Charles B. Chang is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Boston University (BU), where he directs the Phonetics, Acquisition & Multilingualism Lab (PAMLab: sites.bu.edu/pamlab) and holds affiliations with the Center for the Study of Asia and the Hearing Research Center. Prof. Chang joined the BU faculty in 2015, following teaching and research posts at the University of Maryland, Rice University, and SOAS University of London. Funded in part by a Peter Paul Career Development Professorship, the BU Center for the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation, his research examines aspects of language learning, bilingualism, and language attrition. Links to publications can be found on his website at cbchang.com.
Phonetic Drift as an Aspect of Lifespan Language Development
The process of acquiring one’s first language (L1) is often described as leading to endpoint outcomes by early adulthood. This talk will present phonetic evidence of continued L1 malleability, which suggests that individual linguistic systems develop and change over the lifespan in response to new language experience. In particular, I will discuss cases of phonetic drift in L1 production during acquisition of a second language (L2), cases of “return” drift, and factors that influence both of these phenomena, including amount and quality of L1/L2 use, language environment, and the intrinsic nature of linguistic contrasts and variables. Implications for language researchers, as well as future research avenues in this area, will also be discussed.
