Phonological accuracy and phonological patterns in Cantonese-English bilingual children

This paper aimed to describe the phonological systems of Cantonese and English in bilingual children in Hong Kong, and to determine the presence and nature of interaction between the two languages. A total of 48 children aged between 4;00 and 4;11 were recruited, with 24 Cantonese-English successive bilinguals from five local international kindergartens and 24 Cantonese monolingual children from two local kindergartens. The Cantonese Segmental Phonology Test (CSPT, So, 1993) and Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation-2 (Goldman & Fristoe, 2000) were administered. Cantonese phoneme accuracies and phonological processes were compared between the two groups to investigate on any possible interference effect. Results indicated no interference effect of learning English on Cantonese phoneme accuracies, but transfer was evident in the phonological processes in the bilingual children when compared to their monolingual counterparts.published_or_final_versionSpeech and Hearing SciencesBachelorBachelor of Science in Speech and Hearing Science