Acoustic correlates of bilingualism: Relating phonetic production to language experience and attitudes Free

Researchers tend to quantify degree of bilingualism according to age-related factors such as age of acquisition (Flege, et al. 1999, Yeni-Komshian, et al. 2000). However, previous research suggests that bilinguals may also show different degrees of accent and patterns of phonetic interaction between their first language (L1) and second language (L2) as a result of factors such as the quantity and quality of L2 input (Flege & Liu, 2001), amount of L1 vs. L2 use (Flege, et al. 1999), and attitude toward each language (Moyer, 2007). The goal of this study is to identify gradient properties of speech production that can be related to gradient language experience and attitudes in a bilingual population that is relatively homogeneous in terms of age-related factors. Native Cantonese-English bilinguals living in Hong Kong produced near homophones in both languages under conditions emphasizing one language or the other on different days. Acoustic phonetic variables related to phonological inventory differences between the two languages, including lexical tone/stress, syllable length, nasality, fricative manner and voicing, release of stop, voice onset time, and vowel quality and length, will be quantified and compared to results from a detailed survey of individual speakers’ experience and attitudes toward the two languages.