Recent news
NSF DDRIG for Ray & Chang
Congratulations to Jupitara Ray on receiving a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (DDRI) Grant! Her dissertation project, advised by Prof. Chang, is entitled "Phonetic Accommodation and Drift: A Study of Hindi-English and Telugu-English Early Sequential Bilinguals". Well-done, Jupitara!
Kpogo & Chang in JPhon
A paper entitled "Coarticulation and coordination in phonological development: Insights from children’s and adults’ production of complex–simplex stop contrasts in Gã" (Kpogo & Chang, 2025) has been published in the Journal of Phonetics.
Abstract: Achieving adult-like coarticulation, which relies on precise gestural coordination, is known to be a challenging aspect of phonological development. Unique coordination challenges are posed by doubly articulated stops, typologically uncommon complex consonants that show crosslinguistic variation in their acoustic contrast with simplex (singly articulated) consonants. We examined the acoustics and development of complex–simplex stop contrasts between labio-velars (/k͡p/, /ɡ͡b/) and bilabials (/p/, /b/) in Gã (Niger-Congo, Kwa), with special attention to coarticulation with adjacent sonorants. We found that Gã adults mostly produced differences in voice onset time and closure duration to implement these contrasts, and Gã five-year-olds also produced differences in these dimensions. Crucially, however, five-year-olds also produced significant differences in onset formants, which adults did not. These findings provide evidence of age-graded variation in the implementation of complex–simplex stop contrasts in Gã, suggesting that over the course of development there may be a shift away from production of carryover coarticulatory differences toward greater reliance on durational differences. We argue that children’s initial reliance on carryover coarticulation capitalizes on a tendency toward greater consonant–vowel coarticulation as compared to adults, discussing implications for our understanding of how coarticulation develops.
This study followed Open Science practices, and all materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/qcbrg/.
Ray prospectus defense
Kudos to our own Jupitara Ray on successfully defending her dissertation prospectus! Her project is entitled "Phonetic accommodation and drift: A study of Hindi-English and Telugu-English early sequential bilinguals".
de Leeuw & Chang in CUP Handbook
A chapter entitled "Phonetic and phonological L1 attrition and drift in bilingual speech" (de Leeuw & Chang, 2024) has been published by Cambridge University Press in The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Phonetics and Phonology, edited by Mark Amengual.
Abstract: This chapter presents an overview of what is currently known about phonetic and phonological first language (L1) attrition and drift in bilingual speech and introduces a new theory of bilingual speech, Attrition & Drift in Access, Production, and Perception Theory (ADAPPT). Attrition and drift are defined and differentiated along several dimensions, including duration of change, source in second language (L2) experience, consciousness, agency, and scope. We address why findings of attrition and drift are important for our overall understanding of bilingual speech and draw links between ADAPPT and well-known theories of L2 speech, such as the revised Speech Learning Model (SLM-r), the Perceptual Assimilation Model-L2 (PAM-L2), and the Second Language Linguistic Perception model (L2LP). The significance of findings revealing attrition and drift is discussed in relation to different linguistic subfields. The chapter raises the question of how attrition and drift potentially interact to influence speech production and perception in the bilingual’s L1 over the life span; additional directions for future research are pointed out as well.
Chang at LMU, Aarhus, SFU
This semester, Prof. Chang has been busy talking about recent work in the lab!
In October, he gave at a talk at LMU Munich's Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing entitled "Investigating predictors of regressive cross-linguistic influence in multilingual speech".
In November, he will be giving two talks at Aarhus University, one talk entitled "Aspects of cross-language interactions in multilingual speech perception and production" and a workshop entitled "Measuring proficiency in L2 and bilingualism research".
Finally, in December, he will be delivering the LinguisticsNOW Colloquium at Simon Fraser University (jointly organized with the University of British Columbia). The title of his colloquium is "The multilingual mind as a window onto linguistic knowledge".
Kpogo, Kohut & Chang in LSP volume
A paper entitled "Expressing diminutive meaning in heritage Twi: The role of complexity and language-specific preferences" (Kpogo, Kohut, & Chang, 2024) has been published by Language Science Press in the edited volume Formal Approaches to Complexity in Heritage Language Grammars.
Abstract: Twi (Akan) and English can both express diminutive meaning using a morphological strategy (diminutive suffix) or a syntactic strategy (adjectival construction), but they differ with respect to native-speaker preferences -- morphological in Twi, syntactic in English. Each strategy in Twi, moreover, is associated with different types of complexity (morphological, phonological, lexical, discourse-pragmatic, and/or inhibitory). In this study, we examined whether English-dominant, second-generation (G2) speakers of Twi in the US would express diminutive meaning in Twi differently from first-generation (G1) speakers. Results from elicited production suggest that G2 does indeed differ from G1 in this respect: whereas G1 relies on the morphological strategy, G2 relies on the syntactic strategy, producing adjectives post-nominally in accordance with Twi syntax. These results are discussed in light of variation in G2 speakers' morphological awareness and verbal fluency in Twi. Overall, our findings suggest that both the incremental complexity of linguistic options within a bilingual language repertoire and cross-linguistic influence at the level of preferences play a role in explaining G2's diminutive production.
This study followed Open Science practices, and all data and materials are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/wgqcm/.
Yao et al. at Speech Prosody
Prof. Chang is a coauthor on a paper with Prof. Yao Yao, PolyU PhD student Meixian (Vicky) Li, and Shiyue Li at this week's 12th International Conference on Speech Prosody (Speech Prosody 2024) in Leiden. Their paper, entitled "Perceiving the social meanings of creaky voice in Mandarin Chinese", will be presented in the "Individual and social variation" oral thematic session on Thursday morning (July 4).
Yao et al. at LabPhon 19
This week, Prof. Chang, along with Prof. Yao Yao and PolyU PhD student Meixian (Vicky) Li, will be attending the 19th Conference on Laboratory Phonology (LabPhon 19) in Seoul! They will be presenting a poster, entitled "Gender effects in the social perception of creaky voice in Mandarin Chinese", in the afternoon poster session on Day 3 (Saturday).
Chang at Osmania U.
This week, Prof. Chang will be giving a talk at Osmania University's Department of Linguistics. The title of his talk is "Aspects of bilingual speech and bilingual development".
Chang at PolyU, CityU
Next week, Prof. Chang will be giving talks at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies and at the City University of Hong Kong's Department of Linguistics and Translation. The titles of his talks are "Bilingual speech control under intoxication" and "Examining language knowledge through the multilingual repertoire".