Comparison of Nasalance in Spanish-Speaking Bilinguals and English-Speaking Monolinguals Living in Eastern North Carolina: A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to obtain preliminary nasalance (percentage of air resonated in the nasal cavity) data for typically developing, Spanish-speaking bilinguals living in NC. A secondary aim was to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in nasalance between Spanish-English bilingual children and English monolingual children. Sixteen healthy children (8 monolingual English-speaking, 8 Spanish-English bilingual) with normal anatomy between 5 and 6 years of age at the time of the experiment completed the experiment. Between-group comparisons of the mean nasalance values were conducted using a paired samples t test. Independent samples t tests were used to compare bilingual participants' productions of the English and Spanish stimuli. A statistically significant difference was found in overall mean nasalance values between monolingual and bilingual groups. However, when analyses were separated by stimulus type, only the single-word productions of Spanish stimuli differed significantly between groups. The data from this study provide preliminary nasalance values for a population of Spanish-English bilingual children with normal anatomy.