scholarly journals Leveraging the uniformity framework to examine crosslinguistic similarity for long-lag stops in spontaneous Cantonese-English bilingual speech

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khia A. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Phonetic Convergence ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Cross Language

While crosslinguistic influence is widespread in bilingual speech production, it is less clear which aspects of representation are shared across languages, if any. Most prior work examines phonetically distinct yet phonologically similar sounds, for which phonetic convergence suggests a cross-language link within individuals [1]. Convergence is harder to assess when sounds are already similar, as with English and Cantonese initial long-lag stops. Here, the articulatory uniformity framework [2, 3, 4] is leveraged to assess whether bilinguals share an underlying laryngeal feature across languages, and describe the nature of cross-language links. Using the SpiCE corpus of spontaneous Cantonese-English bilingual speech [5], this paper asks whether Cantonese-English bilinguals exhibit uniform voice-onset time for long-lag stops within and across languages. Results indicate moderate patterns of uniformity within-language—replicating prior work [2, 6]—and weaker patterns across languages. The analysis, however, raises many questions, as correlations were generally lower compared to prior work, and talkers did not adhere to expected ordinal VOT relationships by place of articulation. Talkers also retained clear differences for /t/ and /k/, despite expectations of similarity. Yet at the same time, more of the overall variation seems to derive from individual-specific differences. While many questions remain, the uniformity framework shows promise.

Cross-language correspondences in the face of change: Phonetic independence versus convergence in two Korean-Mandarin bilingual communities

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-199
Author(s):  
Jessamyn Schertz ◽  
Yoonjung Kang ◽  
Sungwoo Han
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
The Face ◽  
Tightly Coupled ◽  
Bilingual Communities ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Over Time

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: We investigate the robustness of cross-language phonetic correspondences in two bilingual communities over time, focusing on whether corresponding sounds (e.g. Mandarin /s/ and Korean /s’/) remain coupled in the face of language change, or whether the categories diverge over time in younger, more proficient bilinguals. Design/Methodology/Approach: We quantify the extent of assimilation versus independence of categories across languages by comparing bilinguals’ production of place of articulation and laryngeal contrasts in Mandarin and Korean sibilants. Distinct language-internal changes were expected on each dimension. Data and analysis: 107 speakers varying in age (aged 19–83), gender, and dialect participated in the study. Acoustic measurements (center of gravity of frication, voice onset time) and statistical analyses were performed on a total of ~11,000 tokens. Findings/Conclusions: The extent of cross-language independence differed on the two dimensions. Corresponding segments across the two languages remained tightly coupled in terms of place of articulation, even in the face of change; on the other hand, a language-internal change in the Korean laryngeal contrast left corresponding Mandarin segments unaffected, resulting in divergence of originally corresponding categories. We also found unpredicted changes on each dimension, and these changes progressed concurrently in the two languages. Originality: The study of correspondences in the context of independent sound change provides a unique perspective from which to evaluate the robustness of cross-language interaction, and the parallel analysis of two separate dimensions in two communities adds to the generalizability of results. Significance/Implications: Most changes occurred concurrently in the two languages, suggesting that similar phonetic categories across languages can remain tightly coupled, even in highly proficient bilinguals where phonetic independence is expected. However, one of the primary expected changes (voice onset time merger in Korean) did not affect corresponding segments in Mandarin, indicating that the extent of cross-language independence in phonetic correspondences may differ even within the same population. We discuss potential reasons for the different results.

Impact of language dominance on phonetic transfer in Cantonese–English bilingual language switching

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHEL KA-YING TSUI ◽  
XIULI TONG ◽  
CHUCK SIU KI CHAN
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Switch Cost ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Control Model ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Dominant

AbstractBilinguals are susceptible to interaction between their two phonetic systems during speech processing. Using a language-switching paradigm, this study investigated differences in phonetic transfer of Cantonese–English bilingual adults with various language dominance profiles (Cantonese-dominant, English-dominant, and balanced bilinguals). Measurements of voice onset time revealed that unbalanced bilinguals and balanced bilinguals responded differently to language switching. Among unbalanced bilinguals, production of the dominant language shifted toward the nondominant language, with no effect in the opposite direction. However, balanced bilinguals’ speech production was unaffected by language switching. These results are analogous to the inhibitory control model, suggesting an asymmetrical switch cost of language switching at the phonetic level of speech production in unbalanced bilinguals. In contrast, the absence of switch cost in balanced bilinguals implies differences in the mechanism underlying balanced bilinguals’ and unbalanced bilinguals’ speech production.

