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Voice Onset Time in multilingual speakers : Italian heritage speakers in Germany with L3 English

Geiss, Miriam ; Gumbsheimer, Sonja ; Lloyd-Smith, Anika ; Schmid, Svenja and Kupisch, Tanja LU (2021) In Studies in Second Language Acquisition 44(22). p.435-459
Abstract
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... (More)
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. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Voice Onset Time, L3 acquisition, Heritage Language Acquisition, Italian, German
in
Studies in Second Language Acquisition
volume
44
issue
22
pages
25 pages
publisher
Cambridge University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85109026819
ISSN
1470-1545
DOI
10.1017/S0272263121000280
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
6a416149-ae21-421e-a707-3335babfd193
date added to LUP
2024-11-22 18:56:57
date last changed
2025-04-04 13:51:26
@article{6a416149-ae21-421e-a707-3335babfd193,
  abstract     = {{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.}},
  author       = {{Geiss, Miriam and Gumbsheimer, Sonja and Lloyd-Smith, Anika and Schmid, Svenja and Kupisch, Tanja}},
  issn         = {{1470-1545}},
  keywords     = {{Voice Onset Time; L3 acquisition; Heritage Language Acquisition; Italian; German}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{22}},
  pages        = {{435--459}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Studies in Second Language Acquisition}},
  title        = {{Voice Onset Time in multilingual speakers : Italian heritage speakers in Germany with L3 English}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0272263121000280}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/S0272263121000280}},
  volume       = {{44}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}