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Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 11:2 (2021) ► pp.131–167

Initial phonological transfer in L3 Brazilian Portuguese and Italian

ORCID logo | University of Illinois at Chicago
| University of Illinois at Chicago

This study examines five variables posited to drive(s) initial phonological transfer of (part of) one system over another in an L3: language status (L1/L2), facilitation, global structural similarity, dominance, and bilingual experience. Specifically, we investigate production of intervocalic voiced stops by English/Spanish bilinguals at the initial stages of L3 Brazilian Portuguese (BP) or Italian. These segments surface as [−continuant] in BP, Italian, and English but are realized as [+continuant] in Spanish; English transfer is therefore facilitative while Spanish is non-facilitative. Three groups (English-dominant heritage Spanish speakers, L1 English/L2 Spanish, L1 Spanish/L2 English) enrolled in first semester BP or Italian completed delayed repetition tasks in all three languages. The majority of participants across groups produce Spanish-like [+continuant] segments, suggestive of a primary role for global structural similarity. For the subset of participants across groups that produces English-like/L3-like [−continuant] segments, debrief data indicate a potential relationship between metalinguistic knowledge and [−continuant] production.

Keywords: third language acquisition, transfer, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Italian
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Full transfer
      • 2.1.1Language status
      • 2.1.2Typology
    • 2.2Property-by-property transfer
    • 2.3Modeling early bilingual L transfer
      • 2.3.1Dominance
      • 2.3.2Bilingual experience
  • 3.Stop realization in English, Spanish, BP, and Italian
  • 4.Research question
  • 5.Method
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Tasks
    • 5.3Procedure
    • 5.4Data analysis
      • 5.4.1Acoustic analysis
      • 5.4.2Statistical analysis
  • 6.Results
  • 7.Discussion
    • 7.1Dominance, proficiency, and bilingual experience
    • 7.2Spanish transfer
    • 7.3English and combined transfer
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 11 September 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18048.cab
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