Acquiring a second language in an immigrant community: The production of Sylheti and English stops and vowels by London-Bengali speakers

• Published in: Journal of phonetics 2013-09, Vol.41 (5), p.344-358
• Main Authors: McCarthy, K.M., Evans, B.G., Mahon, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0095-4470; 1095-8576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wocn.2013.03.006

This study investigated the production of the heritage language (L1) and the host language (L2) in an immigrant community. Specifically, the study focused on the production of Sylheti (L1) and English (L2) stops and vowels by speakers from the London-Bengali community. Speakers had been resident in the UK for similar lengths of time, but had arrived in the host country at different ages. Speakers were recorded producing Sylheti and English bilabial, alveolar and velar stops in word-initial stressed position and Sylheti and English monophthongal vowels. Acoustic analyses of stop consonants (VOT) and monophthongal vowels (formants and duration) are reported. The results demonstrated that the Late arrivals produced Sylheti stops and vowels in a native-like way, but that their English categories reflected their Sylheti productions. In contrast, the Early arrivals and speakers who were born in the UK (second-generation) used native-like categories for Sylheti vowels but not for Sylheti stops. For English their production was similar to that of the Standard Southern British English speakers. These findings provide an insight into the phonetic organization of speakers from immigrant communities such as the London-Bengali community. •We report differences in the production of the L1 and L2 by speakers from an immigrant community.•Late arrival speakers used phonetic categories that reflect their L1 for their L2 production.•Early arrival and second-generation speakers used monolingual-like L2 phonetic categories.•Early arrival and second-generation speakers differed in their production of their L1.•Age and place of acquisition affects production of the heritage and host country languages.