Crossing the Boundaries: Perception of Voice Onset Time in Word-Initial Stops by Multilingual Learners

The perception of voice onset time (VOT) in word-initial stops has been widely studied in the second language, although it remains underexplored from a multilingual perspective. Previous limited research on multilingual VOT perception offers inconsistent results, with studies suggesting either cross-linguistic interactions or language-specific VOT patterns. This study aims to consolidate these findings by investigating VOT perception in trilingual speakers of L1 Polish, L2 English, and L3 Norwegian, as well as examining whether perceptual boundary locations between voiced and voiceless stops in L3 learners differ from those of native speakers and are influenced by L1, L2, and L3 interactions. To this end, VOT continua were created for three places of articulation (labial, coronal, velar) and three languages (Polish, English, Norwegian). Participants completed a two-alternative forced-choice task separately for each language. The results indicate that trilingual speakers experience cross-linguistic interactions, particularly based on the place of articulation, highlighting the complex nature of VOT perception in multilingual acquisition.