Effects of L1 Dominance on the Acquisition of English Sounds by Turkish/Persian Bilinguals

Abstract

Abstract. This study will investigate the process of acquiring the sound structure of English by bilingual Turkish-Persian speakers in the south-west of Iran, more specifically addressing the question whether bilinguals will do better than monolinguals on pronouncing the sounds of English. Speech samples will be selected from 30 Turkish bilinguals (both female and male) as well as from 30 Persian monolinguals. Participants are high-school students learning English as a foreign language. There will be two experimental groups and two control groups in order to compare and analyze the data. The sound structure of three languages, i.e. Turkish, Persian and English, will be studied to discover structural similarities and differences between the native and the foreign languages.