The Vowel Systems of Quichua-Spanish Bilinguals
-
Susan G. Guion
Abstract
This study investigates vowel productions of 20 Quichua-Spanish bilinguals, differing in age of Spanish acquisition, and 5 monolingual Spanish speakers. While the vowel systems of simultaneous, early, and some mid bilinguals all showed significant plasticity, there were important differences in the kind, as well as the extent, of this adaptability. Simultaneous bilinguals dffered from early bilinguals in that they were able to partition the vowel space in a more fine-grained way to accommodate the vowels of their two languages. Early and some mid bilinguals acquired Spanish vowels, whereas late bilinguals did not. It was also found that acquiring Spanish vowels could affect the production of native Quichua vowels. The Quichua vowels were produced higher by bilinguals who had acquired Spanish vowels than those who had not. It is proposed that this vowel reorganization serves to enhance the perceptual distinctiveness between the vowels of the combined first- and second-language system.
verified
References
1 Anisfeld, M.; Anisfeld, E.; Semogas, R.: Cross-influences between the phonological systems of Lithuanian-English bilinguals. J. verbal Learn. verbal Behav. 8: 257–261 (1969).10.1016/S0022-5371(69)80072-1Search in Google Scholar
2 Anisfeld, M.; Gordon, M.: An effect of a German-language course on English. Lang. Speech 14: 289–292 (1971).10.1177/002383097101400309Search in Google Scholar
3 Best, C.T.: Emergence of language-specific constraints in perception of non-native speech: a window on early phonological development; in de Boysson-Bardies, de Schonen, Jusczyk, MacNeilage, Morton, Developmental neurocognition: speech and face processing in the first year of life, pp. 289–304 (Kluwer, Dordrecht 1993).10.1007/978-94-015-8234-6_24Search in Google Scholar
4 Best, C.T.: A direct realist view of cross-language speech perception; in Strange, Speech perception and linguistic experience: issues in cross-language research, pp. 171–204 (York, Timonium 1995).Search in Google Scholar
5 Best, C.T.; McRoberts, G.W.; Goodell, E.: Discrimination of non-native consonant contrasts varying in perceptual assimilation to the listeners’ native phonological system. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 109: 775–794 (2001).10.1121/1.1332378Search in Google Scholar
6 Best, C.T.; McRoberts, G.W.; Sithole, N.M.: Examination of perceptual reorganization for nonnative speech contrasts: Zulu click discrimination by English-speaking adults and infants. J. exp. Psychol. hum. Perception Performance 14: 345–360 (1988).10.1037/0096-1523.14.3.345Search in Google Scholar
7 Birdsong, D. (ed.): Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis (Erlbaum, Mahwah 1999).10.4324/9781410601667Search in Google Scholar
8 de Boer, B.: Self-organization in vowel systems. J. Phonet. 28: 441–465 (2000).10.1006/jpho.2000.0125Search in Google Scholar
9 Bohn, O.-S.; Flege, J.E.: The production of new and similar vowels by adult German learners of English. SSLA 14: 131–158 (1992).10.1017/S0272263100010792Search in Google Scholar
10 Bosch, L.; Costa, A.; Sebastián-Galles, N.: First- and second-language vowel perception in early bilinguals. Eur. J. cogn. Psychol. 12: 189–221 (2000).10.1080/09541446.2000.10590222Search in Google Scholar
11 Bradlow, A.R.: A comparative acoustic study of English and Spanish vowels. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 97: 1916–1924 (1995).10.1121/1.412064Search in Google Scholar
12 Caramazza, A.; Yeni-Komshian, G.H.: Voice onset time in two French dialects. J. Phonet. 2: 239–245 (1974).10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31274-4Search in Google Scholar
13 Caramazza, A.; Yeni-Komshian, G.H.; Zurif, E.B.; Carbone E.: The acquisition of a new phonological contrast: the case of stop consonants in French-English bilinguals. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 54: 421–428 (1973).10.1121/1.1913594Search in Google Scholar
