Cross-generational Phonetic Drift in Toronto Heritage Tagalog: a Variationist Sociolinguistic Investigation of VOT in Spontaneous Speech

This study provides a variationist sociolinguistic investigation of voice onset time ( VOT ) of voiceless stops in Tagalog, focusing on two generations of heritage speakers in Toronto, with the goal of documenting patterns of variation and illuminating the linguistic and social mechanisms that underlie variability. Data on Tagalog drawn from naturalistic speech were examined, and comparisons between heritage speakers and age-matched homeland speakers in Manila reveal that while VOT among homeland speakers shows no signs of change, VOT among heritage speakers demonstrates cross-generational drift towards the long-lag VOT of English, which may be accounted for by cross-linguistic influence. VOT variation is further modulated by gender and ethnic identity, suggesting that at least some variation may be explained by sociolinguistic motivations. Thus, VOT patterns among heritage speakers are a product of a complex interaction of language-internal and social factors.