L2 Change and L1 Stability in Early Sequential Bilinguals of Indian English

In bilingual speech, the sound systems of a speaker’s first (L1) and second (L2) languages often interact, which may result in cross-linguistic phonetic influences in both. Early sequential bilinguals, however, present a different case as they possess well-established phonetic categories of their L1 and L2. The present study examines early Indian English bilinguals and shows that even after shadowing an L2 of a different variety (American English), their L1s (Hindi or Telugu) remain unaffected, despite recent exposure to and use of this alternative L2 variety.

Speakers

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  Jupitara Ray

  PhD Candidate
  Boston University