Voice onset time and onset f0 as correlates of voicing in American learners of French

Voice Onset Time (VOT) and onset f0 are known correlates of voicing distinctions in stops and both contribute to the perception of voicing (House & Fairbanks, 1953; Abramson & Lisker, 1965). The values of VOT and onset f0 which correspond to voicing categories vary cross-linguistically. Second language (L2) learners often have to acquire a novel use of these acoustic cues to produce and perceive L2 voicing. The acquisition of primary voicing cue, VOT, has been studied extensively in L2 research (Flege & Eefting, 1988; Flege 1991; Birdsong et al. 2007) but less is known about the acquisition of secondary cues. The present study compares the use of VOT and onset f0 in French and English speech produced by American learners of French (22). The study also examines the role of back transfer in L2 learners by comparing their English productions to a monolingual control group (33). The results demonstrate that although learners’ VOT values in French were heavily influenced by English, their onset f0 production in both English and French was on target. Little evidence of learners’ second language affecting their first language was found. Individual trends, including the effect of L2 proficiency level will also be explored.