Type of early bilingualism and its effect on the acoustic realization of allophonic variants: Early sequential and simultaneous bilinguals

Abstract

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This study examines the acoustic realization of phrase-initial voiced stops (/b, d, g/) and intervocalic voiced approximants ([β, ð, ɣ]) in Spanish by three groups of Spanish–English bilinguals: simultaneous bilinguals, early sequential bilinguals, and late second language (L2) Spanish learners to investigate if the type of early bilingualism has an effect on the acoustic realization of language-specific phonological processes. Design/Methodology/Approach: Early bilinguals were divided into two groups (simultaneous and sequential bilinguals), and together with late learners (L2 Spanish learners) they were recorded producing words eliciting phrase-initial and intervocalic voiced stops. Data and Analysis: The acoustic analyses examined the difference between the intensity minimum during the consonant and the intensity maximum of the following tautosyllabic vowel (intensity difference). The dataset comprised a total of 3,569 acoustic measurements. Findings/Conclusions: The group of early sequential bilinguals shows a significantly stronger tendency to produce a more lenited intervocalic segment than simultaneous bilinguals and L2 learners, who produce a more constricted realization. These data indicate that simultaneous bilinguals and L2 learners, who were exposed to English since birth, differ from early bilinguals who were exclusively exposed to Spanish for the first years of their life when applying the Spanish allophonic rule governing the distribution of voiced stops and spirants. Originality: This is one of the first studies that investigates the effects of the type of early bilingualism on bilingual phonetic performance in adulthood, especially in terms of bilingual phonetic production. These novel data examine the acoustic realization of Spanish heritage speakers, a largely understudied bilingual population. Significance/Implications: The findings suggest that the type of early bilingualism in language development, even at a very early age, still has consequences on the acoustic realization of allophonic variants in adulthood.

Arabic-Spanish Language Contact in Puerto Rico: A Case of Glottal Stop Epenthesis

“…For work, school, and socializing, however, Spanish is the primary language used. Nevertheless, our results show a trend for early sequential bilinguals to favor glottalization slightly more than simultaneous bilinguals, in line with Amengual's (2019) research, possibly due to having been exposed to only Arabic longer than simultaneous bilinguals. It is expected that the analysis of data from additional Arabic-Spanish bilingual participants will provide further information regarding the impact of bilingual type on glottal stop epenthesis in Puerto Rican Spanish.…”

“…Regarding our third question, based on previous research (Amengual and Chamorro 2015;Simonet 2011Simonet , 2014, we predicted that language dominance would play a role, with Arabic-dominant participants showing a preference for glottal stop epenthesis to a higher extent than Spanish-dominant participants. Last but not least, for bilingual type we expected early sequential bilinguals to glottalize more than simultaneous bilinguals, and for simultaneous bilinguals to have glottalization rates that fell in the middle of Spanish and Arabic monolinguals, in line with Amengual (2019) and Fowler et al (2008).…”

Bilingual language exposure and the peer group: Acquiring phonetics and phonology in Gaelic Medium Education

“…The effects of early, substantial, exposure to a language appear long-lasting and persistent in some cases. For example, Amengual (2017) showed that simultaneous Spanish-English bilinguals and L2 learners of Spanish behaved similarly with respect to stop spirantisation, but speakers who grew up in a monolingual Spanish-speaking household and learned English sequentially behaved differently.…”

The role of early experience and continued language use in bilingual speech production: A study of Galician and Spanish mid vowels by Galician-Spanish bilinguals

“…Nevertheless, early linguistic experience does not always result in speech patterns that are akin to those of monolingual speakers. Thus, while heritage language speakers are generally closer in accent to monolinguals in the heritage language than L2 learners (Au, Knightly, Jun & Oh, 2002;Amengual, 2017;Chang, Yao, Haynes & Rhodes, 2011), there are usually differences in their speech patterns (Kupisch et al, 2014;McCarthy, Evans & Mahon, 2013;Oh, Jun, Knightly & Au, 2003). For example, Kupisch et al (2014) showed that heritage language speakers from Germany, France and Italy with exposure to both languages from birth were perceived as foreign-accented from a monolingual native speaker perspective.…”

“…Changes in first language (L1) and second language (L2) speech may have longterm effects on memory representation, or manifest as fast and transitory (Chang, 2012(Chang, , 2013Sancier & Fowler, 1997). There is evidence that early linguistic experience may be particularly deeply entrenched and can have long-lasting effects (Amengual, 2017;Au, Oh, Knightly, Jun & Romo, 2008;Choi, Cutler & Broersma, 2017;Hyltenstam, Bylund, Abrahammson & Park, 2009); at the same time, it is not immune to change, and may even be overridden in individuals who only became bilingual in adolescence or adulthood (Ahn, Chang, De Keyser & Lee-Ellis, 2017;Bergmann, Nota, Sprenger & Schmid, 2016;de Leeuw, Schmid & Mennen, 2010;de Leeuw, Tusha & Schmid, 2017;de Leeuw, Mennen & Scobbie, 2013;Dmitrieva, Jongman & Sereno, 2010;Mayr, Price, Mennen, 2012;Mennen, 2004).…”