Exploring the Onset of Phonetic Drift in Voice Onset Time Perception

Recent exposure to a second or foreign language (FL) can influence production and/or perception in the first (L1), phenomenon referred as phonetic drift. The smallest amount of FL shown effect drift is 1.5 h. present study examined L1 at earlier timepoints exposure, determine whether system able resist an incipient stage. In longitudinal pre-test/post-test design, English listeners were exposed Tagalog under different conditions varying attention directed voice onset time (VOT) plosive contrast FL; they then completed identification task on tokens from VOT continua. every condition, likelihood “voiceless” identifications decreased. This change indicates shift towards longer crossover point between “voiced” and “voiceless”, consistent with dissimilatory perception. Listeners control however, displayed similar, albeit less lasting, judgments, suggesting that arose partly effect. We conclude by discussing directions for future research