Development of Phonetic Category Formation in Bilingual Children

This chapter reviews theories and research about phonetic category formation in bilingual children. Investigating phonetic categories provides us with a way to answer one of the longstanding theoretical issues in bilingualism, that is, whether bilingual children possess one versus two linguistic systems in the learning of their respective languages. In this chapter, theoretical backgrounds of phonetic categories in bilingual adults and children are reviewed. Then, empirical evidence showing phonetic categories in bilingual children is summarized. Finally, a development model of phonetic category formation in simultaneous and sequential bilingual children is proposed. Based on the model, detailed phonetic categories do not form across-the-board and bilingual children may invoke multi-dimensional representations of phonetic categories

Language change and linguistic inquiry in a world of multicompetence: Sustained phonetic drift and its implications for behavioral linguistic research

Linguistic studies focusing on monolinguals have often examined individuals with considerable experience using another language. Results of a methodological review suggest that conflating ostensibly ‘multicompetent’ individuals with monolinguals is still common practice. A year-long longitudinal study of speech production demonstrates why this practice is problematic. Adult native English speakers recently arrived in Korea showed significant changes in their production of English stops and vowels (in terms of voice onset time, fundamental frequency, and formant frequencies) during Korean classes and continued to show altered English production a year later, months after their last Korean class. Consistent with an INCIDENTAL PROCESSING HYPOTHESIS (IPH) concerning the processing of ambient linguistic input, some changes persisted even in speakers who reported limited active use of Korean in their daily life. These patterns thus suggest that the linguistic experience obtained in a foreign language environment induces and then prolongs restructuring of the native language, making the multicompetent native speaker in a foreign language environment unrepresentative of a monolingual in a native language environment. Such restructuring supports the view that one’s native language continues to evolve in adulthood, highlighting the need for researchers to be explicit about a population under study and to accordingly control (and describe) language background in a study sample

Is it really all downhill after puberty?: The Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition - A review of the literature

The Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition posits that there is a critical period, early childhood until puberty, in which human beings must acquire a second language if they are going to achieve native-like attainment in that language. This thesis is a review of the current state of research in regards to the Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition. While evidence is provided to refute the Critical Period Hypothesis in the studies examined, a general age effect is found in the native-like attainment of a second language both in the acquisition of grammatical features and in the acquisition of phonological system. A look at how to relate these findings to foreign language education in the United States is begun by looking specifically at foreign language immersion programs in the United States and their effectiveness on native-like attainment and proficiency. There are currently 448 foreign language immersion programs in the U.S. with 45% of these programs being Spanish immersion and 22% being French immersion. Research shows that foreign language immersion programs are effective in helping children acquire a second language more effectively, specifically the early immersion programs, as well as acquire more metalinguistic awareness of languages than their monolingual counterparts

Connecting perception and production in early Catalan-Spanish bilingual children: language dominance and quality of input effects

This study investigates perception and production of the Catalan mid-vowel /e/-/ɛ/ contrast by two groups of 4.5-year-old Catalan-Spanish bilingual children, differing in language dominance. Perception was assessed with an XAB discrimination task involving familiar words and non-words. Production accuracy was measured using a familiar-word elicitation task. Overall, Catalan-dominant bilingual children outperformed Spanish-dominant bilinguals, the latter showing high variability in production accuracy, while being slightly above chance level in perception. No correlation between perception and production performance could be established in this group. The effect of language dominance alone could not explain the Spanish-dominant participants' performance, but quality of Catalan input (native vs. accented speech) was identified as an important factor behind familiar-word production and the inaccurate representation of the target contrast in the lexicon of the bilinguals' less-dominant language. More fine-grained measurements of experience-related factors are needed for a full understanding of the acquisition of challenging contrasts in bilingual contexts

The emotional weight of "I love you" in multilinguals' languages

The present paper considers the perceived emotional weight of the phrase I love you in multilinguals’ different languages. The sample consists of 1459 adult multilinguals speaking a total of 77 different first languages. They filled out an on-line questionnaire with open and closed questions linked to language behavior and emotions. Feedback on the open question related to perceived emotional weight of the phrase I love you in the multilinguals’ different languages was recoded in three categories: it being strongest in (1) the first language (L1), (2) the first language and a foreign language, and (3) a foreign language (LX). A majority of speakers felt I love you was strongest in their L1. Participants offered various explanations for their perception. Statistical analyses revealed that the perception of weight of the phrase I love you was associated with self-perceived language dominance, context of acquisition of the L2, age of onset of learning the L2, degree of socialization in the L2, nature of the network of interlocutors in the L2, and self-perceived oral proficiency in the L2