Heritage bilingual talkers do not exhibit an intelligibility penalty in either language*

Daland, Robert and Mira Oh. 2014. Heritage bilingual talkers do not exhibit an intelligibility penalty in either language. Linguistic Research 31(3), 403-440. Some speakers have clearer voices than others. In the present study, we investigate whether early bilingualism has systematic repercussions for talker clarity, using a group of Korean-American heritage bilingual talkers, as well as American and Korean (near-)monolinguals. American monolinguals and the bilinguals produced English sentences, which were mixed with white noise at two signal-to-noise ratios and presented to native English listeners. Korean monolinguals and the same bilinguals produced Korean sentences, which were presented to native Korean listeners. In English, there was no monolingual/bilingual difference in talker clarity. In Korean, bilingual talkers were more clear than monolinguals. Post hoc investigation showed that Korean American bilinguals produced the Korean stimuli more slowly than monolinguals, explaining part of the bilingual advantage. Taken together, these results suggest that early bilingual exposure does not cause a talker clarity deficit, in either language. (UCLA · Chonnam National University)