Phonetic outcomes in Mandarin–English code-switching: exploring the role of orthographic depth
-
and
Abstract
Prior research on the phonetics of code-switching has shown that bilinguals often experience short-term cross-linguistic interference, where the productions of one language shift towards the opposite language. Yet, these studies, most frequently employing a read-aloud paradigm, have focused primarily on language pairings in which both languages employ phonological alphabets, largely ignoring languages with more opaque links between orthography and phonology. More transparent links between orthography and phonology (e.g., phonographic systems) have been suggested to more robustly engage phonological pathways during visual word processing, relative to those with opaque links (e.g., logographic systems). The current study examines the potential for cross-linguistic phonetic interference during code-switching between English and Mandarin, languages that differ with respect to their degree of orthographic transparency. Employing a read-aloud paradigm, twenty Mandarin–English bilinguals produced target tokens in monolingual and code-switched speech. Analysis focused on the productions of the English low-front vowel [æ] and its Mandarin counterpart [e]. In contrast to most previous findings, the results of the current study revealed no observable phonetic interference in the code-switched speech relative to monolingual speech. The current research adds to the literature by discussing orthographic depth as a potential underlying factor in the expression of cross-linguistic phonetic interference.
Funding source: College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
Award Identifier / Grant number: PROMISE Award
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Yuhyeon Seo for his assistance with statistical analyses and advice on this project.
-
Research ethics: This study has been conducted in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Purdue University (IRB #2023-1220).
-
Author contributions: Yi-Fang Cheng and Daniel J. Olson were both engaged in the ideation of the project, experimental design, and data analysis. Yi-Fang Cheng led the data collection, acoustic analysis, and data visualization. Yi-Fang Cheng and Daniel J. Olson were also involved in the drafting and revision of the manuscript.
-
Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Appendix: Statistics
Results of linear mixed-effects model of F1 (Mels) by context.
| β | SE | t | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercept (English monolingual) | 849.808 | 15.307 | 55.519 | <0.001 |
| English pre-switched | 4.812 | 9.320 | 0.516 | 0.607 |
| English code-switched | −4.277 | 9.318 | −0.459 | 0.647 |
| Mandarin pre-switched | −229.706 | 9.317 | −24.656 | <0.001 |
| Mandarin code-switched | −241.911 | 9.319 | −25.958 | <0.001 |
| Mandarin monolingual | −240.380 | 9.318 | −25.797 | <0.001 |
Results of linear mixed-effects model of F2 (Mels) by context.
| β | SE | t | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercept (English monolingual) | 1,423.758 | 19.359 | 73.546 | <0.001 |
| English pre-switched | 2.771 | 19.894 | 0.139 | 0.890 |
| English switched | 8.859 | 19.893 | 0.395 | 0.654 |
| Mandarin pre-switched | 132.459 | 19.891 | 6.659 | <0.001 |
| Mandarin switched | 160.606 | 19.893 | 8.073 | <0.001 |
| Mandarin monolingual | 142.076 | 19.893 | 7.142 | <0.001 |
References
Amengual, Mark. 2012. Interlingual influence in bilingual speech: Cognate status effect in a continuum of bilingualism. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 15(3). 517–530. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728911000460.Search in Google Scholar
Amengual, Mark. 2021. The acoustic realization of language-specific phonological categories despite dynamic cross-linguistic influence in bilingual and trilingual speech. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 149(2). 1271–1284. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0003559.Search in Google Scholar
Amengual, Mark. 2024. Phonetics of early bilingualism. Annual Review of Linguistics 10(1). 191–210. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031522-102542.Search in Google Scholar
Antoniou, Mark, Catherine Best, Michael D. Tyler & Christian Kroos. 2011. Inter-language interference in VOT production by L2-dominant bilinguals: Asymmetries in phonetic code-switching. Journal of Phonetics 39(4). 558–570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2011.03.001.Search in Google Scholar
Balukas, Collen & Christian Koops. 2015. Spanish-English bilingual voice onset time in spontaneous code-switching. International Journal of Bilingualism 19(4). 423–443. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006913516035.Search in Google Scholar
Bates, Douglas, Martin Mächler, Ben Bolker & Steve Walker. 2015. Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software 67(1). 1–48.10.18637/jss.v067.i01Search in Google Scholar
Birdsong, David, Libby M. Gertken & Mark Amengual. 2012. Bilingual language profile: An easy-to-use instrument to assess bilingualism. COERLL. University of Texas at Austin. https://sites.la.utexas.edu/bilingual/.Search in Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul & David Weenink. 2024. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (Version 6.2.22). http://www.praat.org/.Search in Google Scholar
Bullock, Barbara E., Almeida Jacqueline Toribio, Verónica González & Amanda Dalola. 2006. Language dominance and performance outcomes in bilingual pronunciation. In Mary Grantham O’Brien, Christine Shea & John Archibald (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th generative approaches to second language acquisition conference, 9–16. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Search in Google Scholar
