The effect of cognate status and proficiency on Voice Onset Time in first and second language
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2019-07-08
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en
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Abstract
The aims of the present study were to find out whether there was an effect of cognate status on the first and second language Voice Onset Time production and whether there was a correlation between English language proficiency and this effect for Dutch-English bilinguals. The VOT values were gathered using a word naming task and proficiency scores were gathered using an online English LexTALE proficiency test (Lemhöfer & Broersma, 2011). The word naming task consisted of individual words, which were either cognates, non-cognates and filler items, which were read aloud by the participant. The experiment took place in a recording studio, where the pronunciation was recorded, and the recordings of the cognate and non-cognate words were analysed for their VOT values. The present study found that in the first language, Dutch, there is no significant effect of cognate status on the VOT production. In the second language, English, cognates showed a small numerical, but nonetheless also non-significant, decrease in VOT as compared to non-cognates. Finally, in neither Dutch nor in English there was a correlation between English language proficiency and the effects of cognate status. These results suggest a language-specific activation during production at a phonological level in both the first and the second level throughout all levels of proficiency. This information could be useful for the understanding of speech production processing and for language learning and teaching.
Keywords: cognates, phonetics, L1, L2, VOT, proficiency, word reading, bilingual mental lexicon, English, Dutch
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Faculteit der Letteren