scholarly journals The contribution of prosody to foreign accent: A study of Spanish as a foreign language

Loquens ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 041
Author(s):  
Cristiane Conceição Silva ◽  
Plínio Almeida Barbosa
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Speech Styles ◽  
External Data ◽  
Perceptual Test ◽  
Continuous Scale

The aim of this study is to analyze the contribution of prosody on the perception of foreign accent by Brazilian learners of Spanish. The data were collected from 15 participants and a control group of 5 native Spanish speakers. A perceptual test was performed with two different speech styles (reading and storytelling) and with delexicalized and natural speech. The speech production was judged by 24 native Spanish subjects. First, they had to determine the nationality of the speaker by listening to the delexicalized excerpts in Spanish (storytelling). After that, the listeners used a continuous scale to rate the excerpts (reading and storytelling) for the degree of foreign accent in Spanish. The results suggest that it is possible to identify foreign accent only with the prosodic information provided in the delexicalized stimuli, i.e., f0, duration, and overall intensity. In addition, the perceptual test allowed us to assess the degree of foreign accent of each subject while revealing the great variability of their production. Finally, concerning the external data, the following factors predicted foreign accent among the learners: gender, length of residence in Spain, formal language instruction in Brazil, age of arrival in Spain, and reported use of Brazilian Portuguese in Spain. These results confirm the crucial role of naturalistic learning of a foreign language, as shown by previous studies.

scholarly journals What is the source of L1 attrition? The effect of recent L1 re-exposure on Spanish speakers under L1 attrition

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 520-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLORIA CHAMORRO ◽  
ANTONELLA SORACE ◽  
PATRICK STURT
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Knowledge Representations ◽  
Permanent Change ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Interface Structures

The recent hypothesis that L1 attrition affects the ability to process interface structures but not knowledge representations (Sorace, 2011) is tested by investigating the effects of recent L1 re-exposure on antecedent preferences for Spanish pronominal subjects, using offline judgements and online eye-tracking measures. Participants included a group of native Spanish speakers experiencing L1 attrition (‘attriters’), a second group of attriters exposed exclusively to Spanish before they were tested (‘re-exposed’), and a control group of Spanish monolinguals. The judgement data shows no significant differences between the groups. Moreover, the monolingual and re-exposed groups are not significantly different from each other in the eye-tracking data. The results of this novel manipulation indicate that attrition effects decrease due to L1 re-exposure, and that bilinguals are sensitive to input changes. Taken together, the findings suggest that attrition affects online sensitivity with interface structures rather than causing a permanent change in speakers’ L1 knowledge representations.

scholarly journals Shrinking Your Deictic System: How Far Can You Go?

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mila Vulchanova ◽  
Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes ◽  
Jacqueline Collier ◽  
Valentin Vulchanov
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Competence ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Open Question

Languages around the world differ in terms of the number of adnominal and pronominal demonstratives they require, as well as the factors that impact on their felicitous use. Given this cross-linguistic variation in deictic demonstrative terms, and the features that determine their felicitous use, an open question is how this is accommodated within bilingual cognition and language. In particular, we were interested in the extent to which bilingual language exposure and practice might alter the way in which a bilingual is using deictic demonstratives in their first language. Recent research on language attrition suggests that L2 learning selectively affects aspects of the native language, with some domains of language competence being more vulnerable than others. If demonstratives are basic, and acquired relatively early, they should be less susceptible to change and attrition. This was the hypothesis we went on to test in the current study. We tested two groups of native Spanish speakers, a control group living in Spain and an experimental group living in Norway using the (Spatial) Memory game paradigm. Contra to our expectations, the results indicate a significant difference between the two groups in use of deictic terms, indicative of a change in the preferred number of terms used. This suggests that deictic referential systems may change over time under pressure from bilingual language exposure.

Language minority native Spanish speakers at the secondary level and the role of the foreign language teacher

1993 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Merino ◽  
Fabian Samaniego ◽  
Henry Trueba ◽  
Evelyn Vargas Castañeda ◽  
Lubna Chaudry
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Secondary Level ◽  
Language Minority ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Teacher

scholarly journals The effects of explicit pronunciation instruction on the degree of perceived foreign accent in the speech of EFL learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghazi Algethami
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Pronunciation Instruction ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group

This paper reports on a study that attempted to examine the effect of explicit pronunciation instruction of some English segments (individual sounds) on the degree of perceived foreign accent in EFL Arab learners’ speech. Nine Arab learners of English in an EFL (English as a foreign language) setting were assigned to two groups, experimental and control. Five utterances loaded with the taught segments were collected from both groups before and after instruction. While the experimental group received instruction on these segments, the control group did not. 13 native English listeners were recruited to rate all the elicited sentences for the degree of perceived foreign accent. The results did not show any effect of explicit pronunciation instruction on the degree of perceived foreign accent, as there were no differences between the ratings before and after the instruction.

scholarly journals Uso das vibrantes na aquisição do português como língua estrangeira por nativos americanos e espanhóis: implicações ao ensino

2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Alessandra Dutra
Keyword(s):  
Native Americans ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Speech Styles ◽  
Foreign Speakers

Seguindo os pressupostos teóricos da Sociolinguística Laboviana, o estudo propõe analisar o uso das vibrantes na aquisição do português como língua estrangeira por nativos americanos e espanhóis. Para isso, selecionamos os tipos de pesquisa bibliográfica, de campo e analítica e dividimos a fala de 11 nativos americanos e 11 espanhóis em estilos que vão dos informais até os mais formais. Os resultados mostraram que o contexto em que os informantes usam um fonema na língua nativa motiva o seu uso na aprendizagem do português. A aquisição dos fonemas do português é mais célere entre os informantes mais jovens e o uso de estruturas da língua materna dos informantes são mais frequentes em estilos de fala informais.********************************************************************Use of vibrant in the acquisition of Portuguese as a foreign language bynative American and Spanish speakers: implications for teachingAbstract: Based on the theoretical postulations of Labov’s Sociolinguistics, this study proposes to analyze the use of vibrant in the acquisition of the Portuguese as a foreign language by native Americans and Spanish speakers. For this purpose, it was selected types of bibliographical, field and analytics researches and, the speech from 11 American and 11 Spanish native speakers were divided in styles, which passes through informal to ones that are more formal. The results showed that the context, in which the informants use a phoneme in their native language, motivates its usage in learning Portuguese. The acquisition of phonemes of Portuguese is more rapid among the younger informants while the informant´s mother tongue structure usage is more common in informal speech styles. Keywords: Phonetics variation; Portuguese to foreign speakers; Linguistic and extra linguistics aspects

scholarly journals Thinking in a Foreign language reduces the causality bias

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Díaz-Lago ◽  
Helena Matute
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Contingency Learning ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Associative Processes ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of a foreign language on the causality bias (i.e., the illusion that two events are causally related when they are not). We predict that using a foreign language could reduce the illusions of causality. A total of 36 native English speakers participated in Experiment 1, 80 native Spanish speakers in Experiment 2. They performed a standard contingency learning task, which can be used to detect causal illusions. Participants who performed the task in their native tongue replicated the illusion of causality effect, whereas those performing the task in their foreign language were more accurate in detecting that the two events were causally unrelated. Our results suggest that presenting the information in a foreign language could be used as a strategy to debias individuals against causal illusions, thereby facilitating more accurate judgements and decisions in non-contingent situations. They also contribute to the debate on the nature and underlying mechanisms of the foreign language effect, given that the illusion of causality is rooted in basic associative processes.

Stress perception

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Romanelli ◽  
Andrea Cecilia Menegotto ◽  
Ron Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Native Spanish Speakers ◽  
Trained Group ◽  
Stress Perception ◽  
Perceptual Training ◽  
Positive Effects

This study assesses the claim that English late learners of Spanish do not perceive stress like native Spanish speakers, and that a short targeted stress perception training intervention during a study abroad Spanish language course has clear positive effects on stress perception. Fifteen English speakers were exposed to 90 hours of Spanish lessons during a three–week study abroad experience in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The trained group (N = 8) received 10 minutes of perceptual training on vowel and stress contrasts with nonce words three days a week, while the L1 English control group (N = 7) received communicative training focused on consonants, and the native Spanish control group (N = 7) received no training. Participants’ perception was assessed at pretest and posttest, both consisting of identification tasks with nonce words. Results indicated that all English speakers experienced difficulties in perceiving Spanish stress when compared to native Spanish speakers in the pretest. At posttest, however, the English trained group performed comparably to the native Spanish group and differed significantly from the control group, indicating an effect of training on the perception of L2 stress. The results show that English speakers evidenced perceptual difficulties when learning Spanish stress, which could be overcome with a small dose of targeted training with nonce words. Even though L2 immersion in a study abroad context was beneficial for the acquisition of Spanish stress, only students receiving stress training performed like native speakers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document