The L1 production and perception of VOT in Spanish-Swedish bilinguals: The role of age and L1 use

• This study investigates the effects of age of reduced contact (ARC) and L1 use on L1 stop production and perception in Spanish-Swedish bilinguals. Results revealed that ARC had an impact on voice onset time (VOT) in the production of Spanish /p t k/, but not on the categorical perception of Spanish /p–b/, /t–d/, /k–ɡ/. While mat­uration may explain the ARC effects, it alone does not provide a satisfying expla­nation for the discrepancy between production and perception. It is proposed that perception may be less prone to change than production due to differences in acti­vation levels, as predicted by the Activation Threshold Hypothesis (ATH). Furthermore, results showed that L1 use influenced stop production, but not per­ception, especially in early bilinguals. It is concluded that early bilinguals depend on advantageous factors such as high-frequency L1 use in order to compensate for ARC effects, but only in production.

Nyckelord

Bilingualism

tvåspråkighet

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)