Bullock, Barbara E. & Almeida Jacqueline Toribio. 2009. Trying to hit a moving target: On the sociophonetics of code-switching. In Ludmila Isurin, Donald Winford & Kees de Bot (eds.), Multidisciplinary approaches to code-switching, 189–206. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.10.1075/sibil.41.12bulSearch in Google Scholar
Chen, Yang, Michael Robb, Harvey Gilbert & Jay Lerman. 2001. Vowel production by Mandarin speakers of English. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 15(6). 427–440. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699200110044804.Search in Google Scholar
De Leeuw, Esther & Chiara Celata. 2019. Plasticity of native phonetic and phonological domains in the context of bilingualism. Journal of Phonetics 75. 88–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2019.05.003.Search in Google Scholar
Elias, Vanessa, Sean McKinnon & Ángela Milla-Muñoz. 2017. The effects of code-switching and lexical stress on vowel quality and duration of heritage speakers of Spanish. Languages 2(4). 29. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages2040029.Search in Google Scholar
Flege, James E. 2007. Language contact in bilingualism: Phonetic system interactions. In Jennifer Cole & Jose-Ignacio Hualde (eds.), Laboratory Phonology, vol. 9, 353–382. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar
Flege, James. E. & Ocke-Schwen Bohn. 2021. The revised speech learning model (SLM-r). In Ratree Wayland (ed.), Second language speech learning: Theoretical and empirical progress, 3–83. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108886901.002Search in Google Scholar
Flege, James E., Ocke-Schwen Bohn & Sunyoung Jang. 1997. Effects of experience on non-native speakers’ production and perception of English vowels. Journal of Phonetics 25(4). 437–470. https://doi.org/10.1006/jpho.1997.0052.Search in Google Scholar
Flege, James E., Carlo Schirru & Ian R. A. MacKay. 2003. Interaction between the native and second language phonetic subsystems. Speech Communication 40(4). 467–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0167-6393(02)00128-0.Search in Google Scholar
Flynn, Nicholas & Paul Foulkes. 2011. Comparing vowel formant normalization methods. In Wai-Sum Lee & Eric Zee (ed.), Proceedings of the 17th international congress of phonetic sciences, 683–686. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.Search in Google Scholar
Fricke, Melinda, Judith F. Kroll & Paola E. Dussias. 2016. Phonetic variation in bilingual speech: A lens for studying the production–comprehension link. Journal of Memory and Language 89. 110–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2015.10.001.Search in Google Scholar
Gavino, Maria Fernanda & Matthew Goldrick. 2023. Consequences of mixing and switching languages for retrieval and articulation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 26(3). 504–515. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728922000682.Search in Google Scholar
González López, Verónica. 2012. Spanish and English word-initial voiceless stop production in code-switched vs. monolingual structures. Second Language Research 28(2). 243–263.10.1177/0267658312439821Search in Google Scholar
Grabe, William. 1991. Current developments in second language reading research. Tesol Quarterly 25(3). 375–406. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586977.Search in Google Scholar
Green, Peter & Catriona J. MacLeod. 2016. SIMR: An R package for power analysis of generalized linear mixed models by simulation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 7(4). 493–498. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12504.Search in Google Scholar
Grosjean, François. 1988. Exploring the recognition of guest words in bilingual speech. Language and Cognitive Processes 3. 233–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690968808402089.Search in Google Scholar
Grosjean, François. 1998. Transfer and language mode. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1(3). 175–176. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728998000285.Search in Google Scholar
Grosjean, François. 2001. The bilingual’s language modes. In Janet L. Nicol (ed.), One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing, 1–21. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc.Search in Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. 2008. Studying bilinguals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780199281282.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Grosjean, François. 2013. Bilingual and monolingual language modes. In Carol A. Chapelle (ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics, 489–493. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0090Search in Google Scholar
Grosjean, François & Joanne L. Miller. 1994. Going in and out of languages: An example of bilingual flexibility. Psychological Science 5. 201–206. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1994.tb00501.x.Search in Google Scholar
Gutiérrez Topete, Ernesto R. 2023. Methodological, linguistic, and social effects in language alternation: Evidence from voice onset time in Spanish-English bilinguals. Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Hay, Jennifer & Katie Drager. 2010. Stuffed toys and speech perception. Linguistics 48(4). 865–892. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.2010.027.Search in Google Scholar
Howie, John Marshall. 1976. Acoustical studies of Mandarin vowels and tones. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Jamal, Nasheed I., Ashley W. Piche, Eileen M. Napoliello, Charles A. Perfetti & Guinevere F. Eden. 2012. Neural basis of single‐word reading in Spanish–English bilinguals. Human Brain Mapping 33(1). 235–245. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.21208.Search in Google Scholar
Katz, Leonard & Laurie B. Feldman. 1983. Relation between pronunciation and recognition of printed words in deep and shallow orthographies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 9(1). 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-7393.9.1.157.Search in Google Scholar
