ERIC Number: EJ1337126
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-May
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0272-2631
EISSN: N/A
Voice Onset Time in Multilingual Speakers: Italian Heritage Speakers in Germany with L3 English
Geiss, Miriam; Gumbsheimer, Sonja; Lloyd-Smith, Anika; Schmid, Svenja; Kupisch, Tanja
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, v44 n2 p435-459 May 2022
This study brings together two previously largely independent fields of multilingual language acquisition: heritage language and third language (L3) acquisition. We investigate the production of fortis and lenis stops in semi-naturalistic speech in the three languages of 20 heritage speakers (HSs) of Italian with German as a majority language and English as L3. The study aims to identify the extent to which the HSs produce distinct values across all three languages, or whether crosslinguistic influence (CLI) occurs. To this end, we compare the HSs' voice onset time (VOT) values with those of L2 English speakers from Italy and Germany. The language triad exhibits overlapping and distinct VOT realizations, making VOT a potentially vulnerable category. Results indicate CLI from German into Italian, although a systemic difference is maintained. When speaking English, the HSs show an advantage over the Italian L2 control group, with less prevoicing and longer fortis stops, indicating a specific bilingual advantage.
Descriptors: Multilingualism, German, Italian, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Comparative Analysis, Speech Communication, Foreign Countries, Native Language, Language Research, Transfer of Training, Contrastive Linguistics, Bilingualism
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Italy; Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A