Phonetic attrition in vowels’ quality in l1 speech of late czech-french bilinguals

Abstract

This study examines phonetic attrition of the first language (L1) affected by second language (L2) in Czech speakers living in Toulouse (late Czech-French bilinguals – CF). We compared the production of vowels by 13 CF and 13 Czech monolinguals living in the Central Bohemian Region (C). CF had been living in France for at least one year and started to learn French when they were more than 6 years old. Both C and CF were speakers of Common Czech. We recorded their production in reading task and semi-spontaneous speech and performed measurements of vowel formants. Results show a statistically significant difference between F1 of CF [a] and F1 of C [a], and between F3 of CF [i] and F3 of C [i]. These findings are discussed in relation to the perceptual approach suggesting that several vowels can be perceived as different in C and CF production.