Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-rbxfs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-06T00:09:10.514Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Impact of language dominance on phonetic transfer in Cantonese–English bilingual language switching

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2018

RACHEL KA-YING TSUI ,
XIULI TONG Open the ORCID record for XIULI TONG [Opens in a new window]  and
CHUCK SIU KI CHAN
RACHEL KA-YING TSUI
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong
XIULI TONG*
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong
CHUCK SIU KI CHAN
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong
*
*ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bilinguals are susceptible to interaction between their two phonetic systems during speech processing. Using a language-switching paradigm, this study investigated differences in phonetic transfer of Cantonese–English bilingual adults with various language dominance profiles (Cantonese-dominant, English-dominant, and balanced bilinguals). Measurements of voice onset time revealed that unbalanced bilinguals and balanced bilinguals responded differently to language switching. Among unbalanced bilinguals, production of the dominant language shifted toward the nondominant language, with no effect in the opposite direction. However, balanced bilinguals’ speech production was unaffected by language switching. These results are analogous to the inhibitory control model, suggesting an asymmetrical switch cost of language switching at the phonetic level of speech production in unbalanced bilinguals. In contrast, the absence of switch cost in balanced bilinguals implies differences in the mechanism underlying balanced bilinguals’ and unbalanced bilinguals’ speech production.

Keywords

bilingual speech productioninhibitory control modellanguage dominancephonetic interaction