Katz, Leonard & Ram Frost. 1992. The reading process is different for different orthographies: The orthographic depth hypothesis. In Ram Frost & Leonard Katz (eds.), Orthography, phonology, morphology, and meaning, vol. 94, 67–84. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier Science.10.1016/S0166-4115(08)62789-2Search in Google Scholar
Khattab, Ghada. 2009. Phonetic accommodation in children’s code-switching. In Barbara E. Bullock & Almeida Jacqueline Toribio (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic code-switching, 142–160. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511576331.010Search in Google Scholar
Koyama, Maki S., Peter C. Hansen & John F. Stein. 2008. Logographic Kanji versus phonographic Kana in literacy acquisition: How important are visual and phonological skills? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1145(1). 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1416.005.Search in Google Scholar
Man, Chueng Yuk. 2007. An acoustical analysis of the vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs in Hakka Chinese. In Jürgen Trouvain & William John Barry (eds.), Proceedings of the 16th international congress of phonetic sciences, 683–686. Saarbrücken: Saarland University.Search in Google Scholar
Mok, Peggy P. K. 2012. Does vowel inventory density affect vowel-to-vowel coarticulation? Language and Speech 56(2). 191–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830912443948.Search in Google Scholar
Muldner, Kasia, Leah Hoiting, Leyna Sanger, Lev Blumenfeld & Ida Toivonen. 2017. The phonetics of code-switched vowels. International Journal of Bilingualism 19(4). 423–443.Search in Google Scholar
Muysken, Pieter. 2000. Bilingual speech: A typology of code-mixing. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Carol. 1993. Duelling languages. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780198240594.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Ojeda, Adriana, Ana de Prada Pérez & Ratree Wayland. 2018. Heritage speakers and their language use: A phonetic approach to code-switching. Florida Linguistics Papers 5(1). 1–12.Search in Google Scholar
Olson, Daniel J. 2013. Bilingual language switching and selection at the phonetic level: Asymmetrical transfer in VOT production. Journal of Phonetics 41(6). 407–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2013.07.005.Search in Google Scholar
Olson, Daniel J. 2016. The role of code-switching and language context in bilingual phonetic transfer. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 46(3). 263–285. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025100315000468.Search in Google Scholar
Olson, Daniel J. 2019. Phonological processes across word and language boundaries: Evidence from code-switching. Journal of Phonetics 77. 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2019.100937.Search in Google Scholar
Olson, Daniel J. 2020. Short-term sources of cross-linguistic phonetic influence: Examining the role of linguistic environment. Languages 5(4). 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040043.Search in Google Scholar
Olson, Daniel J. 2024. Code-switching and language mode effects in the phonetics and phonology of bilinguals. In Mark Amengual (ed.), The Cambridge handbook of bilingual phonetics and phonology, 1–19. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781009105767.001Search in Google Scholar
Olson, Daniel J. & Yuhyeon Seo. 2024. Code-switching experience as a mitigating factor for cross-linguistic phonetic interference. Journal of Phonetics 107. 101356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2024.101356.Search in Google Scholar
O’Shaughnessy, Douglas. 1987. Speech communication: Human and machine. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.Search in Google Scholar
Piccinini, Page & Amalia Arvaniti. 2015. Voice onset time in Spanish-English spontaneous code-switching. Journal of Phonetics 52. 121–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2015.07.004.Search in Google Scholar
R Core Team. 2024. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/.Search in Google Scholar
Schwartz, Geoffrey, Adam Balas & Arkadiusz Rojczyk. 2015. Phonological factors affecting L1 phonetic realization of proficient Polish users of English. Research in Language 13(2). 180–197. https://doi.org/10.1515/rela-2015-0014.Search in Google Scholar
Seo, Yuhyeon & Daniel J. Olson. 2024. Phonetic shifts in bilingual vowels: Evidence from intersentential and intrasentential code-switching. International Journal of Bilingualism 29(3). 776–791. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069241251988.Search in Google Scholar
Shen, Ye & Stephanie N. del Tufo. 2022. The influence of orthographic depth on multilinguals’ neural networks. Neuropsychologia 164. 108095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108095.Search in Google Scholar
Simonet, Miquel. 2014. Phonetic consequences of dynamic cross-linguistic interference in proficient bilinguals. Journal of Phonetics 43. 26–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2014.01.004.Search in Google Scholar
Spivey, Michael J. & Viorica Marian. 1999. Cross talk between native and second languages: Partial activation of an irrelevant lexicon. Psychological Science 10(3). 281–284. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00151.Search in Google Scholar
Zhang, Cong, Kathleen Jepson, Georg Lohfink & Amalia Arvaniti. 2021. Comparing acoustic analyses of speech data collected remotely. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 149(6). 3910–3916. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0005132.Search in Google Scholar
Ziegler, Johannes C. & Usha Goswami. 2005. Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin 131(1). 3–29. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.131.1.3.Search in Google Scholar
© 2026 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
