Cross-Language Transfer and Attentional Control in Early Bilingual Speech

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the roles of cross-language transfer of first language (L1) and attentional control in second-language (L2) speech perception and production of sequential bilinguals, taking phonological overlap into account. Method: Twenty-five monolingual Dutch-speaking and 25 sequential bilingual Turkish–Dutch-speaking 3- and 4-year-olds were tested using picture identification tasks for speech perception in L1 Turkish and L2 Dutch, single-word tasks for speech production in L1 and L2, and a visual search task for attentional control. Phonological overlap was manipulated by dividing the speech tasks into subsets of phonemes that were either shared or unshared between languages. Results: In Dutch speech perception and production, monolingual children obtained higher accuracies than bilingual peers. Bilinguals showed equal performance in L1 and L2 perception but scored higher on L1 than on L2 production. For speech perception of shared phonemes, linear regression analyses revealed no direct effects of attention and L1 on L2. For speech production of shared phonemes, attention and L1 directly affected L2. When exploring unshared phonemes, direct effects of attentional control on L2 were demonstrated not only for speech production but also for speech perception. Conclusions: The roles of attentional control and cross-language transfer on L2 speech are different for shared and unshared phonemes. Whereas L2 speech production of shared phonemes is also supported by cross-language transfer of L1, L2 speech perception and production of unshared phonemes benefit from attentional control only. This underscores the clinical importance of considering phonological overlap and supporting attentional control when assisting young sequential bilinguals' L2 development.

The effect of simultaneous exposure on the attention selection and integration of segments and lexical tones by Urdu-Cantonese bilingual speakers

“…Moreover, the development of bilinguals’ SATP system tends to be a language-specific, L1-inhibitory, and experience-driven process. When establishing an L2 phonology system, bilinguals’ L1-shaped SATP will act as a lens for weighting the perceptual salience of L2 sub-syllabic features ( Ellis, 2006 ; Figueiredo and Da Silva, 2009 ; Verbeek et al, 2022 ). With the accumulation of L2 learning experiences, bilinguals can gradually shift their attention to sub-syllabic features from those relevant to L1 to those appropriate to L2 ( Kohl, 1993 ; Steinhauer et al, 2009 ; Steinhauer, 2014 ; White et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Children’s attention system for a native language is established in the first year of life ( Kuhl et al, 1992 ; Kalashnikova et al, 2021 ). Early bilingual children, who simultaneously or sequentially acquire a second language, will refine their bilingual phonology and attention system during childhood ( Hazan and Barrett, 2000 ; Verbeek et al, 2022 ). For specific phonology contrasts, the refining may continue past puberty (9–11 years old) until adulthood ( Figueiredo and Da Silva, 2009 ; Shafer et al, 2011 ; Yan et al, 2019 ; Dollmann et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Moreover, given that listeners’ SATP may be further integrated with the acquisition difficulty in phonetic learning ( García and Froud, 2018 ; Verbeek et al, 2022 ), it is also necessary to clarify how Urdu listeners are influenced by language typology when processing Cantonese tones. For example, when perceiving Mandarin tones, L1 non-tonal (English) listeners tend to categorize the mid-rising tone and the high-falling tone in Mandarin into English intonation categories of “question” and “statement” ( So and Best, 2011 ).…”

“…SATP refers to a sensory mechanism that can cognitively reinforce listeners only to select the language-specific acoustic cues while remaining other redundant and chaotic inputs blend into the background automatically ( Francis and Nusbaum, 2002 ; McCandliss and Yoncheva, 2011 ; Strange, 2011 ). In the perceptual learning of a second language (L2), bilinguals, particularly those with reduced proficiency, have to pay efforts to inhibit a SATP transfer shaped by their first language (L1) when perceiving a non-native speech ( Trofimovich, 2008 ; MacWhinney, 2018 ; Verbeek et al, 2022 ). The failure to inhibit an L1 transfer on the attentional level may lead to a non-adaptation of the speech variants.…”

“…The current study investigates the tone-specific SATP by observing two attentional components under a non-optimal (i.e., phonetic conflicting) condition: attention integration and distribution across linguistic cues ( Repp and Lin, 1990 ; Braun and Johnson, 2011 ; Lin and Francis, 2014 ; Zou et al, 2017 ). Moreover, the automaticity of SATP was examined based on listeners’ accuracy and reaction time (RT) in response to stimuli ( Zou et al, 2017 ; Verbeek et al, 2022 ). As an experimental group, we recruited simultaneous bilinguals in Urdu (non-tonal) and Cantonese (tonal language).…”