Vocabulary and pronunciation acquisition among bilinguals and monolinguals.

Abstract

Bilingualism was studied with regard to vocabulary learning and pronunciation. 51 subjects (monolinguals and co-ordinate and compound bilinguals) were required to learn two lists of nine disyllabic Hebrew words. Each word contained the /x/ phoneme—a velar fricative. One list was presented visually, the second auditorily. The monolinguals learned the words more quickly when the lists were seen, whereas the compound group performed significantly better auditorily and learned the correct pronunciation of the /x/ more rapidly than the other two groups. The psycholinguistic and educational implications of these findings were considered. of these findings were considered.