14 Chee, M.; Tan, E.; Thiel, T.: Mandarin and English single word processing studies with functional magnetic resonance imaging. J. Neurosci. 19: 3050–3056 (1999).10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-08-03050.1999Search in Google Scholar
15 Cole, P.: Imbabura Quechua; in the Lingua Descriptive Studies series (North-Holland, Amsterdam 1982).Search in Google Scholar
16 Crothers, J.: Typological and universals of vowel systems; in Greenberg, Universals of human language, vol. 2, Phonology, pp. 93–152 (Stanford University Press, Stanford 1978).Search in Google Scholar
17 Disner, S.: Vowel quality: the relation between universal and language-specific factors. UCLA Working Papers Phonet. 58: (1983).Search in Google Scholar
18 Flege, J.E.: The production of ‘new’ and ‘similar’ phones in a foreign language: evidence for the effect of equivalence classification. J. Phonet. 15: 47–65 (1987).10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30537-6Search in Google Scholar
19 Flege, J.E.: Second-language speech learning: theory, findings and problems; in Strange, Speech perception and linguistic experience: issues in cross-language research, pp. 233–273 (York, Timonium 1995).Search in Google Scholar
20 Flege, J.E.; Eefting, W.: Production and perception of English stops by native Spanish speakers. J. Phonet. 15: 67–83 (1987a).10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30538-8Search in Google Scholar
21 Flege J.; Eefting, W.: Cross-language switching in stop consonant perception and production by Dutch speaker of English. Speech Commun. 6: 185–202 (1987b).10.1016/0167-6393(87)90025-2Search in Google Scholar
22 Flege, J.; Hillenbrand, J.: Limits on phonetic accuracy in foreign language speech production. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 76: 708–721 (1984).10.1121/1.391257Search in Google Scholar
23 Fujisaki, H.; Kawashima, T.: The roles of pitch and the higher formants in the perception of vowels. IEEE Trans. Audio Electroacoust. 16: 73–77 (1968).10.1109/TAU.1968.1161952Search in Google Scholar
24 Grosjean, F.: Life with two languages (Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1982).Search in Google Scholar
25 Guion, S.G.; Flege, J.E.; Akahane-Yamada, R.; Pruitt, J.C.: An investigation of current models of second language speech perception: The case of Japanese adults’ perception of English consonants. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 107: 2711–2724 (2000).10.1121/1.428657Search in Google Scholar
26 Haugen, E.: Bilingualism in the Americas: a bibliography and guide for research (Publications of the American Dialect Society, No. 26, 1957).Search in Google Scholar
27 Hazan, V.L.; Boulakia, G.: Perception and production of a voicing contrast by French-English bilinguals. Lang. Speech 36: 17–38 (1993).10.1177/002383099303600102Search in Google Scholar
28 Honikman, B.: Articulatory settings; in Abercrombie, In Honour of Daniel Jones, pp. 73–84 (Longmans, London 1964).Search in Google Scholar
29 Illes, J.; Francis, W.; Desmond, J.; Gabrieli, J.; Glover, G.; Poldrack, R.; Lee, C.; Wagner, A.: Convergent cortical representation of semantic processing in bilinguals. Brain Lang. 70: 347–363 (1999).10.1006/brln.1999.2186Search in Google Scholar
30 Jongman, A.; Fourakis, M.; Sereno, J.A.: The acoustic vowel space of modern Greek and German. Lang. Speech 32: 221–248 (1989).10.1177/002383098903200303Search in Google Scholar
31 Kim, K.; Relkin, N.; Lee, K.-M.; Hirsch, J.: Distinct cortical areas associated with native and second languages. Nature 388: 171–174 (1997).10.1038/40623Search in Google Scholar
32 Kuhl, P.K.: Human adults and human infants show a ‘perceptual magnet effect’ for prototypes of speech categories, monkeys do not. Perception Psychophysics 50: 93–107 (1991).10.3758/BF03212211Search in Google Scholar
