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Perceptual switching in Spanish/English bilinguals

Elman et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 62, 971–974 (1971)] found that, whereas English monolinguals heard short‐lag stops as /b/, Spanish monolinguals heard them as /p/. Spanish/English bilinguals who were proficient in English gave more “English” (i.e., /b/) responses in an English than Spanish perceptual “set.” This study further tested the hypothesis that bilinguals may use two criteria in identifying short‐lag stops. In experiment 1, /to/ tokens spoken by Spanish monolinguals with short‐lag VOT were presented along with English long‐lag /to/ or English short‐lag /do/ tokens. English monolinguals and Spanish subjects who learned English as adults labeled the Spanish /to/ stimuli as /to/ (rather than /do/) more often in the context of English /do/ (73%) than /to/ (50%). Since both groups showed the same pattern, this likely reflected a context effect rather than a criterion shift. In experiment 2, the English monolinguals did not label the Spanish /to/ stimuli as /to/ more often in a Spanish than English “set.” Whereas the bilinguals who participated in the Spanish set first showed a 12% shift, those who participated in the English set first showed no evidence of a switch in criteria. It has been hypothesized [Flege and Eefting, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 83, 729–740 (1988)] that Spanish speakers who learn English in early childhood establish separate categories for Spanish and English /t/. Work is underway to determine if such subjects will show a larger language set effect than the adult L2 learners already examined. [Work supported by NIH.]