Information

Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 29 - 58
Check for updates
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Allport, A. , Styles, E. A. , & Hsieh, S. (1994). Shifting intentional set: Exploring the dynamic control of tasks. In C. Umilta & M. Moscovitch (Eds.), Attention and performance XV: Conscious and nonconscious information processing (pp. 421–452). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Amengual, M. (2012). Interlingual influence in bilingual speech: Cognate status effect in a continuum of bilingualism. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 517–530.Google Scholar
Antoniou, M. , Best, C. T. , Tyler, M. D. , & Kroos, C. (2010). Language context elicits native-like stop voicing in early bilinguals’ productions in both L1 and L2. Journal of Phonetics, 38, 640–653.Google Scholar
Antoniou, M. , Best, C. T. , Tyler, M. D. , & Kroos, C. (2011). Inter-language interference in VOT production by L2-dominant bilinguals: Asymmetries in phonetic code-switching. Journal of Phonetics, 39, 558–570.Google Scholar
Antoniou, M. , Tyler, M. D. , & Best, C. T. (2012). Two ways to listen: Do L2-dominant bilinguals perceive stop voicing according to language mode? Journal of Phonetics, 40, 582–594.Google Scholar
Auzou, P. , Ozsancak, C. , Morris, R. J. , Jan, M. , Eustache, F. , & Hannequin, D. (2000). Voice onset time in aphasia, apraxia of speech and dysarthria: A review. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 14, 131–150.Google Scholar
Balukas, C. , & Koops, C. (2015). Spanish-English bilingual voice onset time in spontaneous code-switching. International Journal of Bilingualism, 19, 423–443.Google Scholar
Bates, D. , Maechler, M. , Bolker, B. , & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67, 1–48. doi:10.18637/jss.v067.i01 Google Scholar
Bauer, R. S. , & Benedict, P. K. (1997). Modern Cantonese phonology. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Bell, A. , Brenier, J. , Gregory, M. , Girand, C. , & Jurafsky, D. (2002). Predictability effects on durations of content and function words in conversational English. Journal of Memory and Language, 60, 92–111.Google Scholar
Birdsong, D. (2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: A selective overview. Language Learning, 56(Suppl.1), 9–49.Google Scholar
Boersma, P. , & Weenink, D. (2015). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 5.4.22. Retrieved from http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/ Google Scholar
Bullock, B. E. , & Toribio, A. J. (2009). Trying to hit a moving target: On the sociophonetics of code-switching. In L. Isurin, D. Winford, & K. de Bot (Eds.), Multidisciplinary approaches to code switching (pp. 189–206). Philadelphia: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Bullock, B. E. , Toribio, A. J. , González, V. , & Dalola, A. (2006). Language dominance and performance outcomes in bilingual pronunciation. In M. Grantham O’Brien, C. Shea, & J. Archibald (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (pp. 9–16). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Caramazza, A. , Yeni-Komshian, G. H. , Zurif, E. B. , & Carbone, E. (1973). The acquisition of a new phonological contrast: The case of stop consonants in French-English bilinguals. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 54, 421–428.Google Scholar
Chan, A. Y. W. , & Li, D. C. S. (2000). English and Cantonese phonology in contrast: Explaining Cantonese ESL learners’ English pronunciation problems. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13, 67–85.Google Scholar
Chen, L. , Peng, L. , & Chao, K. (2009). The effect of lexical tones on voice onset time. Proceedings of the 11th IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (pp. 552–557). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE.Google Scholar
Cho, T. , & Ladefoged, P. (1999). Variation and universals in VOT: Evidence from 18 languages. Journal of Phonetics, 27, 207–229.Google Scholar
Clumeck, H. , Barton, D. , Macken, M. A. , & Huntington, D. (1981). The aspiration contrast in Cantonese word-initial stops: Data from children and adults. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 9, 210–224.Google Scholar
Costa, A. , Caramazza, A. , & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2000). The cognate facilitation effect: Implications for models of lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 26, 1283–1296.Google Scholar
Costa, A. , & Santesteban, M. (2004). Lexical access in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching in highly proficient bilinguals and L2 learners. Journal of Memory and Language, 50, 491–511.Google Scholar
Costa, A. , Santesteban, M. , & Ivanova, I. (2006). How do highly proficient bilinguals control their lexicalization process? Inhibitory and language-specific selection mechanisms are both functional. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32, 1057–1074.Google Scholar
Darcy, I. , Mora, J. C. , & Daidone, D. (2016). The role of inhibitory control in second language phonological processing. Language Learning, 66, 741–773.Google Scholar
Dunn, A. L. , & Fox-Tree, J. E. (2009). A quick, gradient Bilingual Dominance Scale. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 273–289.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1991). Age of learning affects the authenticity of voice-onset time (VOT) in stop consonants produced in a second language. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 89, 395–411.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language speech learning theory, findings, and problems. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research (pp. 233–277). Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1997). Language contact in bilingualism: Phonetic system interactions. In J. Cole & J. Hualde (Eds.), Laboratory phonology (Vol. 9, pp. 353–382). Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. , MacKay, I. R. A. , & Piske, T. (2002). Assessing bilingual dominance. Applied Psycholinguistics, 23, 567–598.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. , Schirru, C. , & MacKay, I. R. A. (2003). Interaction between the native and second language phonetic subsystems. Speech Communication, 40, 467–491.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. , Yeni-Komshian, G. H. , & Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on second language acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language, 41, 78–104.Google Scholar
Fox, J. , & Weisberg, S. (2011). An {R} companion to applied regression (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Francis, A. L. , Ciocca, V. , & Yu, J. M. C. (2003). Accuracy and variability of acoustic measures of voicing onset. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 113, 1025–1032.Google Scholar
Gertken, L. M. , Amengual, M. , & Birdsong, D. (2014). Assessing language dominance with the Bilingual Language Profile. In P. Leclercq, A. Edmonds, & H. Hilton (Eds.), Measuring L2 proficiency: Perspectives from SLA (pp. 208–225). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Goldrick, M. , Runnqvist, E. , & Costa, A. (2014). Language switching makes pronunciation less nativelike. Psychological Science, 25, 1031–1036.Google Scholar
