How Native Do They Sound?: An Acoustic Analysis of the Spanish Vowels of Elementary Spanish Immersion Students

Menke, Mandy R.

doi:10.1353/hpn.2015.0123

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Other L2 studies have reported higher mean F1 values for Spanish vowels produced by L2 English learners in comparison to Spanish speakers (Menke, 2015;Ruiz Mella and Soto-Barba, 2005). Higher F1 values for L2 Spanish vowels could be explained in reference to the American English vowel system.…”

Section: Vowel Qualitymentioning

confidence: 83%

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Stress-Induced Acoustic Variation in L2 and L1 Spanish Vowels

2018

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Aim: We assessed the effect of lexical stress on the duration and quality of Spanish word-final vowels /a, e, o/ produced by American English late intermediate learners of L2 Spanish, as compared to those of native L1 Argentine Spanish speakers. Methods: Participants read 54 real words ending in /a, e, o/, with either final or penultimate lexical stress, embedded in a text and a word list. We measured vowel duration and both F1 and F2 frequencies at 3 temporal points. Results: stressed vowels were longer than unstressed vowels, in Spanish L1 and L2. L1 and L2 Spanish stressed /a/ and /e/ had higher F1 values than their unstressed counterparts. Only the L2 speakers showed evidence of rising offglides for /e/ and /o/. The L2 and L1 Spanish vowel space was compressed in the absence of stress. Conclusion: Lexical stress affected the vowel quality of L1 and L2 Spanish vowels. We provide an up-to-date account of the formant trajectories of Argentine River Plate Spanish word-final /a, e, o/ and offer experimental support to the claim that stress affects the quality of Spanish vowels in word-final contexts.

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Section: Vowel Qualitymentioning

confidence: 83%

“…It is important to reiterate that we controlled for dialect variation by using only the data of L2 learners and native speakers from New York City and Mar del Plata, respectively, unlike other perception and production L2 and cross-linguistic studies (Cobb and Simonet, 2015;Escudero and Boersma, 2004;Menke, 2015;Menke and Face, 2010).…”

Section: Speakersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress-Induced Acoustic Variation in L2 and L1 Spanish Vowels

2018

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“… 4. These three studies (Menke, 2010; Menke & Face, 2010; Cobb & Simonet, 2015) also examine the effects of stress, especially with regard to the potential (more English-like) centralization of unstressed vowels. Because the present study examines only stressed vowels, the results regarding centralization are not reviewed here. …”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous empirical work on L2 Spanish vowels has examined vowel quality, vowel quantity (i.e., duration), tendency to diphthongize, and differences in quality and quantity on the basis of stress context (e.g., Cobb & Simonet, 2015; Díaz & Simonet, 2015; Elliott, 1997; Menke, 2010; Menke & Face, 2010; Simoẽs, 1996). Given the focus of the present study, we restrict our review to those studies that explore development in L2 Spanish vowel quality and, more specifically, to those that employ acoustic measures to track production and development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Menke’s (2010) cross-sectional examination of the development of Spanish vowels by native English-speaking learners in one of two immersion settings, a one-way (foreign language) or two-way (bilingual) immersion program, revealed that differences between the vowel spaces of learners in the two-way program and the native speakers decreased over time, whereas differences between the vowel spaces of learners in the one-way program and the native speakers increased. Nevertheless, the vowel space of all learners in Menke’s study was larger—especially on the high-low dimension—than the vowel space of the native speakers, again suggesting influence of the L1 (English) in the production of Spanish vowels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Task Complexity, Language-Related Episodes, and Production of L2 Spanish Vowels

Solon

Long

Gurzynski‐Weiss

2016

Stud Second Lang Acquis

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This study tests the theoretical predictions regarding effects of increasing task complexity (Robinson, 2001a, 2001b, 2007, 2010; Robinson & Gilabert, 2007) for second language (L2) pronunciation. Specifically, we examine whether more complex tasks (a) lead to greater incidence of pronunciation-focused language-related episodes (LREs) and (b) positively impact accuracy of phonetic form during task completion. Seventeen dyads of intermediate L2 Spanish learners completed simple (+few elements) and complex (-few elements) information-gap map tasks in which the pronunciation of Spanish vowels was made task essential through the inclusion of minimal pair street names (e.g., Calle Copa “Copa Street” and Calle Capa “Capa Street”). Results revealed no statistical difference in learner-produced pronunciation-related LREs in the simple and complex tasks. Vowel production, however, moved in a targetlike direction for one of five segments (/e/) during the complex task. Results therefore point to some benefits of task complexity manipulations for L2 pronunciation.

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Interaction and phonetic form in task completion

Solon¹

2017

AILA Applied Linguistics Series

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The present study examines the effect of interlocutor type – second language (L2) learner versus heritage speaker – on interaction and phonetic accuracy during the completion of a dyadic map task in Spanish. Twenty intermediate-level, native English-speaking learners of Spanish and 10 heritage speakers of Spanish participated. Data collection occurred over two sessions; at each session, participants completed a dyadic map task on which pronunciation had been made task-essential via street names that constituted vocalic minimal pairs (e.g., Calle Poca vs. Calle Pica). At one session, L2 learners interacted with another L2 learner; at the other, they interacted with a heritage speaker, with the order of interlocutor interaction conditions counterbalanced across learner participants. Dyads were audio-recorded during the completion of the task, and the recordings were analyzed in two ways: (a) with regard to the number and type of language-related episodes (LREs; Swain & Lapkin, 1998, 2001) present in the interaction, with a focus on pronunciation-related LREs, and (b) with regard to the phonetic accuracy of learner Spanish vowel productions as measured by first and second formant frequencies. Results suggest little change in LRE production by interlocutor type but significantly less targetlike realizations of /o/ and /u/ during interaction with a heritage speaker than with another L2 learner. The findings are discussed in light of previous research on interlocutor effects on interaction and linguistic outcomes and with special attention given to how and why pronunciation as a target feature may differ from other foci.

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How Native Do They Sound?: An Acoustic Analysis of the Spanish Vowels of Elementary Spanish Immersion Students

Cited by 10 publications

References 38 publications

Stress-Induced Acoustic Variation in L2 and L1 Spanish Vowels

Stress-Induced Acoustic Variation in L2 and L1 Spanish Vowels

Task Complexity, Language-Related Episodes, and Production of L2 Spanish Vowels

Interaction and phonetic form in task completion

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