Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T00:48:37.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Individual phonological attrition in Albanian–English late bilinguals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2017

ESTHER DE LEEUW ,
AURELA TUSHA  and
MONIKA S. SCHMID
ESTHER DE LEEUW*
Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London
AURELA TUSHA
Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London
MONIKA S. SCHMID
Affiliation:
University of Essex
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Esther de Leeuw, Department of Linguistics, SLLF, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, United Kingdom[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate phonological attrition in 10 native Albanian speakers who acquired Standard Southern British English (SSBE) as a second language (L2) in London, United Kingdom. A contrast was examined which is phonemic in Albanian but allophonic in SSBE, namely the production of light and dark lateral approximants. Impressionistic and acoustic analyses revealed that one late bilingual completely neutralized the phonemic contrast in her native Albanian speech. Furthermore, two other bilinguals neutralized the phonemic contrast between light /l/ and dark /ɫ/ in coda position, and overall there appeared to be a stronger trend for light /l/ to become dark in coda position than for dark /ɫ/ to become light in onset position. The findings are discussed in relation to the Speech Learning Model (Flege, 1995) and indicate that phonological attrition in native speech production is possible in late L2 acquisition, although not inevitable.

Keywords

phonologyphoneticsattritionAlbanianEnglishSLM
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , March 2018 , pp. 278 - 295
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*We would like to acknowledge Daniela Müller who advised us with regard to Albanian, as well as the two anonymous reviewers, who helped to improve this manuscript. This research was partly funded by a grant awarded to the first author by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and we are grateful for this financial support.

The first author dedicates this article to her mother, Mary Christine de Leeuw, for her love, support, and strength.

References

Atterer, M., & Ladd, D. R. (2004). On the phonetics and phonology of “segmental anchoring” of F0: evidence from German. Journal of Phonetics, 32 (2), 177–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-4470(03)00039-1 Google Scholar
Best, C. T. (1995). A direct realist view of cross-language speech perception. In Strange, W. (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Theoretical and methodological issues (pp. 171–204). Baltimore: York Press.Google Scholar
Best, C. T. (2003). Peeling back the layers of time: integrating speech perception on the scales of stimulus time, experiential time, and developmental time. Journal of Phonetics, 31, 613–618.Google Scholar
Bevington, G. L. (1974). Albanian Phonology. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2010). PRAAT. University of Amsterdam. Retrieved from http://www.praat.org Google Scholar
Buchholz, O., Fiedler, W., Uhlisch, G., & Klosi, A. (1999). Langenscheidt Handwörterbuch Albanisch Buch portofrei - Weltbild.de. Munich: Langenscheidt. Retrieved from https://www.weltbild.de/artikel/buch/langenscheidt-handwoerterbuch-albanisch_14425195-1 Google Scholar
Camaj, M. (1984). Albanian Grammar: With Exercises, Chrestomathy and Glossaries. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Carter, P. G. (2002). Structured variation in British English liquids: the role of resonance (Ph.D.). University of York. Retrieved from http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.274527 Google Scholar
Chang, C. B. (2012). Rapid and multifaceted effects of second-language learning on first-language speech production. Journal of Phonetics, 40 (2), 249–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2011.10.007 Google Scholar
Costa, A., Hernández, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don't. Cognition, 113 (2), 135–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.08.001 Google Scholar
de Leeuw, E., Mennen, I., & Scobbie, J. M. (2012). Singing a different tune in your native language: first language attrition of prosody. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16 (1), 101–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006911405576 Google Scholar
de Leeuw, E., Mennen, I., & Scobbie, J. M. (2013). Dynamic systems, maturational constraints and L1 phonetic attrition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 17 (6), 683–700. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006912454620 Google Scholar
de Leeuw, E., Schmid, M. S., & Mennen, I. (2010). The effects of contact on native language pronunciation in an L2 migrant setting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(Special Issue 01), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728909990289 Google Scholar
Dmitrieva, O., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. (2010). Phonological neutralization by native and non-native speakers: The case of Russian final devoicing. Journal of Phonetics, 38 (3), 483–492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2010.06.001 Google Scholar
Dodi, A. (1970). Fonetika e gjuhës së sotme shqipe. Kosovo: Enti i teksteve dhe i mjeteve mësimore i Krahinës Socialiste Autonome të Kosovës.Google Scholar
Escudero, P., & Boersma, P. (2002). The subset problem in L2 perceptual development: Multiple-category assimilation by Dutch learners of Spanish. Boston University Conference on Language Development. Proceedings, (26), 208–219.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1987). The production of “new” and “similar” phones in a foreign language: evidence for the effect of equivalence classification. Journal of Phonetics, 15, 47–65.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language speech learning: Theory, findings, and problems. In Strange, W. (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic Experience: Theoretical and methodological issues (pp. 233–277). Maryland: York Press.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E. (2007). Language contact in bilingualism: Phonetic system interactions. In Cole, J. & Hualde, J. I. (Eds.), Laboratory Phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E., & Eefting, W. (1987). Cross-language switching in stop consonant perception and production by Dutch speakers of English. Speech Communication, 6 (3), 185–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-6393(87)90025-2 Google Scholar
Flege, J. E., Schirru, C., & MacKay, I. R. A. (2003). Interaction between the native and second language phonetic subsystems. Speech Communication, 40 (4), 467–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-6393(02)00128-0 Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (1998). Studying bilinguals: Methodological and conceptual issues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1 (2), 131–149. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672899800025X Google Scholar
Gullberg, M., & Indefrey, P. (2003). Language History Questionnaire. Developed in The Dynamics of Multilingual Processing. Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen. Retrieved from http://www.mpi.nl/departments/other-research/research-projects/the-dynamics-of-multilingual-processing/tools/Lang-Hist-Quest-Engl.pdf Google Scholar
Hayward, K. (2000). Experimental Phonetics: An Introduction. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.Google Scholar
Johnson, W., & Britain, D. (2007). L-vocalisation as a natural phenomenon: explorations in sociophonology. Language Sciences, 29 (2–3), 294–315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2006.12.022 Google Scholar
Khattab, G. (2002). /l/ production in English-Arabic bilingual speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism, 6 (3), 335–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069020060030701 Google Scholar
Kirkham, S. (2016). Ethnicity and phonetic variation in Sheffield English liquids. Journal of the International Phonetic Association.Google Scholar
Köpke, B., & Schmid, M. S. (2004). Language Attrition: The Next Phase. In Schmid, M. S., Köpke, B., Keijzer, M., & Weilemar, L. (Eds.), First Language Attrition: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Methodological Issues (Vol. 28, 1–46). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P., & Maddieson, I. (2007). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lavoie, L. M. (2001). Consonant Strength: Phonological Patterns and Phonetic Manifestations. New York & London: Garland Publishing.Google Scholar
Lawson, E., Stuart-Smith, J., & Scobbie, J. M. (2010). Analyzing liquids. In Paolo, M. Di & Yaeger-Dror, M. (Eds.), Sociophonetics: A Student's Guide (pp. 72–86). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lehiste, I. (1962). Acoustical Charachteristics of Selected English Consonants. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Lenneberg, E. H. (1969). On Explaining Language. Science, 164 (3880), 635–643. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.164.3880.635 Google Scholar
Major, R. C. (1992). Losing English as a First Language. The Modern Language Journal, 76 (2), 190–208. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1992.tb01100.x Google Scholar
Mayr, R., Price, S., & Mennen, I. (2012). First language attrition in the speech of Dutch–English bilinguals: The case of monozygotic twin sisters. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15 (4), 687–700. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672891100071X Google Scholar
Mennen, I. (2004). Bi-directional interference in the intonation of Dutch speakers of Greek. Journal of Phonetics, 32 (4), 543–563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2004.02.002 Google Scholar
Müller, D. (2015). Cue weighting in the perception of phonemic and allophonic laterals along the darkness continuum: evidence from Greek and Albanian. In Albanohellenica 6 (pdf), online und open access.Google Scholar
Müller, D., & Kapia, E. (2016). Development of acoustic cue weighting in 3- and 5-year-old children: Evidence from the Albanian lateral contrast. 41st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA, 4-6 November 2016.Google Scholar
Nance, C. (2014). Phonetic variation in Scottish Gaelic laterals. Journal of Phonetics, 47, 1–17.Google Scholar
Neppert, J. M. (1999). Elemente einer akustischen Phonetik (4th ed.). Hamburg: Buske.Google Scholar
Press, W. H., Teukolsky, S. A., Vetterling, W. T., & Flannery, B. P. (1992). Numerical Recipes: The art of scientific computing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Recasens, D. (2004). Darkness in [l] as a scalar phonetic property: implications for phonology and articulatory control. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 18 (6–8), 593–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699200410001703556 Google Scholar
Recasens, D. (2012). A cross-language acoustic study of initial and final allophones of /l/. Speech Communication, 54 (3), 368–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2011.10.001 Google Scholar
Sancier, M. L., & Fowler, C. A. (1997). Gestural drift in a bilingual speaker of Brazilian Portuguese and English. Journal of Phonetics, 25 (4), 421–436. https://doi.org/10.1006/jpho.1997.0051 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sander, E. K. (1972). When are speech sounds learned? The Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 37 (1), 55–63.Google Scholar
Schmid, M. S. (2011). Language Attrition. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schmid, M. S., & Köpke, B. (2007). Bilingualism and attrition. In Köpke, B., Schmid, M. S., Keijzer, M., & Dostert, S. (Eds.), Language Attrition: Theoretical Perspectives (Vol. 33, pp. 1–7). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.Google Scholar
Ségéral, P., & Scheer, T. (2008). Positional factors in lenition and fortion. In de Carvalho, J. B., Scheer, T., & Ségéral, P. (Eds.), Lenition and Fortition (pp. 131–172). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Seliger, H. W. (1996). Primary language attrition in the context of bilingualism. In Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 605–625). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sproat, R., & Fujimura, O. (1993). Allophonic variation in English/l/and its implications for phonetic implementation. Journal of Phonetics, 21 (3), 291–311.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. (2010). Sociophonetics: An Introduction. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Tice, M., & Woodley, M. (2012). Paguettes & bastries: Novice French learners show shifts in native phoneme boundaries. LSA Annual Meeting Extended Abstracts, 3 (0), 17-1–5. https://doi.org/10.3765/exabs.v0i0.589 Google Scholar
Wells, J. C. (1982). Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar