The influence of second language learning on speech production by Greek/English bilinguals

This study examined the voice onset time (VOT) of Greek and English voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/) as produced by 20 late Greek/English bilinguals residing in the Greater Vancouver area. VOTs were examined in initially stressed disyllabic words of CVCV structure in five vowels contexts. The participants read 15 stimuli in Greek and English within a carrier phrase and three English sentences that were evaluated for accentedness. Statistical analyses indicated that the bilinguals produced intermediate English VOTs that were longer than those of Greek and shorter than those of English monolinguals. They distinguished stop categories in terms of VOT in the two languages, but not in all environments. Although English and Greek VOTs were correlated, English VOT values for /p/ and /t/ did not differ significantly, while the Greek values did. Accentedness ratings were correlated with age of learning English (0.67), chronological age (0.56) and length of residence in Canada (0.54), but not with English VOTs. These findings of the first study of Greek/English bilinguals indicate that the relationship between L1 and L2 language systems is bidirectional and more complicated than has been portrayed so far.