TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mayr, Robert
A1  - Morris, Jonathan
A1  - Mennen, Ineke
A1  - Williams, Daniel
T1  - Disentangling the effects of long-term language contact and individual bilingualism: The case of monophthongs in Welsh and English
JF  - International journal of bilingualism : cross-disciplinary, cross-linguistic studies of language behavior
N2  - Aims and objectives: This study investigates the effects of individual bilingualism and long-term language contact on monophthongal vowel productions in English and Welsh. Design: To this end, we recorded the Welsh and English vowel productions of two sets of Welsh-English bilinguals differing in home language use, as well as the English vowel productions of English monolinguals. Data and analysis: The data were analysed acoustically, with a focus on spectral and temporal properties. Comparisons were then made within each language and cross-linguistically. Findings: The results of a cross-linguistic acoustic comparison revealed a high degree of convergence in the monophthong systems of Welsh and English, but also some language-specific categories. Interestingly, at the individual level we found no effect of linguistic experience on vowel production: the two sets of bilinguals and the English monolinguals did not differ in their realisation of English vowels, and the two sets of bilinguals did not differ in their realisation of Welsh vowels. Implications: The findings demonstrate pervasive phonetic convergence in a language contact situation with a historical substrate. They also indicate that a homogeneous peer group with shared values can override the effects of individual linguistic experience.
KW  - Acoustic analysis
KW  - experience
KW  - language
KW  - phonetic convergence
KW  - vowel productions
KW  - Welsh-English bilingualism
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006915614921
SN  - 1367-0069
SN  - 1756-6878
VL  - 21
SP  - 245
EP  - 267
PB  - Sage Publ.
CY  - London
ER  -