Voice onset time in Spanish–English spontaneous code-switching

Page Piccinini, Amalia Arvaniti
2015 Journal of Phonetics  
Research on the phonetics of code-switching has focused on voice onset time (VOT) and has yielded mixed results regarding cross-language interaction, possibly due to differences in data used (scripted vs. spontaneous speech) and populations examined (L1 vs. L2 dominant, early vs. late bilinguals). Here VOT was measured in a corpus of spontaneous code-switching speech elicited from a homogeneous group of early bilinguals in conversation with and without distraction (completion of jigsaw
more » ... The distraction meant to increase cognitive load, a manipulation that could affect phonetic realization. Both English and Spanish VOT were shorter at codeswitching points than in comparable monolingual utterances. English VOT lengthened overall under increased cognitive load (but remained shorter in code-switching as compared to the monolingual context). These results support previous findings of VOT shortening in code-switching for both English and Spanish, and confirm that the effect applies in the natural speech of early bilinguals.
doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2015.07.004 fatcat:cttbqymg3beg5a6frziymoo7am