Research article summary (published 29 Sep 2004):

Discrimination and production of English vowels by bilingual speakers of Spanish and English.

Full Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine whether listeners bilingual in Spanish and English would have difficulty in the discrimination of English vowel contrasts. An additional goal was to estimate the correlation between their discrimination and production of these vowels. Participants (40 bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking and 40 native monolingual English-speaking college students, 23-36 years of age) participated (M age = 25.3 yr., Mdn = 25.0). The discrimination and production of English vowels in real and novel words by adult participants bilingual in Spanish and English were examined and their discrimination was compared with that of 40 native monolingual English-speaking participants. Stimuli were presented within triads in an ABX paradigm. Novel words were chosen to represent new words when learning a new language and to provide a more valid test of discrimination. Bilingual participants' productions of vowels were judged by two independent listeners to estimate the correlation between discrimination and production. Discrimination accuracy was significantly greater for native English-speaking participants than for bilingual participants for vowel contrasts and novel words. Significant errors also appeared in the bilingual participants' productions of certain vowels. Earlier age of acquisition, absence of communication problems, and greater percentage of time devoted to communication contributed to greater accuracy in discrimination and production.

Author information

Author/s: Levey, Sandra (S);

Affiliation: Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Lehman College of the City University of New York, Bronx, 10468-1589, USA. slevey(-atsign-)alpha.lehman.cuny.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Perceptual and motor skills (Percept Mot Skills), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2004-Oct; vol 99 (issue 2) : pp 445-62

Dates: Created 2004/11/24; Completed 2005/01/11; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 15560332, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult Female Humans Language Male Multilingualism

Phonetics Questionnaires Speech Discrimination Tests Speech Perception Speech Production Measurement Verbal Learning

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