Developmental and communicative factors affecting VOT production in English and Arabic bilingual and monolingual speakers

Abstract

VOT patterns were investigated in the production of three Lebanese–English bilinguals’ aged 5, 7, and 10, six aged-matched monolingual controls from the bilinguals’ immediate communities, and the parents of bilinguals and monolinguals. The aim was to examine the extent to which children exposed to two languages acquire separate VOT patterns for each language and to determine the factors that affect such acquisition. Results showed that VOT patterns for each bilingual child differed significantly across the two languages. But while the contrast in English resembled a monolingual-like model, that for Arabic exhibited persisting developmental features; explanations were offered in terms of the relationship between input and complexity of voicing lead production. Evidence was used from developmental changes that were noted for two of the bilingual subjects over a period of 18 months. English code-switches produced by the bilinguals during Arabic sessions exhibited different VOT patterns from those produced during English sessions, which underlined the importance of taking the language context into consideration. Finally, results from monolinguals and bilinguals showed that the short lag categories for the two languages were different despite a degree of overlap. Such findings require finer divisions of the three universal VOT categories to account for language-specific patterns.