scholarly journals VOICE ONSET TIME IN MULTILINGUAL SPEAKERS: ITALIAN HERITAGE SPEAKERS IN GERMANY WITH L3 ENGLISH

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Miriam Geiss ◽  
Sonja Gumbsheimer ◽  
Anika Lloyd-Smith ◽  
Svenja Schmid ◽  
Tanja Kupisch
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Third Language ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
L3 Acquisition ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence

Abstract This study brings together two previously largely independent fields of multilingual language acquisition: heritage language and third language (L3) acquisition. We investigate the production of fortis and lenis stops in semi-naturalistic speech in the three languages of 20 heritage speakers (HSs) of Italian with German as a majority language and English as L3. The study aims to identify the extent to which the HSs produce distinct values across all three languages, or whether crosslinguistic influence (CLI) occurs. To this end, we compare the HSs’ voice onset time (VOT) values with those of L2 English speakers from Italy and Germany. The language triad exhibits overlapping and distinct VOT realizations, making VOT a potentially vulnerable category. Results indicate CLI from German into Italian, although a systemic difference is maintained. When speaking English, the HSs show an advantage over the Italian L2 control group, with less prevoicing and longer fortis stops, indicating a specific bilingual advantage.

scholarly journals Interlingual Interactions Elicit Performance Mismatches Not “Compromise” Categories in Early Bilinguals: Evidence from Meta-Analysis and Coronal Stops

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Joseph V. Casillas
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Comprehensive Assessment ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Experimental Task ◽  
Cumulative Evidence

Previous studies attest that some early bilinguals produce the sounds of their languages in a manner that is characterized as “compromise” with regard to monolingual speakers. The present study uses meta-analytic techniques and coronal stop data from early bilinguals in order to assess this claim. The goal was to evaluate the cumulative evidence for “compromise” voice-onset time (VOT) in the speech of early bilinguals by providing a comprehensive assessment of the literature and presenting an acoustic analysis of coronal stops from early Spanish–English bilinguals. The studies were coded for linguistic and methodological features, as well as effect sizes, and then analyzed using a cross-classified Bayesian meta-analysis. The pooled effect for “compromise” VOT was negligible (β = −0.13). The acoustic analysis of the coronal stop data showed that the early Spanish–English bilinguals often produced Spanish and English targets with mismatched features from their other language. These performance mismatches presumably occurred as a result of interlingual interactions elicited by the experimental task. Taken together, the results suggest that early bilinguals do not have “compromise” VOT, though their speech involves dynamic phonetic interactions that can surface as performance mismatches during speech production.

The perceptual acquisition of Thai phonology by English speakers: task and stimulus effects

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Pater
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Stimulus Effects ◽  
Parallel Effect ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This article presents a follow-up to Curtin et al.’s study of the perceptual acquisition of Thai laryngeal contrasts by native speakers of English, which found that subjects performed better on contrasts in voice than aspiration. This finding - surprising in light of earlier cross-linguistic voice onset time (VOT) research - was attributed to the fact that the task tapped lexical representations, which are unspecified for aspiration according to standard assumptions in generative phonology. The present study further investigated possible task effects by examining the discrimination and categorization of the same stimuli in various experimental conditions. Stimulus effects were also investigated by performing token-based analyses of the results, and by comparing them to acoustic properties of the tokens. The outcome of the discrimination experiment was the opposite of the earlier study, with significantly better performance on contrasts in aspiration than voice, even on a lexical task. A second finding of this experiment is that place of articulation interacts with the perception of the laryngeal distinctions; the aspiration distinction is discriminated better on the labials, and voice on alveolars. A parallel effect of place of articulation was also found in a categorization experiment.

scholarly journals Language contact within the speaker: Phonetic variation and crosslinguistic influence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khia A. Johnson ◽  
Molly Babel
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Recent Model ◽  
Phonetic Variation ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Language Influence