33 Kuhl, P.K.: A new view of language acquisition. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 11850–11857 (2000).10.1073/pnas.97.22.11850Search in Google Scholar
34 Kuhl, P.K.; Williams, K.A.; Lacerda, F.; Stevens, K.N.; Lindblom, B.: Linguistic experience alters phonetic perception in infants by 6 months of age. Science 255: 606–608 (1992).10.1126/science.1736364Search in Google Scholar
35 Lado, R.: Linguistics across cultures: applied linguistics for language teachers (University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1957).Search in Google Scholar
36 Liljencrants, J.; Lindblom, B.: Numerical simulations of vowel quality systems: the role of perceptual contrast. Language 48: 839–862 (1972).10.2307/411991Search in Google Scholar
37 Lindblom, B.: Phonetic universals in vowel systems; in Ohala, Jaeger, Experimental phonology, pp. 13–44 (Academic Press, New York 1986).Search in Google Scholar
38 Lindblom, B.: Systemic constraints and adaptive change in the formation of sound structures; in Hurford, Studdert-Kennedy, Knight, Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases, pp. 242–264 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998).Search in Google Scholar
39 Lindblom, B.; Engstrand, O.: In what sense is speech quantal? J. Phonet. 17: 107–121 (1989).10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31516-5Search in Google Scholar
40 Lindblom, B.; MacNeilage, P.F.; Studdert-Kennedy, M.: Self-organizing processes and the explanation of phonological universals; in Butterworth, Comrie, Dahl, Explanations for language universals, pp. 181–203 (Mouton, Berlin 1984).10.1515/ling.1983.21.1.181Search in Google Scholar
41 Lindblom, B.; Maddieson, I.: Phonetic universals in consonant systems; in Hyman, Li, Language, speech, and mind, pp. 62–78 (Routledge, New York 1988).Search in Google Scholar
42 Mack, M.: Phonetic transfer in a French-English bilingual child; in Nelde, Attitudes and language conflict, pp. 107–124 (Duemmler, Bonn 1990).Search in Google Scholar
43 Maddieson, I.: Patterns of sounds. Cambridge studies in speech science and communication (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984).Search in Google Scholar
44 Mendez, A.: Production of American English and Spanish vowels. Lang. Speech 25: 191–197 (1982).10.1177/002383098202500206Search in Google Scholar
45 Nearey, T.: Static, dynamic, and relational properties in vowel perception. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 85: 2088–2113 (1989).Search in Google Scholar
46 Nosofsky, R.M.: Attention, similarity, and the identification-categorization relationship. J. exp. Psychol.: Gen. 115: 39–57 (1986).Search in Google Scholar
47 Peng, S.-H.: Cross-language influence on the production of Mandarin /f/ and /x/ and Taiwanese /h/ by native speakers of Taiwanese Amoy. Phonetica 50: 245–260 (1993).10.1159/000261945Search in Google Scholar
48 Perani, D.; Dehaene, S.; Grassi, F.; Cohen, L.; Cappa, S.F.; Duboux, E.; Fazio, F.; Mehler, J.: Brain processing of native and foreign languages. NeuroReport 7: 2439–2444 (1996).10.1097/00001756-199611040-00007Search in Google Scholar
49 Pisoni, D.; Lively, S.; Logan, J.: Perceptual learning of nonnative speech contrasts: implication of theories of speech perception; in Goodman, Nusbaum, The development of speech perception: the transition from speech sounds to spoken words, pp. 121–166 (MIT Press, Cambridge 1994).Search in Google Scholar
50 Sancier, M.L.; Fowler, C.A.: Gestural drift in a bilingual speaker of Brazilian Portuguese and English. J. Phonet. 35: 421–436 (1997).10.1006/jpho.1997.0051Search in Google Scholar
51 Schouten, M.: Imitation of synthetic vowels by bilinguals. J. Phonet. 5: 273–283 1977.10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31141-6Search in Google Scholar
52 Schwartz, J.-L.; Boë, L.-J.; Vallée, N.; Abry, C.: Major trends in vowel system inventories. J. Phonet. 25: 233–253 (1997a).10.1006/jpho.1997.0044Search in Google Scholar
53 Schwartz, J.-L.; Boë, L.-J.; Vallée, N.; Abry, C.: The dispersion-focalization theory of vowel systems. J. Phonet. 25: 255–286 (1997b).10.1006/jpho.1997.0043Search in Google Scholar
54 Sebastián-Galles, N.; Soto-Faraco, S.: Online processing of native and non-native phonemic contrasts in early bilinguals. Cognition 72: 111–123 (1999).10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00024-4Search in Google Scholar
55 Stevens, K.: On the quantal nature of speech. J. Phonet. 17: 3–45 (1989).10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31520-7Search in Google Scholar
56 Stockwell, R.; Bowen, J.: The Sounds of English and Spanish (University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1965).Search in Google Scholar
57 Strange, W.; Akahane-Yamada, R.; Kubo, R.; Trent, S.; Nishi, K.; Jenkins, J.: Perceptual assimilation of American English vowels by Japanese listeners. J. Phonet. 26: 311–344 (1998).10.1006/jpho.1998.0078Search in Google Scholar
58 Swadesh, M: Observations of pattern impact on the phonetics of bilinguals; in Spier, Hallowell, Newman, Language, culture, and personality: essays in memory of Edward Sapir, pp. 59–65 (Sapir Memorial Publication Fund, Menasha 1941).Search in Google Scholar
59 Traunmüller, H.: Analytical expression for the tonotopic sensory scale. J. acoust. Soc. Am. 88: 97–100 (1990).10.1121/1.399849Search in Google Scholar
60 Wardaugh, R.: The contrastive analysis hypothesis. TESOL Q. 4: 123–130 (1970).10.2307/3586182Search in Google Scholar
61 Weber-Fox, C.; Neville, H.: Functional neural subsystems are differentially affected by delays in second language immersion: ERP and behavioral evidence in bilinguals; in Birdsong, Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis, pp. 23–38 (Erlbaum, Mahwah 1999).Search in Google Scholar
62 Weinreich, U.: Languages in contact (Mouton, The Hague 1974) (Publication of the Linguistic Circle of Yew York, New York 1953).Search in Google Scholar
63 Weinreich, U.: On the description of phonetic interference. Word 13: 1–11 (1957).10.1080/00437956.1957.11659624Search in Google Scholar
64 Werker, J.F.: Becoming a native listener. Am. Scient. 77: 54–59 (1989).Search in Google Scholar
65 Werker, J.F.; Pegg, J.E.: Infant speech perception and phonological acquisition; in Ferguson, Menn, Stoel-Gammon, Phonological development: models, research, implications, pp. 285–311 (York, Timonium 1992).Search in Google Scholar
66 Werker, J.F.; Tees, R.C.: Cross-language speech perception: evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life. Infant Behavior Dev. 7: 49–63 (1984).10.1016/S0163-6383(84)80022-3Search in Google Scholar
67 Williams, L.: The perception of stop consonant voicing by Spanish-English bilinguals. Perception Psychophysics 21: 289–297 (1977).10.3758/BF03199477Search in Google Scholar
68 Williams, L.: The modification of speech perception and production in second-language learning. Perception Psychophysics 26: 95–104 (1979).10.3758/BF03208301Search in Google Scholar
69 Winkler, I.; Kujala, T.; Tiitinen, H.; Sivonen, P.; Alku, P.; Lehtokoski, A.; Czigler, I.; Csépe, V.; Ilmoniemi, R.J.; Näätänen, R.: Brain responses reveal the learning of foreign language phonemes. Psychophysiology 36: 638–642 (1999).10.1111/1469-8986.3650638Search in Google Scholar
70 Yang, B.: A comparative study of American English and Korean vowels produced by male and female speakers. J. Phonet. 24: 245–261 (1996).10.1006/jpho.1996.0013Search in Google Scholar
© 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel
Articles in the same Issue
- Original Paper
- F₀ Timing in Kinyarwanda
- The Vowel Systems of Quichua-Spanish Bilinguals
- Analysis of English Nonsense Syllable Recognition in Noise
- Further Section
- Publications Received for Review
Articles in the same Issue
- Original Paper
- F₀ Timing in Kinyarwanda
- The Vowel Systems of Quichua-Spanish Bilinguals
- Analysis of English Nonsense Syllable Recognition in Noise
- Further Section
- Publications Received for Review