Cover not available

Article published In: Asian Languages and Linguistics
Vol. 6:2 (2025) ► pp.286–320

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Cross-linguistic influence on VOT in multilingual children

The role of individual linguistic experience

 | University of St. Thomas
 | University of Chicago
Published online: 29 January 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/alal.24027.per
Abstract
This study examines cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in the VOT values of word-initial stops produced by three groups of children (aged 5;08 to 13;11): English-Mandarin simultaneous bilinguals (N = 21), English-Mandarin sequential bilinguals (N = 15), and English-Spanish-Mandarin trilinguals (N = 15). Data came from picture naming tasks in each language and was analyzed by comparing group means and exploring individual cases. CLI from English to Mandarin occurred for most participants, with some cases of monolingual-like separation between Mandarin and English aspirated/voiceless stops possibly linked to dominance and exposure factors. Spanish voiceless stops were separate from English and Mandarin for most trilinguals, but limited Spanish input may have prevented full development of Spanish voiced categories. When Spanish voiced categories were present, CLI from these to English and Mandarin was observed. Results are discussed considering previous literature on the role of phonetic similarity and individual linguistic experience in CLI in child multilingualism.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • VOT in Mandarin, in English and in Spanish
  • VOT in child language
  • Theoretical background
    • Phonetic overlap
    • Category precision
    • Input factors
  • The current study
    • RQ1. Are VOT values produced by participants significantly different for voiced/unaspirated and voiceless/aspirated stops across the languages they speak?
    • RQ2. Do the Mandarin VOT patterns of the trilingual participants resemble those of the English-Mandarin speakers who have not been exposed to Spanish?
    • RQ3. Do length and current amount of exposure to Mandarin affect the production of Mandarin VOT values?
  • Methods
    • Participants
    • Instruments
    • Acoustic analysis
    • Statistical analysis
  • Results
    • Descriptive data
    • Statistical group analysis
    • Individual analyses
  • Individual analysis of two TRI children
  • Individual analysis of four bilingual children
  • Discussion
    • RQ 1: VOT across languages
    • RQ 2: Mandarin VOT
    • RQ 3: Length and current amount of exposure to Mandarin
  • Limitations and conclusion
  • References
References (47)
References
Abramson, Arthur. S., & Whalen, Douglas. H. (2017). Voice Onset Time (VOT) at 50: Theoretical and practical issues in measuring voicing distinctions. Journal of phonetics, 631, 75–86.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Avelino, Heriberto (2018). Mexico City Spanish. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 48(2), 223–230.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bates, Douglas, Martin Maechler, Ben Bolker, & Walker, Steve (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul & Weenink, David (2023). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.4.01, retrieved 30 November 2023 from [URL]
Chao, Kuan-Yi, & Chen, Li-mei (2008). A cross-linguistic study of voice onset time in stop consonant productions. International Journal of Computational Linguistics & Chinese Language Processing, 13(2), 215–232.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Chun-yin Doris, Liu, Wei-yun Winona, & Yeh, Tzu-Fen Nellie (2023). Factors affecting voice onset time in English stops English proficiency, gender, place of articulation, and vowel context. Concentric, 49(2), 316–349.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cho, Taehong, & Ladefoged, Peter (1999). Variation and universals in VOT: Evidence from 18 languages. Journal of phonetics, 27(2), 207–229.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deuchar, Margaret, & Clark, Angeles (1996). Early bilingual acquisition of the voicing contrast in English and Spanish. Journal of Phonetics, 241, 351–365.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Edwards, Jan, & Beckman, Mary E. (2008). Some cross-linguistic evidence for modulation of implicational universals by language-specific frequency effects in phonological development. Language Learning and Development, 4(2), 122–156.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Einfeldt, Marieke Josephine (2022). The simultaneous acquisition of three phonologies. PhD dissertation. University of Konstanz.
Everett, Caleb, & Schwartz, Sophie (2023). The typological frequency of consonants is highly predictive of their order of acquisition in English. Linguistic Typology, 27(2), 537–552.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fabiano-Smith, Leah, & Bunta, Ferenc (2012). Voice onset time of voiceless bilabial and velar stops in 3-year-old bilingual children and their age-matched monolingual peers. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 261, 148–163.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flege, James Emil, & Bohn, Ocke-Schwen (2021). The revised Speech Learning Model (SLM‑r). In Ratree Wayland (Ed.), Second language speech learning: Theoretical and empirical progress (pp. 3–83). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gabriel, Christoph, Kupisch, Tanja, & Seoudy, Jeanette (2016). VOT in French as a foreign language: A production and perception study with mono- and multilingual learners (German/Mandarin-Chinese). In Frank Neveu (Ed.), SHS Web of Conferences, 271, 09002. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gabriel, Cristoph, Krause, Marion, & Dittmers, Tetyana (2018). VOT production in multilingual learners of French as a foreign language: Cross-linguistic influence from the heritage languages Russian and Turkish. Revue française de linguistique appliquée, 231, 59–72.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gandour, Jack, Petty, Soranee H., Dardarananda, Rochana, Dechongkit, Sumalee, & Mukngoen, Sunee (1986). The acquisition of the voicing contrast in Thai: A study of voice onset time in word-initial stop consonants. Journal of Child Language, 13(3), 561–572.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herd, Wendy (2020). Sociophonetic voice onset time variation in Mississippi English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 147(1), 596–605Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kehoe, Margaret (2015). Cross-linguistic interaction: A retrospective and prospective view. In Elena Babatsouli & David Ingram (eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium on Monolingual and Bilingual Speech (pp. 141–167). Chania, Greece: Institute of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kehoe, Margaret M., Lleó, Conxita, & Rakow, Martin (2004). Voice onset time in bilingual German-Spanish children. