Category restructuring during second-language speech acquisition.

Area of Science:

• Phonetics and Second Language Acquisition
• Bilingualism Research
• Speech Perception and Production

Background:

• Bilinguals often exhibit native language (L1) influence on their second language (L2) phonology.
• Age of arrival (AOA) is a critical factor in L2 sound system development.
• Understanding L1 transfer in bilingual speech production and perception is crucial for L2 pedagogy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of AOA and L1 use on English stop consonant (/b/, /d/, /g/) production and perception in bilinguals.
• To compare early and late bilinguals' phonetic behavior with native English (NE) speakers.
• To determine if L1 phonetic patterns influence L2 sound realization and identification.

Main Methods:

• Examined English /b/ production and perception of short-lag English /b d g/ tokens in four bilingual groups.
• Categorized participants by AOA in Canada from Italy and self-reported L1 use.
• Utilized phonetic analysis of prevoicing frequencies and perceptual identification tasks.

Main Results:

• Late bilinguals (AOA=20 years) exhibited greater L1 influence than early bilinguals (AOA=8 years) in both production and perception.
• Late bilinguals produced more prevoiced /b/ tokens and misidentified short-lag /b d g/ tokens more frequently than early bilinguals and NE speakers.
• Prevoicing frequencies in L1 Italian and L2 English were correlated across bilingual groups.

Conclusions:

• Differences between early and late bilinguals are attributed to the quantity and quality of English phonetic input received.
• Early L2 phonetic learning does not necessarily involve establishing entirely new phonetic categories.
• L1 phonetic habits persist and influence L2 sound system development, particularly in late bilinguals.