Cover not available

Article published In: Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 9:1/2 (2020) ► pp.215–235

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF

Dutch speech intelligibility in bilingual Turkish-Dutch children in Flanders

ORCiD logo with link | Ghent University
 | Ghent University
 | Ghent University
ORCiD logo with link | Ghent University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 8 January 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.19025.sim
Abstract
This study examines the Dutch intelligibility of a group of monolingual Dutch and bilingual Turkish-Dutch preschool children in Flanders, as rated by native Dutch listeners and measured by a Dutch intelligibility test. The intelligibility of the bilingual children is compared to that of the monolingual Dutch children, in order to examine whether age and/or task effects are similar or different in the two groups. The results revealed that intelligibility was affected by age, but showed no significant interaction between age and group. However, we found a significant interaction between age and task: children’s intelligibility increased with age for a word production as well as a sentence production task, but much more so for the latter than for the former. We discuss the results in relation to the children’s developing phonological systems, the age of exposure to Dutch and the nature of the test.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Review of the literature
    • 2.1Measuring intelligibility: A multitude of factors affecting the intelligibility of speech
    • 2.2Phonological development and intelligibility in bilingual children
  • 3.The present study
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Participants
      • 4.1.1Speakers
      • 4.1.2Listeners
    • 4.2Materials and tasks
      • 4.2.1Task 1: Word production
      • 4.2.2Task 2: Sentence production
      • 4.2.3Task 3: Story-telling
    • 4.3Procedure
    • 4.4Coding
    • 4.5Analysis
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Declaration of conflicting interest
  • Notes
  • References
References (28)
References
Altinkamis, F., & Agirdag, O. (2014). Determinants of language use and attitudes among Turkish speakers in Flanders: A focus on generational difference. Bilig, 70(3), 59–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Babel, M., & Russell, J. (2015). Expectations and speech intelligibility. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 137(5), 2823–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4 . Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baudonck, N. L. H., Buekers, R., Gillebert, S., & Van Lierde, K. M. (2009). Speech intelligibility of Flemish children as judged by their parents. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 611, 288–295. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bent, T. & Bradlow, A. R. (2003). The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1141, 1600–1610. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Best, C. T. (1995). A direct realist view of cross-language speech perception. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research, 171–204. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boerma, T., & Blom, E. (2017). Assessment of bilingual children: What if testing both languages is not possible?. Journal of Communication Disorders, 661, 65–76. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2018). Praat: Doing Phonetics by computer [computer programme], Version 6.0.36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Buekers, R., Dekelver, J., & Zoons, M. (2005). Beoordeling en meting Percentage Spraakverstaanbaarheid bij kinderen [Assessment and measurement Percentage Speech Intelligibility]. Logopedie, 171, 23–32.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Core, C., & Hoff, E. (2012). Relationship of real and nonword production ability to vocabulary size in Spanish and English speaking toddlers. Paper presented at International Child Phonology Conference, June 4–6 2012. Minneapolis, MN.
Core, C., & Scarpelli, C. (2015). Phonological development in young bilinguals: Clinical implications. Seminars in Speech and Language, 36(2), 100–108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Houwer, A. (2018). Input, context and early child bilingualism: implications for clinical practice. In A. Bar-On, & D. Ravid (Eds.), Handbook of communication disorders: Theoretical, empirical, and applied linguistic perspectives (pp. 599–616). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Jong, J., Cavus, N., & Baker, A. E. (2010). Language impairment in Turkish-Dutch bilingual children. In M. Topbas, & M. Yavas (Eds.), Communication disorders in Turkish (pp. 290–302). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Smedt, H., Roeyers, H., & Schelpe, L. (2017). Suggesties voor een handelingsgerichte diagnostiek van de taalontwikkeling bij meertalige kinderen [Suggestions for an action-oriented diagnosis of language development in multilingual children]. Signaal, 261, 4–20.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox, J., & Weisberg, S. (2019). An R companion to applied regression (3rd ed.). SAGE: Thousand Oaks.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dodd, B., Holm, A., Hua, Z., & Crosbie, S. (2003). Phonological development: A normative study of British English-speaking children. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 17(8), 617–643. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayes-Harb, R., Smith, B. L., Bent, T., & Bradlow, A. R. (2008). The interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for native speakers of Mandarin: Production and perception of English word-final voicing contrasts. Journal of Phonetics, 36(4), 664–679. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoff, E. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Review, 261, 55–88. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. (2000). The phonology of English as an international language, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kang, O., Thomson, R. I., & Moran, M. (2018). Empirical approaches to measuring the intelligibility of different varieties of English in predicting listener comprehension. Language Learning, 68(1), 115–146. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kent, D. R., & Miolo, G. (1994). The intelligibility of children’s speech. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 31, 81–95. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Munro, M., & Derwing, T. (1995). Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning, 45(1), 73–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prezas, R. F., Hodson, W. B., & Schommer-Aikins, M. (2014). Phonological assessment and analysis of bilingual preschoolers’ Spanish and English word productions. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 231, 176–185. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rajadurai, J. (2007). Intelligibility studies: a consideration of empirical and ideological issues. World Englishes, 26(1), 87–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
R Core Team. (2020). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL [URL]
Scarpelli, C., & Core, C. (2014). Predictors of bilingual speech production in English-Spanish speaking preschoolers at 48 months. Poster presented at Annual Convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; November 20–22 2014. Orlando, FL.
Thordardottir, E., Rothenberg, A., Rivard, M.-E., & Naves, R. (2006). Bilingual assessment: Can overall proficiency be estimated from separate measurement of two languages? Journal of Multilingual Communication Disorders, 4(1), 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vasandani, V., Babel, M., & Munson, B. (2018). Investigating the influence of listener attitudes and expectations on the intelligibility of Hindi English. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1431, p. 1924. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

van der Straten Waillet, Pauline, Kathryn Crowe, Brigitte Charlier & Cécile Colin
2025. Speech production skills of bilingual children using cochlear implants. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 30:2 ► pp. 182 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue