Cross language phonetic influences on the speech of French–English bilinguals

Abstract

We examined the voice onset times (VOTs) of monolingual and bilingual speakers of English and French to address the question whether cross language phonetic influences occur particularly in simultaneous bilinguals (that is, speakers who learned both languages from birth). Speakers produced sentences in which there were target words with initial /p/, /t/ or /k/. In French, natively bilingual speakers produced VOTs that were significantly longer than those of monolingual French speakers. French VOTs were even longer in bilingual speakers who learned English before learning French. The outcome was analogous in English speech. Natively bilingual speakers produced shorter English VOTs than monolingual speakers. English VOTs were even shorter in the speech of bilinguals who learned French before English. Bilingual speakers had significantly longer VOTs in their English speech than in their French. Accordingly, the cross language effects do not occur because natively bilingual speakers adopt voiceless stop categories intermediate between those of native English and French speakers that serve both languages. Monolingual speakers of French or English in Montreal had VOTs nearly identical respectively to those of monolingual Parisian French speakers and those of monolingual Connecticut English speakers. These results suggest that mere exposure to a second language does not underlie the cross language phonetic effect; however, these findings must be resolved with others that appear to show an effect of overhearing.Talkers well past the end of any critical period for language acquisition show considerable malleability in their production of phonological segments. In the short term, for example, they may show convergences or accommodations to their interlocutors in dialect (Giles, 1973), speaking rate (Street, 1983), vocal intensity (Natale, 1975), and rate and duration of pausing (Jaffe and Feldstein, 1970) among other vocal adjustments (see Giles, Coupland & Coupland, 1991, for a review to that date). These accommodations can be accompanied by nonverbal accommodations to interlocutors, such as posture mirroring (LaFrance, 1982), interactional synchrony (Condon, 1976), and entrainment of postural activity (Shockley, Santana & Fowler, 2003). These short-term changes in vocal and nonvocal behavior may reflect interlocutors'Corresponding author: Carol A. Fowler, Haskins Laboratories, 300 George St., Suite 900, New Haven, CT 06511, Phone: 203-865-6163 ext. 220, Email: carol.fowler@haskins.yale.edu. 1 It is essentially impossible to find wholly monolingual English or French speakers in Montreal.Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content...

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