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Foreign accent in adult simultaneous bilinguals

Kupisch, Tanja LU ; Barton, Dagmar ; Hailer, Katja ; Klaschik, Ewgenia ; Stangen, Ilse ; Lein, Tatjana and van de Weijer, Joost LU orcid (2015) In Heritage Language Journal 11(2). p.123-150
Abstract
The study reported in this paper examines foreign accent (FA) in adult simultaneous bilinguals (2L1ers). Specifically, we investigate how accent is affected if a first language is acquired as a minority (heritage) language as compared to a majority (dominant) language. We compare the perceived FA in both languages of 38 adult 2L1ers (German-French and German-Italian) to that of monolingual native speakers (L1ers) and late second language learners (L2ers). Naturalistic speech samples are judged by 84 native speakers of the respective languages. Results indicate that the majority language is always spoken without an FA, while results for the heritage language fall between those of L1 and L2 speakers. For the heritage language, we further... (More)
The study reported in this paper examines foreign accent (FA) in adult simultaneous bilinguals (2L1ers). Specifically, we investigate how accent is affected if a first language is acquired as a minority (heritage) language as compared to a majority (dominant) language. We compare the perceived FA in both languages of 38 adult 2L1ers (German-French and German-Italian) to that of monolingual native speakers (L1ers) and late second language learners (L2ers). Naturalistic speech samples are judged by 84 native speakers of the respective languages. Results indicate that the majority language is always spoken without an FA, while results for the heritage language fall between those of L1 and L2 speakers. For the heritage language, we further show that a native accent correlates with length of residence in the heritage country during childhood but not during adulthood. Furthermore, raters have comparatively more difficulties when judging the accent of a heritage speaker. The results of this study add to our current understanding of what factors shape the phonology of a heritage language system in adulthood. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
foreign accents, sequential bilinguals, critical period hypothesis
in
Heritage Language Journal
volume
11
issue
2
pages
123 - 150
publisher
Language Resource Center of UCLA and the UC Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching
ISSN
1550-7076
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2c560014-4e0b-4f19-8682-841480af5541 (old id 8411234)
alternative location
http://www.heritagelanguages.org/Journal.aspx
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:43:36
date last changed
2020-01-03 02:24:30
@article{2c560014-4e0b-4f19-8682-841480af5541,
  abstract     = {{The study reported in this paper examines foreign accent (FA) in adult simultaneous bilinguals (2L1ers). Specifically, we investigate how accent is affected if a first language is acquired as a minority (heritage) language as compared to a majority (dominant) language. We compare the perceived FA in both languages of 38 adult 2L1ers (German-French and German-Italian) to that of monolingual native speakers (L1ers) and late second language learners (L2ers). Naturalistic speech samples are judged by 84 native speakers of the respective languages. Results indicate that the majority language is always spoken without an FA, while results for the heritage language fall between those of L1 and L2 speakers. For the heritage language, we further show that a native accent correlates with length of residence in the heritage country during childhood but not during adulthood. Furthermore, raters have comparatively more difficulties when judging the accent of a heritage speaker. The results of this study add to our current understanding of what factors shape the phonology of a heritage language system in adulthood.}},
  author       = {{Kupisch, Tanja and Barton, Dagmar and Hailer, Katja and Klaschik, Ewgenia and Stangen, Ilse and Lein, Tatjana and van de Weijer, Joost}},
  issn         = {{1550-7076}},
  keywords     = {{foreign accents; sequential bilinguals; critical period hypothesis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{123--150}},
  publisher    = {{Language Resource Center of UCLA and the UC Consortium for Language Learning and Teaching}},
  series       = {{Heritage Language Journal}},
  title        = {{Foreign accent in adult simultaneous bilinguals}},
  url          = {{http://www.heritagelanguages.org/Journal.aspx}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}