Language Familiarity Hypothesis and Delayed Auditory Feedback: A Study on Speech Disruptions in Typical Kannada (L1)-English (L2) Bilinguals

Abstract

Objectives: The study examined the language familiarity hypothesis on speech disruptions in Kannada (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals using delayed auditory feedback (DAF). Methods:Fourteen participants were classified into high and low L2 proficient bilingual groups (n = 7 each). Experimental tasks involved reading the standard passages and answering ques-tions in both L1 and L2 on 150 ms and 250 ms DAF. Speech disruptions were grouped into articulatory, repetition, and other errors for the experimental tasks. A shorter delay of 150 ms, but not the longer delay (250 ms) showed task specific speech errors. Results: Reading passages showed repetition and articulatory errors in L1 and L2, respectively, but other er-rors were more common while answering questions. Interestingly, low L2 proficient speak-ers showed higher articulatory errors in L1 across the experimental tasks. Between lan-guage comparisons revealed greater speech disruptions in L1, which was specific to the experimental task. Articulatory errors during reading and repetition errors while answering the questions were observed in the native language (L1). While refuting the language fa-miliarity hypothesis in bilinguals, current findings favour task specific variation in speech disruptions in typical bilinguals. Conclusion: Current findings propose alternative explana-tions including the influence of attention control on speech disruptions under auditory delay. Findings also offer implications for the current research on bilingual speakers with stuttering.