VOT Study of Somali American-Accented English

When examining how VOT factored into understanding the data collected, an assessment of VOT must be denoted once more. VOT speaks to the interval by which there is a lag time between the release of a plosive and the start of a vocal fold pulsation in the absence of vocal fold nodules. The nature and magnitude of such vibration is correlated to the arrangements of the glottis during that particular sounds' enunciation. Conway (2008) made several observations regarding VOT and Somali speakers in general noting that five aspects of pronunciation of stops surface. These aspects play a key role in how Somali speakers pronounce certain consonants and in the differentiation between them. Much has been said in literature and research regarding the interpretations of consonants and how they have actually been heard by SAE individuals (Yavas, 2011; Abdiraman and Koffi, 2012). From the data collected, it can be posited that SAE speakers do indeed have difficulties with [b] and [p] given the characteristics of the data. Given that Amino and Fahma has problems differentiating between the two sounds and their AOA was under the age of 17, it can be ascertained that gender and puberty both have some bearing on segment differentiation.

A number of explanations have been proffered regarding gender VOT relation in English. Koenig (2000) noted that the anatomical and physiological divergences account for the demarcations due to the trans-glottal air flow difference between men and women, irrespective of age. If there is reason to believe that natal processes are the crux of gender differentiated patterns of VOT, then other languages must adhere to that same premise. Several experiments have produced specific data that lend to the postulation that gender does have an effect on VOT values. It seems as though females generate longer VOTs than their male counterparts for voiceless stops and shorter VOTs for stops that are voiced (Li, 2013; Nittrouer, 2001; Rothenberg, 2009; Modarresi et.al, 2005). This lends itself to further clarifying the acquisition of language by Amino and Fahma regardless of the fact that they immigrated to America before the age of 17. It would seem as though Honey, Mona and Naima, each had difficulty with [b] as well. While the data was more definitive among those three women who immigrated to America before the age of 17, delineations can be drawn to support aforementioned gender explanations. The gender differentiation can also explain reasoning behind the males who emigrated before the onset of puberty having native like accents rather than those who did so after puberty. While 50% of those that immigrated after puberty (age 17) had no problems differentiating between [b] and [p] that further indicates the gender aspect regarding VOT pronunciation. In addition to gender, age also played a key role in determining the difference between [b] and [p]. While the majority of the participants who immigrated to America after the age of 17 had no credible problems differentiating between [b] and [p], that is not to say that GAE speakers do not have issues in pronouncing the word <pad> given that 50% did have issues. 

Studies have investigated the age of acquisition effects. A common method has been to measure grammatical ability of individuals who learned a second language at varying ages. A plethora of language measures were found that included: Oyama's (1978) shadowing of sentences, White and Genesee's (1996) experiment with tape-recorded interviews as well as Patkowski's (1980) experiment with spoken interviews. It would appear that much affects the pronunciations of consonants among many languages based on the conclusions of many studies that have been performed (Mayberry and Lock, 2003; Kazemzadeh et.al, 2006). In other words, a correlation can be made between age and pronunciation given the data collected from the SAE speakers. Certain consonants were more challenging that others, but that allowed for a more definitive conclusion to be found regarding SAE speaker pronunciation.

Length of residency also factored into understanding the phonetic realizations behind similar sounds within consonants. Academic English is on the whole considered complicated. Hence, English language proficiency takes time. It can be reasoned that those who immigrated to America before the age of puberty have been in essence learning English longer than those who immigrated at an older age. This reasoning however is often distorted because there are often cases with anomalies present (Hakuta et.al, 2000; Sankoff, 2001). Within this experiment, there are reasons that a linguist might reach as to the demarcations in pronunciation of the participants for [t] and [d], [p] and [b] and [g] and [k]. Ascertaining the predictors associated with VOT were not conclusive, however, did reveal that length of residency does play a pivotal role in language proficiency of individuals who have learned English as a second language. 

Sociolinguistic research has promulgated that length of residency can cause what is known as a rapid language shift. In essence, individuals who arrive before the age of puberty do not have a rapid language shift as those that arrive after puberty. Reasoning suggests that this is because one arriving before puberty, while born in their respective country tends to become proficient in syllabic pronunciation as opposed to those over the age of puberty (Boretzky, 1991; Guy, 1990). While certain research has expressed different degrees of conclusions to that statement, length of residency does affect acquisition of language in a specific country as well as non native patterns and stylistic variances.

Conclusive evidence from the experiment suggests that age of arrival, gender and length of residency are the essential factors attributed to Somali speakers grasp of the English language specifically, sound enunciation. In examination of the data collected, comparison of the two categories suggests that sound elocution is dramatically different in those under the age of 17 than those over the age of 17. While this explanation holds true across all three mentioned factors, there are variances in the data. The under 17 group appear to meet the VOT thresholds in terms of the factors, while the over 17 age group especially in the cases of Abdulkarim, Asker, Mumin and Munira, would suggest that the factors do make a difference in terms of meeting VOT thresholds.

References

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Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000, January). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency [Policy Report]. Retrieved from University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute, UC Berkeley website: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/13w7m06g#page-2

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