Variability in vowel production by bilingual speakers: Can input properties hinder the early stabilization of contrastive categories?

Bosch, Laura; Ramon-Casas, Marta

doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2011.02.001

Cited by 76 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…While previous studies found that Catalan-dominant speakers perceive and produce these contrasts, we noted some patterns in their results that already hinted at the potential lack of robustness or different behavior of these vowels as compared to other phonological contrasts (although these were not examined in the original articles). The extensive individual variation that we obtain in the production of the contrasts is previewed, although not explored, by Bosch and Ramon-Casas (2011). Similarly, some studies ran into "problems" with some of the words selected for their studies (Bosch & Ramon-Casas, 2011;Sebastián-Gallés et al, 2009;Ramon-Casas et al, 2009), indicating, as we demonstrate here, that speakers' phonolexical representations of the same word may differ.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…The extensive individual variation that we obtain in the production of the contrasts is previewed, although not explored, by Bosch and Ramon-Casas (2011). Similarly, some studies ran into "problems" with some of the words selected for their studies (Bosch & Ramon-Casas, 2011;Sebastián-Gallés et al, 2009;Ramon-Casas et al, 2009), indicating, as we demonstrate here, that speakers' phonolexical representations of the same word may differ. Our findings suggest that these contrasts are not only challenging for Spanish-dominant bilinguals, but also for Catalan-dominant ones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Bosch and Ramon-Casas (2011) showed that Catalan-and Spanish-dominant speakers phonetically implemented the /e-ɛ/ contrast quite similarly. Despite this, variation among Catalan-dominant speakers was observed in the distance between the vowels and in whether the contrast is mainly realized along F1 or also F2.…”

Section: Perception and Production Of The Mid Vowel Contrastsmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Variation in the lexical distribution and implementation of phonetically similar phonemes in Catalan

Nadeu

Renwick

2016

Journal of Phonetics

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A B S T R A C TIn some Romance languages with two pairs of mid vowel phonemes, it is acknowledged that these contrasts are somewhat unstable. We analyze the distribution and realization of the anterior and posterior mid vowels in Catalan to test claims (mostly based on anecdotal evidence) that these contrasts exhibit inter-and intraspeaker variability. Participants produced target words containing stressed mid vowels and, later, judged vowel height (/e/ vs. /ɛ/; /o/ vs. /ɔ/) in the same words. The results indicate that, even intradialectally, the distribution of mid vowels is somewhat variable, with speakers showing only moderate agreement in the distribution of phonemic vowels. In addition, speakers are not always consistent in their realization of mid vowels when they produce the same word (probably indicating weak phonolexical representations). Interspeaker variation was also observed in the phonetic implementation of the contrasts. The results indicate that the Catalan mid vowel contrasts, like those in other Romance languages, are weaker and less stable than other phonological oppositions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Perception and Production Of The Mid Vowel Contrastsmentioning

confidence: 95%

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Variation in the lexical distribution and implementation of phonetically similar phonemes in Catalan

Nadeu

Renwick

2016

Journal of Phonetics

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“…Age of acquisition and overall length of exposure to the L2 also affect ultimate attainment (Flege, MacKay, & Meador, 1999;also Flege, 1993also Flege, , 1995Flege & MacKay, 2004), as do the type and extent of L2 input (e.g. Baker & Tromfimovich, 2005;Bosch & Ramón-Casas, 2011). Much research on L2 acquisition of vowel systems involves participants in environments where increasing approximation to the L2 can potentially occur, e.g.…”

Section: Vowel Spaces: Inventories and Topologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colliding vowel systems in Andean Spanish

Lipski

2015

LAB

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The acquisition of the Spanish 5-vowel system by speakers of the 3-vowel language Quechua (/ɪ/-/a/-/ʊ/) seldom results in accurate approximation to Spanish vowel spaces when learning takes place informally in post-adolescence. The present study offers data from a minimal immersion environment in northern Ecuador. In a context in which few cues point to the existence of mid-high vocalic oppositions in Spanish (e.g. no literacy, no corrective feedback, almost no viable minimal pairs), these speakers reliably distinguish only three Spanish vowels in production. These Quechua-dominant bilinguals have amorphous front and back vowel spaces considerably broader than those defining Quechua /ɪ/ and /ʊ/, but with no bimodal clustering. Left relatively unfettered, the hybrid system may contribute to an understanding of the relationship between vowel inventory and vowel space topology.

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“…These include the conditions for the phonologization of phonetic variation, or recategorization, the mental representation of nonphonological variation and the way phonology may constrain variation in speech production and perception. New data and analyses are brought to bear on subjects that are currently much debated, such as the nature of phonological representations, models of phonetic variation and sound change, and models of second language (L2) acquisition (Browman and Goldstein, 1989;Ohala, 1993;Labov, 1994;Flege, 1999;Bybee, 2001;Blevins, 2004;Escudero and Boersma, 2004;Best and Tyler, 2007;Stevens and Keyser, 2010;Bosch and Ramon-Casas, 2011;Harrington, 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%