Acoustic properties of foreign accent: VOT variations in Moroccan-accented Italian

The present study investigates the temporal parameter of VOT from a cross-language perspective, as far as native Moroccan, native Italian and Moroccanaccented Italian are concerned. The comparative analysis carried out underlines a language effect on the VOT duration across the three language varieties. The statistical test points out VOT as one of the acoustic properties that characterize the foreign accent, being the long-lag /t/ and the long-lag aspirated /k/ interlanguage markers due to L1 phonetic interference. 1. VOT and cross-language variation VOT (Voice Onset Time) is the term coined by Lisker and Abramson [1] to refer to “the time interval between the burst that marks the release of the stop closure and the onset of quasi-periodicity that reflects laryngeal vibration” (1964: 422). This temporal parameter varies according with articulatory and aero-dynamic features: as far as the place of articulation is concerned, posterior consonants have longer VOT compared to front consonants; voiced consonants have short-lag VOT since sonority precedes the release or it coincides with it. In the world’s languages three phonological contrasts may exist: voiced stops, voiceless unaspirated stops and voiceless aspirated stops marked by a long-lag VOT since “the feature of aspiration is directly related to the timing of voice onset” [2]. VOT may be assumed as a language-dependent parameter both for typological investigation [3] and crosslanguage studies [4-10]: there is continuum of po ch un la stu in an ac th Sp is A ph Ita an co la an an co ev