Journal Article

PROSODIC PATTERNS IN SYLHETI-ENGLISH BILINGUALS

de Leeuw, Esther, McCarthy, Kathleen M.

2022

Overview

The primary aim of this study was to investigate prosodic prominence across three groups of Sylheti-English bilinguals: first-generation who arrived as adults, first-generation who arrived as children, and second-generation, i.e., born in the United Kingdom to parents who grew up in Bangladesh. To measure prominence, f0, duration, and intensity were measured across disyllabic words in Sylheti and English. The results showed significant differences in the f0 analysis. Regarding monolinguals, Sylheti prominence displayed a rising contour, in contrast to the English falling contour. In Sylheti, the bilinguals born in the United Kingdom were the only group significantly different from the Sylheti monolinguals, displaying an English-like falling pattern in their Sylheti prominence. In English, the late arrival bilinguals displayed a Sylheti-like prominence realization, but the early arrivals and those born in the United Kingdom approximated the monolingual English prominence realization. Overall, language use patterns were the most significant factor related to the bilinguals’ prominence realization.

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Subject: Adults / Attrition (Research Studies) / Bengali / Bilingual people / Bilingualism / Children / Community Relations / English (Second Language) / English language / Foreign Countries / Fundamental frequency / Immigrants / Indo European Languages / Intonation / Language Usage / Linguistic Borrowing / Longitudinal Studies / Measures (Individuals) / Monolingualism / Native Language / Native Speakers / Phonetics / Phonology / Prominence / Prosody / Realization / Research Report / Romance Languages / Second generation / Second Language Learning / Speech / Speech Communication / Suprasegmentals / Syllables / Turkish / Vowels