Bilingual phonological development across generations: Segmental accuracy and error patterns in second- and...

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Sociolinguistics

Background:

• Limited research exists on speech sound development in heritage language settings across generations.
• Understanding inter-generational phonological differences is crucial for heritage language speakers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate inter-generational differences in the phonological development of British Bengali children.
• To compare speech sound accuracy and error patterns between second and third-generation heritage speakers.

Main Methods:

• A picture-naming task was administered to 19 second and third-generation Bengali heritage children (4-5 years old) in Wales.
• Phonetic transcription and analysis of single-word speech samples for consonant and vowel accuracy.
• Logistic mixed-effects regression models were used to identify predictive factors for accurate speech patterns.

Main Results:

• Both generations demonstrated high accuracy in English speech sounds.
• Second-generation children outperformed third-generation children on Sylheti-specific consonants.
• Third-generation children exhibited more errors in Sylheti, including sound substitutions.

Conclusions:

• Third-generation children display less developed phonological patterns in their heritage language compared to second-generation peers.
• Clinical assessments may require finer distinctions beyond monolingual/bilingual norms, considering generational language use.
• Generational status is a significant factor in heritage language phonological development.