Open AccessArticle The Impact of Accented Input on Spanish-English Bilingual Children’s Word Learning Milijana Buac Milijana Buac 1,* Margarita Kaushanskaya Margarita Kaushanskaya 2 1 School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA 2 Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Behav. Sci. 2026, 16(6), 943; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16060943 (registering DOI) Submission received: 8 April 2026 / Revised: 18 May 2026 / Accepted: 21 May 2026 / Published: 9 June 2026 Abstract Background: Bilingual children are frequently exposed to accented speech, yet it remains unclear how accent familiarity affects their ability to learn new words. This study examined Spanish–English bilingual children’s ( n = 46) novel word learning from speakers with familiar and unfamiliar accents and investigated individual differences related to learning from accented input. Methods: Children completed an experimental word-learning task in which they learned novel word–object pairings produced by three speakers: a speaker of General American English, a Spanish-accented English speaker (familiar accent), and a Korean-accented English speaker (unfamiliar accent). Individual-differences analyses examined associations between learning outcomes and children’s language skills, length of bilingualism, and characteristics of language input in the home environment. Results: Children showed more difficulty learning novel words from the unfamiliar Korean-accented speaker than from the familiar Spanish-accented speaker and the General American-English speaker. Language skills were associated with learning from the familiar accent but not the unfamiliar accent. Length of bilingualism was positively associated with learning from the unfamiliar accent, whereas greater strength of foreign-accented English in the environment was negatively associated with learning from the native speaker. Conclusions: These findings suggest that accent familiarity facilitates bilingual children’s word learning and that experience-related factors contribute to their ability to accommodate accent variability. Keywords: bilingual children; accented input; word-learning Author Contributions Conceptualization, M.B.; methodology, M.B.; software, M.B.; validation, M.B.; formal analysis, M.B.; investigation, M.B.; resources, M.B. and M.K.; data curation, M.B.; writing—original draft preparation, M.B. and M.K.; writing—review and editing, M.B. and M.K.; visualization, M.B.; supervision, M.K.; project administration, M.B.; funding acquisition, M.B. and M.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding This research was funded by the NIDCD Pre-Doctoral Fellowship F31 DC015944, the American Speech Language Hearing Foundation New Century Scholars Doctoral Scholarship to the first author and the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD) Ph.D. Scholarship to the first author and NIDCD R01 DC016015 to the second author. This study was also supported in part by a core grant provided to the Waisman Center from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U54 HD090256). Institutional Review Board Statement The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (protocol code: 2017-0573; date of approval: 25 May 2017). Informed Consent Statement Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Data Availability Statement The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors on reasonable request. The data presented in this study are not publicly available at this time because they form part of an ongoing research program and are being analyzed for additional planned publications addressing separate research questions. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. Appendix A Table A1. Phonemic targets and phonetic realizations of novel words across speakers. Table A1. Phonemic targets and phonetic realizations of novel words across speakers. Word Target General American English Speaker Spanish Speaker Korean Speaker bafere /ˈbæfɪr/ [ˈbæfɪɹ] [ˈbaːfiɾ] [baˈfɪɹ] botefe /ˈbɑtif/ [ˈbɑtif] [ˈbatef] [boʊˈtif] dinume /ˈdaɪnum/ [ˈdaɪnum] [ˈdainum] [ˈdɪnum̚] dulek /ˈdulɛk/ [ˈdulɛk] [ˈdulek] [duˈlɛk] getov /ˈgɛtɑv/ [ˈgɛtɑv] [ˈgetav] [gɛˈtɑv] gonepe /ˈgoʊnip/ [ˈgoʊnip] [ˈgonip] [goʊˈnif̚] kitoge /ˈkɪtoʊg/ [ˈkɪtoʊg] [ˈkigoʊh] [kɪˈtoʊg̚] kosof /ˈkɑsɑf/ [ˈkɑsɑf] [ˈkasaf] [kɑˈsɑf] pedede /ˈpɛdid/ [ˈpɛdid] [ˈpedid̚] [pɛˈdɪd̚] pomive /ˈpoʊmaɪv/ [ˈpoʊmaɪv] [ˈpomaɪv] [poʊˈmɪm] tepate /ˈtɛpeɪt/ [ˈtɛpeɪt] [ˈtepeɪt] [tɛˈpeɪt̚] tinade /ˈtɪneɪd/ [ˈtɪneɪd] [ˈtineɪd] [tɪˈneɪd̚] Note. Novel words were obtained from Gupta et al. ( 2004). Both General American-English speakers produced the stimuli with target-like phonological structure; therefore, only one set of productions is shown above. Note 1 We use the term “accented speech” as a shorthand to refer to speech produced in varieties that differ from the local norm (e.g., General American English). Our use of this term reflects relative differences in accent familiarity rather than the presence versus absence of an accent. References Figure 1. Looks over time for all conditions. The dashed line represents chance performance at 50%. Figure 1. Looks over time for all conditions. The dashed line represents chance performance at 50%. Figure 2. Looks over time for all conditions for the early time window. The dashed line represents chance performance at 50%. Figure 2. Looks over time for all conditions for the early time window. The dashed line represents chance performance at 50%. Figure 3. Looks over time for all conditions for the late time window. The dashed line represents chance performance at 50%. Figure 3. Looks over time for all conditions for the late time window. The dashed line represents chance performance at 50%. Table 1. Participant