Gollan, T. H. , & Ferreira, V. S. (2009). Should I stay or should I switch? A cost-benefit analysis of voluntary language switching in young and aging bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35, 640–665.Google Scholar
Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , 1, 67–81.Google Scholar
Griffin, Z. , & Bock, K. (2000). What the eyes say about speaking. Psychological Science, 11, 201–258.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (1998). Studying bilinguals: Methodological and conceptual issues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1, 131–149.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. , & Miller, J. L. (1994). Going in and out of languages: An example of bilingual flexibility. American Psychological Society, 5, 201–206.Google Scholar
Guion, S. G. , Flege, J. E. , & Loftin, J. D. (2000). The effect of L1 use on pronunciation in Quichua-Spanish bilinguals. Journal of Phonetics, 28, 27–42.Google Scholar
Harris, C. L. , Gleason, J. B. , & Ayçiçegi, A. (2006). When is a first language more emotional? Psychophysiological evidence from bilingual speakers. In A. Pavlenko (Ed.), Bilingual minds: Emotional experience, expression and representation (pp. 257–283). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Hazan, V. L. , & Boulakia, G. (1993). Perception and production of a voicing contrast by French-English bilinguals. Language and Speech, 36, 17–38.Google Scholar
Jacobs, A. , Fricke, M. , & Kroll, J. F. (2016). Cross-language activation begins during speech planning and extends into second language speech. Language Learning, 66, 324–353.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F. , Bobb, S. , & Wodniekca, Z. (2006). Language selectivity is the exception, not the rule: Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9, 119–135.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F. , Michael, E. , Tokowicz, N. , & Dufour, R. (2002). The development of lexical fluency in a second language. Second Language Research, 18, 137–171.Google Scholar
Lai, M. L. (2001). Hong Kong students’ attitudes towards Cantonese, Putonghua and English after the change of sovereignty. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 22, 112–133.Google Scholar
Lenth, R. V. (2016). Least-squares means: The R package lsmeans. Journal of Statistical Software, 69, 1–33.Google Scholar
Lev-Ari, S. , & Peperkamp, S. (2013). Low inhibitory skill leads to non-native perception and production in bilinguals’ native language. Journal of Phonetics, 41, 320–331.Google Scholar
Lev-Ari, S. , & Peperkamp, S. (2014). The influence of inhibitory skill on phonological representations in production and perception. Journal of Phonetics, 47, 36–46.Google Scholar
Li, D. C. S. (2017). Multilingual Hong Kong: Languages, literacies and identities. Basel, Switzerland: Springer International.Google Scholar
Linck, J. A. , Schwieter, J. W. , & Sunderman, G. (2012). Inhibitory control predicts language switching performance in trilingual speech production. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 651–662.Google Scholar
Lisker, L. , & Abramson, S. A. (1964). A cross-language study of voicing contrast in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Word, 20, 384–422.Google Scholar
Macken, M. , & Barton, D. (1980). The acquisition of the voicing contrast in Spanish: A phonetic and phonological study of word-initial stop consonants. Journal of Child Language, 7, 433–458.Google Scholar
MacLeod, A. A. N. , & Stoel-Gammon, C. (2005). Are bilinguals different? What VOT tells us about simultaneous bilinguals. Journal of Multilingual Communication Disorders, 3, 118–127.Google Scholar
MacSwan, J. (2000). The architecture of the bilingual language faculty: Evidence from intrasentential code switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 3, 37–54.Google Scholar
Maddieson, I. (1984). Patterns of sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Marian, V. , Blumenfeld, H. K. , & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 940–967.Google Scholar
Meuter, R. F. I. , & Allport, A. (1999). Bilingual language switching in naming: Asymmetrical costs of language selection. Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 407–420.Google Scholar
Olson, D. J. (2013). Bilingual language switching and selection at the phonetic level: Asymmetrical transfer in VOT production. Journal of Phonetics, 41, 407–420.Google Scholar
Olson, D. J. (2016). The role of code-switching and language context in bilingual phonetic transfer. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 46, 263–285.Google Scholar
Pavlenko, A. (2004). “Stop Doing That, Ia Komu Skazala!”: Language choice and emotions in parent–child communication. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 25, 179–203.Google Scholar
Piccinini, P. , & Arvaniti, A. (2015). Voice onset time in Spanish-English spontaneous code-switching. Journal of Phonetics, 52, 121–137.Google Scholar
Piske, T. , MacKay, I. R. A. , & Flege, J. E. (2001). Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an L2: A review. Journal of Phonetics, 29, 191–215.Google Scholar
Prior, A. , & Gollan, T. H. (2011). Good language-switchers are good task-switchers: Evidence from Spanish-English and Mandarin-English bilinguals. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17, 682–691.Google Scholar
R Core Team (2017). R: A language and environment for statistical computing [Computer program]. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Retrieved from https://www.R-project.org/ Google Scholar
Schneider, W. , Eschman, A. , & Zuccolotto, A. (2002). E-Prime 2.0 [Computer program]. Pittsburgh, PA: Psychological Software Tools.Google Scholar
Schwartz, A. I. , Kroll, J. F. , & Diaz, M. (2007). Reading words in Spanish and English: Mapping orthography to phonology in two languages. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22, 106–129.Google Scholar
Schwieter, J. W. , & Sunderman, G. (2008). Language switching in bilingual speech production: In search of the language-specific selection mechanism. Mental Lexicon, 3, 214–238.Google Scholar
Simonet, M. (2014). Phonetic consequences of dynamic cross-linguistic interference in proficient bilinguals. Journal of Phonetics, 43, 29–37.Google Scholar
Sundara, M. , Polka, L. , & Baum, S. (2006). Production of coronal stops by simultaneous bilingual adults. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9, 97–114.Google Scholar
Tokowicz, N. , Michael, E. B. , & Kroll, J. F. (2004). The roles of study-abroad experience and working-memory capacity in the types of errors made during translation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 7, 255–272.Google Scholar
Volaitis, L. E. , & Miller, J. L. (1992). Phonetic prototypes: Influence of place of articulation and speaking rate on the internal structure of voicing categories. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 92, 723–735.Google Scholar