TY - JOUR

T1 - Acquiring allophonic structure and phonetic detail in a bilingual community

T2 - The production of laterals by Sylheti-English bilingual children

AU - Kirkham, Sam

AU - McCarthy, Kathleen M.

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, International Journal of Bilingualism, 25, 3 (2021), 2021, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2020 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the International Journal of Bilingualism page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ijb on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - Aims and objectivesIn this study, we consider the acquisition of allophonic contrast and phonetic detail in lateral consonants by second-generation Sylheti-English bilingual children in London, UK.Design/methodology/approachAcoustic analysis was conducted on productions of /l/ by Sylheti bilingual children, Sylheti monolingual adults and English monolingual children.Data and analysisTokens of /l/ were elicited across initial, medial and final word positions from 14 bilingual Sylheti-English children, 10 monolingual English children, and 4 monolingual Sylheti adults. Acoustic measurements of F2–F1 were analysed using Bayesian linear mixed-effects modelling.Findings and conclusionsOur results show that bilingual children produce monolingual-like positional patterns in Sylheti, producing very clear laterals in all positions. In contrast, bilinguals produce monolingual-like positional allophony in English, but they differ in phonetic detail, with bilinguals producing much clearer laterals than monolingual children across all positions.OriginalityThis study is the first to examine the development of allophonic contrast and phonetic detail in both of a bilingual’s languages in a contact scenario. This provides new insights into how contact varieties adopt aspects of structure and detail from each language. We also report valuable data from Sylheti-English bilinguals, who are an understudied community.Significance/limitationsOur study highlights the value of considering structural and detailed aspects of cross-linguistic sound systems, whereby one aspect may show monolingual-like patterns and another aspect may show distinctive patterns. We propose that the results in this study represent the development of a new sound system out of language contact, with second-generation bilingual children producing a hybrid system that combines influences from both heritage and host languages.

AB - Aims and objectivesIn this study, we consider the acquisition of allophonic contrast and phonetic detail in lateral consonants by second-generation Sylheti-English bilingual children in London, UK.Design/methodology/approachAcoustic analysis was conducted on productions of /l/ by Sylheti bilingual children, Sylheti monolingual adults and English monolingual children.Data and analysisTokens of /l/ were elicited across initial, medial and final word positions from 14 bilingual Sylheti-English children, 10 monolingual English children, and 4 monolingual Sylheti adults. Acoustic measurements of F2–F1 were analysed using Bayesian linear mixed-effects modelling.Findings and conclusionsOur results show that bilingual children produce monolingual-like positional patterns in Sylheti, producing very clear laterals in all positions. In contrast, bilinguals produce monolingual-like positional allophony in English, but they differ in phonetic detail, with bilinguals producing much clearer laterals than monolingual children across all positions.OriginalityThis study is the first to examine the development of allophonic contrast and phonetic detail in both of a bilingual’s languages in a contact scenario. This provides new insights into how contact varieties adopt aspects of structure and detail from each language. We also report valuable data from Sylheti-English bilinguals, who are an understudied community.Significance/limitationsOur study highlights the value of considering structural and detailed aspects of cross-linguistic sound systems, whereby one aspect may show monolingual-like patterns and another aspect may show distinctive patterns. We propose that the results in this study represent the development of a new sound system out of language contact, with second-generation bilingual children producing a hybrid system that combines influences from both heritage and host languages.

KW - Bilingualism

KW - Child bilinguals

KW - Phonetics

KW - Lateral consonants

KW - Allophonic variation

KW - Contact varieties

KW - Sylheti

U2 - 10.1177/1367006920947180

DO - 10.1177/1367006920947180

M3 - Journal article

VL - 25

SP - 531

EP - 547

JO - International Journal of Bilingualism

JF - International Journal of Bilingualism

SN - 1367-0069

IS - 3

ER -