Voiced stop spiratization in the ESL speech of native speakers of Spanish

Abstract

This study examines the role that voiced stop spirantization plays in the acquisition of English /b d g/ and / 5 / by native Spanish speakers. The results of a data-based experiment show that accuracy in English pronunciation is hindered by native language transfer, including the transfer of spirantization and LI syllable structure constraints. Furthermore, the suppression of spirantization is not achieved at an equal rate for all voiced stops: /&/ is spirantized the least often. It is proposed that the phonemic value of Ihl in English contributes to thisdisparity. An examination of the L2 pronunciation of /&/ further reveals that learners do not assign phonemic status to / £ / in all contexts; it is acquired in postvocalic position first and only more gradually acquired elsewhere.

Podcast-based pronunciation training: Enhancing FL learners’ perception and production of fossilised segmental features

“…This study explored the potential of a podcast-based approach combining input, output, and peer evaluation to help FL learners improve their pronunciation of segmental features that tend to be fossilised in their interlanguage. In line with the data reported by Monroy-Casas (2001) and Zampini (1996), the target aspects addressed also showed traits of fossilisation in the interlanguage of the Spanish participants in this study. Table 6 shows the percentage of items that were mispronounced on average in the pre-test.…”

“…As the time that can be devoted to pronunciation practice in language classes is limited, and because attainment of native-like mastery in pronunciation is not a realistic goal for the majority of learners, researchers have long advocated the prioritisation of pronunciation features that 2 Although in some dialects of Spanish /b d g/ can be realised as stops in other positions (see Zampini, 1996), in Peninsular and Murcian Spanish, the varieties spoken by participants in this study, they are only pronounced as stops in word initial position after a pause, after a nasal consonant (as in bombo, cuando, or mango), or after /l/ in the case of /d/ (as in molde or caldo; see Hualde, 2014). Even though /s/ may sometimes be realised phonetically as [z] due to assimilation processes when followed by a voiced sound, Castilian Spanish only has one alveolar fricative in its phonemic repertoire: the voiceless /s/ (Hualde, 2014;Martínez-Celdrán et al, 2003).…”

Phonetic equivalence in the acquisition of /l/ by Spanish–English bilingual children

“…Many dialects of English, for example, contrast [D] and [d] (e.g., then [DEn] vs. den [dEn]) as separate phonemes; yet, in Spanish these two phonetically similar sounds are allophones of the same phoneme (e.g., un dedo [un deDo] "a finger", but los dedos [los DeDos] "the fingers") (Harris, 1969). In studies on adult L2 acquisition, researchers have focused on the difficulty that Spanish-speaking learners of English encounter in learning the phonemic split between these two allophones (Barlow, 2003c;Zampini, 1996). The different patterning of [D] and [d] in English and Spanish has also shown to be an area of interaction in Spanish-English bilingual children's sound systems.…”

A Cross-Language Comparison of Speaking Rate Effects on the Production of Voice Onset Time in English and Spanish

“…In Spanish, voiced stops are often realized as weak continuants known as spirants, depending upon preceding phonetic environment [Harris, 1969]. The only position where spirantization appears to be absolutely obligatory across dialects is after a vowel [Zampini, 1996]. One environment that blocks this allophonic realization is the presence of a preceding /k/.…”