ERIC Number: EJ1170350
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Mar
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: N/A
Temporal Features of Word-Initial /s/+Stop Clusters in Bilingual Mandarin-English Children and Monolingual English Children and Adults
Yang, Jing
Journal of Child Language, v45 n2 p479-497 Mar 2018
This study investigated the durational features of English word-initial /s/+stop clusters produced by bilingual Mandarin (L1)-English (L2) children and monolingual English children and adults. The participants included two groups of five- to six-year-old bilingual children: low proficiency in the L2 (Bi-low) and high proficiency in the L2 (Bi-high), one group of age-matched English children, and one group of English adults. Each participant produced a list of English words containing /sp, st, sk/ at the word-initial position followed by /a, i, u/, respectively. The absolute durations of the clusters and cluster elements and the durational proportions of elements to the overall cluster were measured. The results revealed that Bi-high children behaved similarly to the English monolinguals whereas Bi-low children used a different strategy of temporal organization to coordinate the cluster components in comparison to the English monolinguals and Bi-high children. The influence of language experience and continuing development of temporal features in children were discussed.
Descriptors: Bilingualism, Mandarin Chinese, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Children, Language Proficiency, Word Lists, English, Adults, Pronunciation, Phonology, Monolingualism, Comparative Analysis, Native Language
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A