Timing of Second Language Singletons and Geminates

This study investigated the realization of Italian geminate-singleton contrasts by naïve and advanced L2 speakers of Italian whose L1 was German, a language with no consonantal length contrasts. We show that geminate-singleton differences could be established by all groups although there were significant differences in the geminate-singleton duration ratios across groups (Italian > advanced learners > naïve). Closer inspection reveals that the advanced L2 learners’ approximation to the native Italian duration ratios was mainly due to an improved (shorter) realization of singletons. Our results suggest that the native-like timing of geminates is difficult to acquire even with a considerable amount of exposure to Italian, and that learners widen the geminate-singleton difference by readjusting the timing of an already existing category.