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First language attrition in the speech of Dutch–English bilinguals: The case of monozygotic twin sisters*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2012

ROBERT MAYR ,
SACHA PRICE  and
INEKE MENNEN
ROBERT MAYR*
Affiliation:
Centre for Speech and Language Therapy, Cardiff Metropolitan University
SACHA PRICE
Affiliation:
Centre for Speech and Language Therapy, Cardiff Metropolitan University
INEKE MENNEN
Affiliation:
ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice, Bangor University
*
Address for correspondence: Robert Mayr, Centre for Speech and Language Therapy, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Llandaff Campus, Cardiff CF5 2YB, South Wales, UK[email protected]
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Abstract

Recent years have seen a proliferation of research on attrition in L1 speech (de Leeuw, Mennen & Scobbie, in press; de Leeuw, Schmid & Mennen, 2010; Dmitrieva, Jongman & Sereno, 2010; Mennen, 2004). Adding to this line of inquiry, the present study investigates the speech of a 62-year-old bilingual monozygotic twin who emigrated to an L2-speaking environment 30 years ago. Changes in L1 accent were assessed by comparing her speech to that of her identical twin sister who remained in the L1-speaking environment, thus providing a unique control setting. Acoustic analyses of voice onset time and vowels indicate pervasive changes to the emigrated twin's L1 accent, with attrition presenting in the form of cross-linguistic assimilation patterns. Interestingly, her L1 vowel space exhibited a systematic increase in first formant frequency, confirming claims that L1 and L2 sounds may be related to each other at a system-wide level (Chang, 2010, 2011; Guion, 2003). Implications for theoretical models of bilingual sound systems are discussed.

Keywords

L1 attritionbilingual monozygotic twinsvoice onset timevowels
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , October 2012 , pp. 687 - 700
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

The authors wish to thank MZ and TZ for their participation in the study. Thanks also go to Monika Schmid, two anonymous reviewers as well as the audience at the 8th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB8, University of Oslo, Norway, June 15–18 2011) for valuable feedback on the research presented in this paper.

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