Production and perception of English stops by native Spanish speakers

Abstract

This study examined production of /b, d, g/ and /p, t, k/ in the initial position of English and Spanish words by two groups of native Spanish adults and native Spanish 9–10 year-olds who began learning English as a second language (L2) by the age of 5–6 years. It also examined identification by the same subjects of a VOT continuum ranging from /da/ to /ta/. The subjects in all three groups produced /p, t, k/ with significantly longer voice onset time (VOT) values in English than Spanish words, but with significantly shorter VOT values in English words than age-matched English monolinguals. The subjects also realized Spanish /p, t, k/ with significantly shorter VOT values than age-matched Spanish monolinguals. The mean /da/–/ta/ category boundaries of the two groups of adult subjects, but not the child subjects, occurred at significantly shorter mean values than those of age-matched monolingual speakers of English. The results are interpreted to mean that although the native Spanish speakers of English developed phonetic categories for English [p h ], [t h ], and [k h ], they did not realize /p, t, k/ authentically because much of their L2 input was likely to have been Spanish-accented English rather than the English spoken by English native speakers.