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From interference to transfer in language contact: Variation in voice onset time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2014

Luiza Newlin-Łukowicz
Luiza Newlin-Łukowicz*
Affiliation:
New York University
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Abstract

This study examines cross-generational differences in the realization of an English phonological contrast by bilingual Polish Americans in New York City. I analyze the production of voice onset time (VOT) in underlying stops, as in tin and den, and stops derived from interdental fricatives, as in [t]in for thin and [d]en for then, in an English-only reading task. Generation one exhibits VOT “interference” for both stop types, with a bias toward interference for voiced stops. Generation two “transfers” Polish-like VOTs to derived stops. I argue that the cross-generational progression from the global effects of interference to the focused presence of transfer is filtered through L1 markedness and reflects speakers' growing sensitivity to L2 phonology and social considerations. The observed asymmetries in the distribution of interference/transfer are unaccountable by existing models of L2 acquisition and motivate a view of L1/L2 phonetic categories as governed by a variable grammar with access to phonological and social information.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , October 2014 , pp. 359 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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