A recent model of sound change posits that the direction of change is determined, at least in part, by the distribution of variation within speech communities (Harrington, Kleber, Reubold, Schiel, & Stevens, 2018; Harrington & Schiel, 2017). We explore this model in the context of bilingual speech, asking whether the less variable language constrains phonetic variation in the more variable language, using a corpus of spontaneous speech from early Cantonese-English bilinguals (Johnson, Babel, Fong, & Yiu, 2020). As predicted, given the phonetic distributions of stop obstruents in Cantonese compared to English, intervocalic English /b d g/ were produced with less voicing for Cantonese-English bilinguals and word-final English /t k/ were more likely to be unreleased compared to spontaneous speech from two monolingual English control corpora (Pitt, Johnson, Hume, Kiesling, & Raymond, 2005; Swan, 2016). Cantonese phonology is more gradient in terms of voicing initial obstruents (Clumeck, Barton, Macken, & Huntington, 1981; W. Y. P. Wong, 2006) than permitting releases of final obstruents, which is categorically prohibited Bauer & Benedict (2011); Khouw & Ciocca (2006). Neither Cantonese-English bilingual initial voicing nor word-final stop release patterns were significantly impacted by language mode. These results provide evidence that the phonetic variation in crosslinguistically linked categories in bilingual speech is shaped by the distribution of phonetic variation within each language, thus suggesting a mechanistic account for why some segments are more susceptible to cross-language influence than others in studies of mutual influence.

scholarly journals Phonetic structures of Turkish Kabardian

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon ◽  
Ayla Applebaum
Keyword(s):  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Aerodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Rare Type ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Closure Duration ◽  
Phonetic Study ◽  
Phonetic Realization

This paper reports results of a quantitative phonetic study of Kabardian, a Northwest Caucasian language that is of typological interest from a phonetic standpoint. A number of cross-linguistically rare properties are examined. These features include the phonetic realization of Kabardian's small vowel inventory, which contains only three contrastive vowel qualities (two short vowels and one long vowel), spectral characteristics of the ten supralaryngeal voiceless fricatives of Kabardian, as well as the acoustic, palatographic, and aerodynamic characteristics of ejective fricatives, an extremely rare type of segment cross-linguistically. In addition, basic properties of the consonant stop series are explored, including closure duration and voice onset time, in order to test postulated universals linking these properties to place of articulation and laryngeal setting.

Characteristics of Speech Production after Tracheoesophageal Puncture

1986 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Robbins ◽  
John Christensen ◽  
Gail Kempster
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Voice Production ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Tracheoesophageal Puncture ◽  
Offset Time

Voice onset time (VOT) and vowel duration characteristics of speakers following the Singer-Blom technique of tracheoesophageal puncture (1980) were compared to those of traditional esophageal and laryngeal speakers. Fifteen subjects in each of the three speaker groups produced the words /pik/, /kup/, and /kup/ in a carrier phrase while audio recordings were obtained. Broadband spectrograms were made of the consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) utterances and vowel duration and VOT were measured. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures revealed that the tracheoesophageal speakers produced significantly shorter VOTs and longer vowel durations than the laryngeal speakers. However, the longer vowel durations for the traeheoesophageal speakers were not completely accounted for by the shorter VOTs found for that group. Spectrographic examination suggests that delayed voice offset time for the tracheoesophageal speakers also contributes to their longer vowel durations. Overall findings indicate that the physical characteristics and motor control properties of the neoglottis, even when driven by pulmonary air as in tracheoesophageal speakers, exert a major influence on alaryngeal voice production.

Stop consonant productions of Korean–English bilingual children

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUE ANN S. LEE ◽  
GREGORY K. IVERSON
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Stop Consonant ◽  
Developmental Period ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
English Bilingual

The purpose of this study was to conduct an acoustic examination of the obstruent stops produced by Korean–English bilingual children in connection with the question of whether bilinguals establish distinct categories of speech sounds across languages. Stop productions were obtained from ninety children in two age ranges, five and ten years: thirty Korean–English bilinguals, thirty monolingual Koreans and thirty monolingual English speakers. Voice-Onset-Time (VOT) lag at word-initial stop and fundamental frequency (f0) in the following vowel (hereafter vowel-onset f0) were measured. The bilingual children showed different patterns of VOT in comparison to both English and Korean monolinguals, with longer VOT in their production of Korean stop consonants and shorter VOT for English. Moreover, the ten-year-old bilinguals distinguished all stop categories using both VOT and vowel-onset f0,whereas the five-year-olds tended to make stop distinctions based on VOT but not vowel-onset f0. The results of this study suggest that bilingual children at around five years of age do not yet have fully separate stop systems, and that the systems continue to evolve during the developmental period.

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