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

Abstract

Bilinguals 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.

Measuring Language Dominance in Early Spanish/English Bilinguals

“…1 In these four studies, we will see that three different measures were used to classify bilinguals as dominant in a given language: (1) based on their self-ratings of proficiency, (2) the language of most exposure and use, and (3) the results of a sociolinguistic questionnaire. The results show both an effect for the dominant language (Amengual and Chamorro 2015;Argyri and Sorace 2007), and an effect for the non-dominant language (Antoniou et al 2011;Tsui et al 2019). Additionally, language dominance will be shown to affect both groups of bilinguals, i.e., bilinguals dominant in L A and bilinguals dominant in L B (Tsui et al 2019) or only one group of bilinguals (Argyri and Sorace 2007).…”

“…Language dominance, or "observed asymmetries of skill in or use of one language over the other" (Birdsong 2014, p. 374), is a factor that is used by researchers to account for and explain variation in bilingual behavior (i.e., production, perception, processing, etc.). For instance, language dominance has been used to account for variation in studies including but not limited to: the production and perception of mid vowel contrasts (Amengual and Chamorro 2015), differences in voice onset time (VOT) in codeswitching contexts (Antoniou et al 2011;Tsui et al 2019), use of null/overt pronominal subjects and pre/post overt subjects (Argyri and Sorace 2007), child bilingual acquisition (Yip and Matthews 2006), and codeswitching patterns (Pérez-Leroux et al 2014). Further, language dominance is also a variable of interest for educators and administrators and clinical research (Gertken et al 2014).…”

“…Further, the studies that have examined language dominance as a factor in bilingual behavior have produced contradictory results. To illustrate these differences in measuring language dominance and how it plays a role in bilingual outcomes, we review four studies (Amengual and Chamorro 2015;Antoniou et al 2011;Argyri and Sorace 2007;Tsui et al 2019) that operationalize language dominance in different ways and that find differing results with respect to how language dominance affects a given linguistic phenomenon. 1 In these four studies, we will see that three different measures were used to classify bilinguals as dominant in a given language: (1) based on their self-ratings of proficiency, (2) the language of most exposure and use, and (3) the results of a sociolinguistic questionnaire.…”

“…Second, Antoniou et al (2011) and Tsui et al (2019) examined voice onset time (i.e., the length of time between the release of a stop consonant and the onset of voicing) in codeswitching contexts across two different groups of bilinguals. Antoniou et al (2011) examined early Greek/English bilinguals who were all classified as English-dominant based upon their self-ratings (i.e., they rated their mastery of English higher than that of their Greek).…”

“…As Antoniou et al (2011) did not examine Greek dominant bilinguals, it remains to be seen whether a similar effect for the non-dominant language would have been found when switching from English into Greek (i.e., an effect of English on the Greek VOT values). Tsui et al (2019) examined early Cantonese/English bilinguals who were classified into three different dominance groups on the basis of their self-ratings of language proficiency: (1) Cantonese dominant, (2) English dominant, and (3) balanced. Similar to Antoniou et al (2011), Tsui et al (2019) found an asymmetrical effect for the non-dominant language on the dominant language for both the Cantonese and English dominant bilinguals.…”