Cross-language phonetic interaction of L1 Arabic and L2 English by Yemeni monolingual and bilingual speakers

Abstract

This study aims at examining the occurrence and direction of any cross-language phonetic interaction among Yemeni Arabic-English bilinguals by indicating the acoustic similarities and differences between Yemeni Arabic and Yemeni English stops and vowels produced by bilinguals and comparing them to monolingual productions. Since bilingual studies on Arabic and English spoken by Yemenis are mainly concerned with analysis at the phonemic level, the present study believes that detailed analysis at the phonetic level can best explain the relative difficulty of learning L2 sounds. Voice Onset Time, Preceding Vowel Duration, Closure Duration, and Voicing during Closure of stops as well as Vowel Duration and Formant Frequencies of vowels were measured acoustically via PRAAT. Sixty native Yemeni Arabic speakers were involved. Thirty were late bilinguals speaking L2 English whereas 30 were Arabic monolinguals. The monolingual and bilingual speakers produced a list of Arabic words with the target stops /b, t, d, k/ and vowels /iː, aː, uː/. Besides, bilinguals produced a list of English words with the target stops /p, b, t, d, k, ɡ/ and vowels /iː, ɑː, uː, ɔː/. The target stops were in word-initial and word-medial positions whereas the target vowels were in word-medial positions. Findings revealed bilinguals showing signs of English-induced L1 phonetic drift in their pronunciation of Arabic /t, k/ whereas not for Arabic /b, d/. For Voice Onset Time of /b, d/, bilinguals developed a single set of merged categories for their languages which is phonetically identical to their corresponding L1 category. However, bilinguals developed separate phonetic categories for their L2 /p, t, k/ stops for all the acoustic measurements. They developed separate categories for their L2 vowels whereas L1 phonetic drift towards L2 English was only found in F2 of /aː/. Only by investigating bilinguals’ L1 and L2 sounds one could understand the scope and limit of their phonetic and phonological abilities. It is necessary to provide Yemeni learners with specialized instruction and practice by directing their attention to sounds. The output of the study is therefore crucial for those responsible for the curriculum design of English in the Ministry of Education in Yemen.