The bilingual advantage in phonetic/phonological learning: A study of bilingual and monolingual patterns in the reproduction of word-final stops in three novel accents of English

As part of a larger study investigating the acoustic correlates of accentedness in the reproduction of various accents of English by English monolinguals and French-English bilinguals, we explored speakers' ability to imitate and spontaneously reproduce patterns of realization of word-final coronal stops in three different accents: SE England (Sussex) in which these stops are 100% glottalized, and Russian English and South African English, in which these stops exhibit canonical release about 50% of the time. We have so far fully analyzed the Sussex results and partially analyzed the Russian results. The two groups were characterized by different behaviors: while the bilinguals successfully reproduced the Sussex English accent, the monolinguals did not. By contrast, neither of the groups was successful in reproducing the Russian English accent. After considering the characteristics of each group of speakers and each accent, we conclude tentatively that it is the bilinguals, as a group, who were more succes...