Asymmetries in phonological development: the case of word-final cluster acquisition in Welsh–English bilingual children

Mayr, Robert; Howells, Gwennan; Lewis, Rhonwen

doi:10.1017/s0305000913000603

Cited by 19 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In fact, her results showed that speech production proficiency in one language was the best predictor of segmental accuracy in the other language. Other studies of bilingual children learning other language pairs have documented correlations and interaction between phonological systems (Mayr et al, 2015;Kehoe, 2015). Taken together, these findings suggest, in line with the predictions of the Unified Competition Model (MacWhinney, 2005), that speech production abilities in one language may be highly predictive of speech production abilities in the other language, at least when the languages share similar sounds and phonological structures.…”

Section: Relationships Between Phonological Skillssupporting

confidence: 77%

“…Goldstein et al, 2010). For instance, as predicted by the Unified Competition Model (MacWhinney, 2005), negative transfer should be particularly seen at early stages of bilingual development and when one language is dominant over the other, since children would particularly rely on phonological structures from their stronger languagebased on more frequent and possibly more salient cuesfor productions in their non-dominant language (Munro, Ball, Müller, Duckworth & Lyddy, 2005;Mayr, Howells & Lewis, 2015). However, transfer from the dominant language should decrease as exposure to and practice with the non-dominant language increases, making cues specific to this language gain strength and exert more influence on the development of its phonological system.…”

Section: Relationships Between Phonological Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These categories were chosen as they have been attested in previous studies on phonological development in monolingual and bilingual children learning English and Spanish as well as other language pairs (e.g. Gildersleeve-Neumann et al, 2008Goldstein & Bunta, 2012;Mayr, Jones & Mennen, 2014;Mayr et al, 2015;Prezas et al, 2014;Shriberg & Kwiatkowski, 1980).…”

Section: Statistical Comparisons Of Sound and Cluster Accuracy Were Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Bilingual Speech Sound Development During the Preschool Years: The Role of Language Proficiency and Cross-Linguistic Relatedness

Montanari

Mayr

2018

J Speech Lang Hear Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate typical Spanish–English speech sound development longitudinally in a group of bilingual preschoolers enrolled in a Head Start Program and to examine the extent to which such development is linked to language proficiency. The study also aimed to identify whether speech development is related cross-linguistically and to improve our understanding of error patterns in this population. Method Thirty-five bilingual preschool children produced single-word speech samples in Spanish and English both at the beginning of their first and their second year in a Head Start Program. Conversational samples in both languages were also collected at these data points to calculate mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and thus assess the children's linguistic proficiency. The phonetically transcribed speech samples were compared over time in terms of segmental accuracy measures and error pattern frequencies. Correlation analyses were run to examine the relation between segmental accuracy measures across languages and between speech sound production and MLUw. Results One-way within-subject analysis of variance revealed significant improvements in accuracy over time in both languages, but not always for cross-linguistically unshared segments, nor for all consonant manner classes. Overall error rates decreased over time in both languages; although, certain error types showed no change. Cross-linguistic interactions were low in both languages. The results also revealed significant cross-linguistic correlations in segmental accuracy between Spanish and English, as well as between MLUw and speech sound production in both languages on a range of measures, with language-specific differences in Year 2 of the Head Start Program, but not in Year 1. Conclusions This study is the first to document developmental changes in the speech patterns of Spanish–English bilingual preschool children over 1 year. Accuracy rates improved significantly in both languages, suggesting that enhanced exposure to the majority language at school may not impede phonological development in the home language. Bootstrapping effects were particularly pronounced on cross-linguistically shared sounds, which suggests that the same underlying skills are utilized in both languages, whereas language-specific singleton consonants and consonant clusters did not appear to benefit from exposure to the other language. The results also suggest an intricate link between phonological skills and morphosyntactic performance at the early stages of development, but a more complex pattern thereafter with differences that may be based on language-specific phonological properties.

show abstract

Section: Relationships Between Phonological Skillssupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Relationships Between Phonological Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Statistical Comparisons Of Sound and Cluster Accuracy Were Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Bilingual Speech Sound Development During the Preschool Years: The Role of Language Proficiency and Cross-Linguistic Relatedness

