TY - JOUR
T1 - Polysyllabic shortening in Spanish-English bilingual children
AU - Gibson, Todd A.
AU - Bernales, Carolina
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank Paola Flores for her assistance in data collection. Special thanks to Lauren Aiello. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported in part by a Humanities and Social Sciences Summer Research Fellowship from Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Board of Regents (Grant (LEQSF(2014-18)-RD-A-0).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - Aims and objectives: Polysyllabic shortening is thought to contribute to the perception of stress-timed rhythm in some languages. Little is known about its use in the speech of children exposed to a language that incorporates it more frequently (e.g. English) and one that incorporates it less frequently (e.g. Spanish). The purpose of the current investigation was to explore polysyllabic shortening in bilingual children’s two languages compared to monolingual Spanish and English comparison groups. Method/Design: We performed a group-level, cross-sectional study comparing the magnitude of polysyllabic shortening for monolingual English- and Spanish-speaking children and Spanish-English bilingual children. Data/Analysis: Sixteen monolingual English speakers, 23 monolingual Spanish speakers, and 16 Spanish-English bilingual speakers produced two- and four-syllable words in English only, Spanish only, or both English and Spanish, respectively. Ages ranged from 4;5 to 7;7 (M = 5;10, SD = 7 months). English and Spanish words had the same syllable shapes and primary stress locations. Articulation rate was measured by syllables per second. A language history questionnaire and standardized vocabulary test were also administered. Comparisons were made both between and within groups. Results: Both monolingual English and Spanish speakers utilized polysyllabic shortening to similar degrees. Bilingual children produced polysyllabic shortening in English and Spanish to the same degree as their monolingual peers, but they produced it to a greater degree in their own Spanish than in their own English. Conclusion: Polysyllabic shortening might be a universal feature of speech that results from universal phonetic constraints. For the bilingual children, greater use of polysyllabic shortening in Spanish than English may be related to better Spanish than English articulatory control.
AB - Aims and objectives: Polysyllabic shortening is thought to contribute to the perception of stress-timed rhythm in some languages. Little is known about its use in the speech of children exposed to a language that incorporates it more frequently (e.g. English) and one that incorporates it less frequently (e.g. Spanish). The purpose of the current investigation was to explore polysyllabic shortening in bilingual children’s two languages compared to monolingual Spanish and English comparison groups. Method/Design: We performed a group-level, cross-sectional study comparing the magnitude of polysyllabic shortening for monolingual English- and Spanish-speaking children and Spanish-English bilingual children. Data/Analysis: Sixteen monolingual English speakers, 23 monolingual Spanish speakers, and 16 Spanish-English bilingual speakers produced two- and four-syllable words in English only, Spanish only, or both English and Spanish, respectively. Ages ranged from 4;5 to 7;7 (M = 5;10, SD = 7 months). English and Spanish words had the same syllable shapes and primary stress locations. Articulation rate was measured by syllables per second. A language history questionnaire and standardized vocabulary test were also administered. Comparisons were made both between and within groups. Results: Both monolingual English and Spanish speakers utilized polysyllabic shortening to similar degrees. Bilingual children produced polysyllabic shortening in English and Spanish to the same degree as their monolingual peers, but they produced it to a greater degree in their own Spanish than in their own English. Conclusion: Polysyllabic shortening might be a universal feature of speech that results from universal phonetic constraints. For the bilingual children, greater use of polysyllabic shortening in Spanish than English may be related to better Spanish than English articulatory control.
KW - Polysyllabic shortening
KW - bilingualism
KW - children
KW - second language
KW - speech rhythm
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065659837&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1367006919846426
DO - 10.1177/1367006919846426
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065659837
VL - 24
SP - 437
EP - 454
JO - International Journal of Bilingualism
JF - International Journal of Bilingualism
SN - 1367-0069
IS - 2
ER -