Voice onset time of bilingual English and French-speaking Canadians

Abstract

There is evidence of voice onset drift when bilinguals are submerged in cultures that are dominated by their second language (L2). Sancier and Fowler [Gestural drift in a bilingual speaker of Brazilian Portuguese and English,‘‘ J. Phonet. 4, 421-436 (1997)] found that voiceless stop voice onset times (VOTs) of a bilingual speaker of Brazilian Portuguese and English were longer after months spent in the US than after time spent in the speaker’s first language (L1) context. Flege [’’The production of ‘‘new’’ and ‘‘similar’’ phones in a foreign language: Evidence for the effect of equivalence classification,‘‘ J. Phonet. 15, 47–65 (1987)] studied French L1 English L2 bilinguals and English L1 French L2 bilinguals who had spent about 12 years living in the L2 dominant culture. The French L1 English L2 bilinguals VOTs were longer than the VOTs of French monolinguals. The English L1 French L2 bilinguals VOTs were shorter than the VOTs of English monolinguals. In the present study the nature of the experience underlying VOT drift was investigated. Specifically, the aim of the current study was to see whether exposure to another language with different VOTs affects VOT production in the first (or only) language or if VOT production drift is dependent on speaking the non-native language. Productions from English and French monolinguals and from English-French bilinguals were compared across varying linguistic contexts and order of acquisition.