Montanari

Mayr

2018

J Speech Lang Hear Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Overall, the study hence did not find any effect of linguistic experience. This is surprising considering most previous studies on bilingual speech have found differences between monolinguals and bilinguals (e.g., Kehoe et al, 2004;Fowler et al, 2008;Guion, 2003;Paradis, 2001;but see MacLeod, Stoel-Gammon & Wassink, 2009;Mennen, 2004), and between bilinguals who differ in their linguistic experience (e.g., Mayr, Howells & Lewis, 2015;Simonet, 2010).…”

Section: Linguistic Experience Peer Group Identity and Welshnessmentioning

confidence: 87%

Disentangling the effects of long-term language contact and individual bilingualism: The case of monophthongs in Welsh and English

Mayr

Morris

Mennen

et al. 2015

International Journal of Bilingualism

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims and Objectives:This study investigates the effects of individual bilingualism and long-term language contact on monophthongal vowel productions in English and Welsh. Design:To this end, we recorded the Welsh and English vowel productions of two sets of Welsh-English bilinguals differing in home language use, as well as the English vowel productions of English monolinguals. Data and analysis:The data were analysed acoustically, with a focus on spectral and temporal properties. Comparisons were then made within each language and crosslinguistically. Findings:The results of a cross-linguistic acoustic comparison revealed a high degree of convergence in the monophthong systems of Welsh and English, but also some language-specific categories. Interestingly, at the individual level we found no effect of linguistic experience on vowel production: the two sets of bilinguals and the English monolinguals did not differ in their realisation of English vowels, and the two sets of bilinguals did not differ in their realisation of Welsh vowels. Originality:This is one of few studies to examine the effect of linguistic background on variation in Welsh and English bilingual speech, and the first to compare the speech of Welsh-English bilinguals and English monolinguals. More specifically, it investigates the extent to which a speaker's home language can affect phonetic variation in a close-knit community of speakers and in a situation characterised by long-term language contact. Implications:The findings demonstrate pervasive phonetic convergence in a language contact situation with a historical substrate. They also indicate that a homogeneous peer group with shared values can override the effects of individual linguistic experience.

show abstract

“…The language that the child hears and uses the most frequently is typically his dominant language. Many studies show that the dominant language of a bilingual is associated with faster phonological acquisition (Ball, Müller, & Munro, 2001;Law & So, 2006;Mayr, Howells, & Lewis, 2015). Other studies have not found dominance to be useful in accounting for results (Rose & Champdoizeau, 2007).…”

Section: Factors Accounting For Phonological Performance In Monolingumentioning

confidence: 99%

Bilingual phonological acquisition: the influence of language-internal, language-external, and lexical factors

Kehoe

Havy

2018

J. Child Lang.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines the influence of language-internal (frequency and complexity of linguistic properties), language-external (percent French input, socioeconomic status (SES), and gender), and lexical factors (size of total and French vocabulary) on the phonological production abilities of monolingual and bilingual French-speaking children, aged 2;6. Children participated in an object and picture naming task in which they produced words selected to test different phonological properties. The bilinguals’ first languages were coded in terms of the frequency and complexity of these phonological properties. Results indicated that bilinguals who spoke languages characterized by high frequency/complexity of codas and clusters had superior results in their coda and cluster accuracy in comparison to monolinguals. Bilinguals also had better coda and cluster accuracy scores than monolinguals. These findings provide evidence for cross-linguistic interaction in combination with a ‘general bilingual effect’. In addition, percent French exposure, SES, total vocabulary, and gender influenced phonological production.

show abstract

Asymmetries in phonological development: the case of word-final cluster acquisition in Welsh–English bilingual children

Cited by 19 publications

References 56 publications

Bilingual Speech Sound Development During the Preschool Years: The Role of Language Proficiency and Cross-Linguistic Relatedness

Bilingual Speech Sound Development During the Preschool Years: The Role of Language Proficiency and Cross-Linguistic Relatedness

Disentangling the effects of long-term language contact and individual bilingualism: The case of monophthongs in Welsh and English

Bilingual phonological acquisition: the influence of language-internal, language-external, and lexical factors

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About