characteristics. Table 1. Participant characteristics. Group Performance Mean ( SD) n 46 Gender 17 boys, 29 girls Age (years) 4.88 (0.60) Socioeconomic Status 14.42 (4.83) English Age of Acquisition (months) 9.74 (13.22) Spanish Age of Acquisition (months) 1.22 (7.10) English Daily Exposure (%) 44.06 (16.63) Spanish Daily Exposure (%) 55.94 (16.56) Non-verbal IQ 103.22 (7.11) Receptive Language 112.59 (13.89) Expressive Language 108.54 (14.08) Total Language 111.52 (14.66) Note. Language skills were assessed using the Preschool Language Scales-5th Edition, Spanish Edition. Non-verbal intelligence was assessed using the Leiter-3. Language and non-verbal intelligence scores are standard scores. Table 2. Speaker characteristics and duration of speech in each condition. Table 2. Speaker characteristics and duration of speech in each condition. General American-English Speaker Spanish-Accented English Speaker Korean-Accented English Speaker Fundamental Frequency (Hz) 217.27 (10.93) 221.15 (6.98) 202.18 (5.96) Speech Rate (syllable/second) 2.73 (0.16) 2.33 (0.17) 2.36 (0.15) Average Duration of Speech (seconds) 10.67 (1.13) 13.34 (0.60) 10.56 (0.47) Note. Speech rate was calculated by dividing the total number of syllables spoken by the total time (in seconds); thus, speech rate is expressed in syllables per second. Non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis tests did not reveal any significant differences in the speakers’ acoustic characteristics. Speech rate was calculated based on each speaker’s reading of the Grandfather Passage ( Darley et al., 1975). Table 3. Parameter Estimates for Comparing Performance Across the Three Conditions for the Early Time Window. Table 3. Parameter Estimates for Comparing Performance Across the Three Conditions for the Early Time Window. Estimate Standard Error t-Value Intercept 0.15 0.04 3.49 *** Linear 0.88 0.24 3.69 *** Quadratic −0.56 0.19 −2.92 ** Cubic −0.14 0.16 −0.86 Korean Condition −0.04 0.02 −2.57 ** Spanish Condition −0.02 0.02 −1.46 Linear: Korean Condition −0.95 0.14 −6.77 *** Linear: Spanish Condition −0.09 0.14 −0.68 Quadratic: Korean Condition 0.15 0.14 1.08 Quadratic: Spanish Condition 0.42 0.14 2.99 ** Cubic: Korean Condition 0.45 0.14 3.19 ** Cubic: Spanish Condition 0.21 0.14 1.47 *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05. Table 4. Parameter Estimates for the Spanish-accented Condition vs. the Korean-accented Condition for the Early Time Window. Table 4. Parameter Estimates for the Spanish-accented Condition vs. the Korean-accented Condition for the Early Time Window. Estimate Standard Error t-Value Intercept 0.11 0.04 2.78 ** Linear 0.42 0.24 1.73 Quadratic −0.07 0.14 −0.51 Cubic −0.11 0.09 −1.17 Korean Condition −0.07 0.02 −3.25 ** Linear: Korean Condition 0.01 0.1 0.10 Quadratic: Korean Condition −0.07 0.14 −0.47 Cubic: Korean Condition −0.15 0.14 −1.10 *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05. Table 5. Parameter Estimates for Comparing Performance Across the Three Conditions for the Late Time Window. Table 5. Parameter Estimates for Comparing Performance Across the Three Conditions for the Late Time Window. Estimate Standard Error t-Value Intercept 0.24 0.06 3.92 *** Linear 0.09 0.15 0.62 Quadratic −0.18 0.13 −1.45 Cubic −0.28 0.10 −2.70 ** Korean Condition −0.15 0.02 −6.54 *** Spanish Condition −0.04 0.02 −1.96 * Linear: Korean Condition −0.27 0.14 −1.94 * Linear: Spanish Condition 0.25 0.14 1.82 Quadratic: Korean Condition 0.35 0.14 2.57 ** Quadratic: Spanish Condition 0.09 0.14 0.67 Cubic: Korean Condition 0.35 0.13 2.61 ** Cubic: Spanish Condition 0.17 0.13 1.26 *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05. Table 6. Parameter Estimates for the Spanish-accented Condition vs. the Korean-accented Condition for the Late Time Window. Table 6. Parameter Estimates for the Spanish-accented Condition vs. the Korean-accented Condition for the Late Time Window. Estimate Standard Error t-Value Intercept 0.14 0.07 2.05 Linear 0.15 0.17 0.88 Quadratic 0.04 0.12 0.36 Cubic −0.04 0.08 −0.52 Korean Condition 0.13 0.02 5.60 *** Linear: Korean Condition 0.56 0.13 4.17 *** Quadratic: Korean Condition −0.21 0.13 −1.53 Cubic: Korean Condition −0.20 0.13 −1.52 *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05. Table 7. Pearson Correlations for Bilingual Variables. Table 7. Pearson Correlations for Bilingual Variables. Length of Bilingualism Number Non-Native English Speakers Strength of Accent Length of Bilingualism -- −0.13 0.07 Number Non-native English Speakers −0.13 -- 0.27 Strength of Accent 0.07 0.27 -- © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the . Share and Cite MDPI and ACS Style Buac, M.; Kaushanskaya, M. The Impact of Accented Input on Spanish-English Bilingual Children’s Word Learning. Behav. Sci. 2026, 16, 943. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16060943 AMA Style Buac M, Kaushanskaya M. The Impact of Accented Input on Spanish-English Bilingual Children’s Word Learning. Behavioral Sciences. 2026; 16(6):943. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16060943 Chicago/Turabian Style Buac, Milijana, and Margarita Kaushanskaya. 2026. "The Impact of Accented Input on Spanish-English Bilingual Children’s Word Learning" Behavioral Sciences 16, no. 6: 943. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16060943 APA Style Buac, M., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2026). The Impact of Accented Input on Spanish-English Bilingual Children’s Word Learning. Behavioral Sciences, 16(6), 943. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16060943 Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details . Article Metrics Article metric data becomes available approximately 24 hours after publication online.
