Voice onset time in bilingual Greek-German children

The independence or interaction between the L1 and L2 phonetic/phonological systems in bilingualism has been a challenging question. This study aims to add to previous literature by investigating voice onset time (VOT) of word initial /p, t, k, b, d, g/ by Greek-German bilingual children. A key factor also examined is the influence of language exposure on VOT variation. Twelve bilingual children living in Germany and attending different schools (Greek and German) and 12 monolingual children for each language were recorded. The results provide evidence of monolingual-like productions and of transfer of voicing features for both voiceless and voiced stops suggesting the presence of two phonetic/phonological systems that interact. Greater exposure to a language in a particular school context can lead to monolingual-like production while less exposure relates to cross-language interference with transfer of voicing features.