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Abstract

Five groups of subjects, two monolingual in English or French, three bilingual in French and English, but one native in English, the second native in French, and the third native in both languages, were measured for their accuracy in perceiving initial phoneme sequences. All groups were most accurate in perceiving sequences that occurred in both languages and least accurate with sequences occurring in neither language. Sequences occurring in one of the two languages fell between these extremes with French sequences yielding significantly higher accuracy than English sequences. The bilinguals who were native in English or native in both languages were superior to the other three groups on the tasks. Errors tended to be distortions in the direction of the subject's native language. The most common error was a replacement of the initial phoneme accompanied by accurate perception of the second phoneme.

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The Comparative Skills of Monolinguals and Bilinguals in Perceiving Phoneme Sequences

Abstract

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