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition, 71, 71–88.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kehoe, Margaret M., & Kannathasan, Kopika (2021). Development of voice onset time in monolingual and bilingual French-speaking children. Lingua, 2521, 102937.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kessinger, Rachel H., & Blumstein, Sheila E. (1998). Effects of speaking rate on voice-onset time and vowel production: Some implications for perception studies. Journal of Phonetics, 26(2), 117–128.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klatt, Dennis H. (1975). Voice onset time, frication, and aspiration in word-initial consonant clusters. Journal of speech and hearing research, 18(4), 686–706Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kupisch, Tanjia (2023). 3L1 Acquisition: Three first languages during early childhood. In J. Cabrelli, E. Puig-Mayenco, S. Soares & J. Rothman (Eds), Cambridge Handbook of Third Language Acquisition and Processing (pp. 271–294). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, Sue Ann (2018). A psycholinguistic perspective on development of phonetic category formation in bilingual children. In B. S. Chumbow (Ed.), Multilingualism and Bilingualism. London: InTech.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lisker, Leigh, & Abramson, Arthur S. (1964). A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: Acoustical measurements. Word, 20(3), 384–422.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Llama, Raquel, & López-Morelos, Luz Patricia (2016). VOT production by Spanish heritage speakers in a trilingual context. International Journal of Multilingualism, 131, 444–458.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020). On heritage accents: Insights from Voice Onset Time production by trilingual heritage speakers of Spanish. In Elena Babatsouli & Martin J. Ball (Eds.), An anthology of bilingual child phonology (pp. 209–231). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lloyd-Smith, Anika, & Kupisch, Tanja (2023). Heritage speakers as L3 acquirers. In Jennifer Cabrelli, Chaouch-Orozco, Adel, González Alonso, Jorge, Pereira Soares, Sergio Miguel, Puig-Mayenco, Eloi, & Rothman, Jason (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of third language acquisition (pp. 354–379). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Macken, Marlys A., & Barton, David (1980). The acquisition of the voicing contrast in Spanish: A phonetic and phonological study of word-initial stop consonants. Journal of Child Language, 71, 433–458.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maddieson, Ian (1984). Patterns of sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marian, Viorica, Blumenfeld, Henrike K., & Kaushanskaya, Margarita (2007). The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 50(4), 940–967.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayr, Robert & Montanari, Simona (2015). Cross-linguistic interaction in trilingual phonological development: The role of the input in the acquisition of the voicing contrast. Journal of Child Language, 42(5), 1006–1035.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moran, Steven, & McCloy, Daniel (eds.) (2019). PHOIBLE 2.0. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Available at: [URL]
Muru, Andrea M., & Lee, Sue Ann (2017). Development of phonetic categories of stop consonants in Spanish-English bilingual children. Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders, 2(1), 60–68.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nearey, Terrance M., & Rochet, Bernard L. (1994). Effects of place of articulation and vowel context on VOT production and perception for French and English stops. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 24(1), 1–18. [URL]
Qi, Ruying, Tsukada, Kimiko, & Hua, Zhu (2012). An acoustic phonetic analysis of word-initial stop production by young simultaneous Mandarin-English bilingual children. Asia Pacific Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing, 15(1), 73–84.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
R Core Team. 2019. R. A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. URL: [URL]
Roldán, Yasna, & Soto-Barba, Jaime (1997). El VOT de /ptk/ y /bdɡ/ en el español de Valdivia: Un análisis acústico. Estudios Filológicos, 321, 27–33.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosner, Burton S., López-Bascuas, Luis E., García-Albea, José E., & Fahey, Richard P. (2000). Voice-onset times for Castilian Spanish initial stops. Journal of Phonetics, 281, 217–224.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Snodgrass, Joan G., & Vanderwart, Mary (1980). A standardized set of 260 pictures: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 6(2), 174–215.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stoehr, Aantje, Benders, Titia, van Hell, Janet G., & Fikkert, Paula (2018). Heritage language exposure impacts voice onset time of Dutch-German simultaneous bilingual preschoolers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 211, 598–617.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Villamizar, Thania (2002). Caracterización acústica de las consonantes oclusivas en el español de Venezuela: El parámetro duración (silencio-barra de explosión-VOT). Lengua y Habla, 7(1), 140–157.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Volaitis, Lydia E., & Miller, Joanne L. (1992). Phonetic prototypes: Influence of place of articulation and speaking rate on the internal structure of voicing categories. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 92(2), 723–735.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yang, Jin. (2021). Comparison of VOTs in Mandarin–English bilingual children and corresponding monolingual children and adults. Second Language Research, 37(1), 3–26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yao, Yao (2009). Understanding VOT variation in spontaneous speech. UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report, 5(5), 29–43.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Linxi (2022). ¿Pollo o Bollo? Acquisition of Voicing Contrast by Chinese Learners of L3 Spanish. Hispania, 105(4), 595–613.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Linxi, Morales-Front, Alfonso, & Sanz, Cristina (2023). Dynamics in cross-linguistic influence — evidence from VOT development of Mandarin-English bilingual learners of L3 Spanish. In Megan M. Brown-Bousfield, Suzanne Flynn & Éva Fernández-Berkes (Eds.), L3 development after the initial state (pp. 121–149). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue