Influences of language contact and linguistic experience on the production of lexical stress in Welsh and Welsh English

This paper presents preliminary findings of an investigation into the realisation of lexical stress in monolingual and bilingual male adolescents from a community in West Wales. Monolingual speakers of Welsh English were compared with bilinguals from Welsh-speaking and English-speaking homes. This allowed us to explore the effects of language contact and individual linguistic experience on the realisation of lexical stress in Welsh and Welsh English. Results showed that stressed vowels are shorter, post-stress consonants and unstressed vowels are longer, and the F0 difference between stressed and unstressed syllables is smaller in Welsh than in English. Linguistic experience was found to affect the realisation of acoustic stress correlates differently. While no effect was found for any of the durational correlates, linguistic experience was found to affect F0. Individuals from the same community were found to realise F0 differently depending on whether their home language is Welsh or English.