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11 - Childhood Language Exposure

Does Early Experience with Arabic Affect Sound Perception and Production in Speakers with Early Interrupted Exposure?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2024

By
Rawan Hanini ,
Laura Spinu ,
Yasaman Rafat  and
Anwar Alkhudidi
Edited by
Rajiv Rao
Rajiv Rao
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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Summary

Early language exposure is crucial for acquiring native mastery of phonology, and multilingual exposure results in enhanced phonetic/phonological learning ability in adulthood. It remains unclear, however, whether early language exposure has lasting benefits when the quantity and quality of speaking drop dramatically after childhood. We investigate the production and perception of Arabic in fifteen early-interrupted exposure (i.e., childhood) speakers and fifteen late-exposure (i.e., novice) speakers. We compare the production of both groups to that of a control group of fifteen early uninterrupted exposure (i.e., native monolingual) speakers. The experiment included tasks addressing language proficiency, word production, and speech perception. Early-interrupted exposure speakers outperformed late-exposure speakers on all tasks of the language proficiency diagnostic, while also displaying more native-like perception and production. Our study adds further support to the body of work on the measurable long-term benefits of early language experience for an individual’s phonetic and phonological skills, even when language experience diminishes over time.

Keywords

Arabicdurationearly language exposuregeminate consonantperceptionproficiencysingleton consonantUS
Type
Chapter
Information
The Phonetics and Phonology of Heritage Languages , pp. 237 - 258
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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