First and second language tongue movements in Spanish and Korean bilingual speakers

A number of previous studies have relied on perceptual judgments or acoustic analysis to examine second language (L2) production. However, few researchers have studied L2 performance by directly tracking the physical movements of the articulators. The purpose of the present study was to investigate intraspeaker differences in native (Korean or Spanish) and L2 (English) production through kinematic indices of tongue activity. This involved measurement of the speed, duration, and distance of tongue movements or strokes during speech. Findings indicated that the speakers had significantly slower stroke speeds and longer movement durations for L2 when compared to their native language (L1), yet no significant differences in stroke distance. The bilingual speakers were found to pause more and speak proportionally less of the time in their L2. Interestingly, those speakers who exhibited greater relative kinematic changes from L1 to L2 were also rated as having a stronger perceived accent.