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Collecting and Analyzing L2 Sociolinguistic Data
This volume offers a comprehensive snapshot of the breadth of empirical research currently being conducted on the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish during study abroad. Research on this topic spans diverse methodological approaches, types of programs, linguistic structures, and learner characteristics, which is reflected in the contributions in this volume. This diversity of approaches illustrates how the second language development of sociolinguistic variation during study abroad depends crucially on a number of linguistic and extralinguistic factors and can be measured in distinct ways. Thus, this collection will be an indispensable resource to researchers and students of second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, education, and other fields interested in language development during study abroad.
Learners must develop the ability to perceive linguistic and social meaning in their second language (L2) to interact effectively, but relatively little is known about how learners link social meaning to a single phonetic variable. Using a matched-guise test targeting coda /s/ (realized as [s] or debuccalized [h]), we explore whether L2 Spanish learners identify native speakers’ social characteristics based on phonetic variants. Our results indicate that advanced learners were more sensitive to sociophonetic information; advanced listeners who had completed a phonetics course were significantly more likely to categorize /s/ reducers as Caribbean and those who had studied abroad in aspirating regions recognized a relationship between coda /s/ and status. To account for the complex interplay among proficiency, explicit instruction, and dialectal exposure in the development of L2 sociophonetic perception, we suggest the union of the L2 Linguistic Perception Model with exemplar models of phonological representation and indexical meaning.
Learners must develop the ability to vary language according to linguistic and situational factors to produce context-appropriate utterances. Likewise, interpreting the additional meaning conveyed through language variation is essential for successful communication. Nevertheless, research on the interpretation of the variable copulas in Spanish is scarce and we do not know how individual lexical items and patterns of co-occurrence of adjectives with particular copulas influence interpretation. Addressing this void, we compare interpretation of the copulas by native speakers and highly advanced, advanced, and intermediate learners. Participants completed an interpretation task containing the copulas paired with one of nine adjectives, categorized as typically co-occurring with ser , estar , or both copulas. The current study contributes to the body of work on communicative competence and advanced L2 proficiency by exploring the development of interpretative abilities of English-speaking learners of Spanish and the extent to which interpretation differs across adjective classes and individual adjectives.
Beckman and colleagues claimed in 2011 that Swedish has an overspecified phonological contrast between prevoiced and voiceless aspirated stops. Yet, Swedish is the only language for which this pattern has been reported. The current study describes a similar phonological pattern in the vernacular Arabic dialect of Qatar. Acoustic measurements of main (voice onset time, VOT) and secondary (fundamental frequency, first formant) cues to voicing are based on production data of 8 native speakers of Qatari Arabic, who pronounced 1,380 voiced and voiceless word-initial stops in the slow and fast rate conditions. The results suggest that the VOT pattern found in voiced Qatari Arabic stops b, d, g is consistent with prevoicing in voice languages like Dutch, Russian, or Swedish. The pattern found in voiceless stops t, k is consistent with aspiration in aspirating languages like English, German, or Swedish. Similar to Swedish, both prevoicing and aspiration in Qatari Arabic stops change in response to speaking rate. VOT significantly increased by 19 ms in prevoiced stops and by 12 ms in voiceless stops in the slow speaking rate condition. The findings suggest that phonological overspecification in laryngeal contrasts may not be an uncommon pattern among languages.
Throughout Europe many traditional dialects are converging towards regional or national standards due to large-scale societal changes such as increased education, mobility and dialect contact. In parts of southern Spain, the long-standing mergers of ceceo and seseo are yielding to the national standard of distinción. A quantitative sociolinguistic analysis of the coronal fricative variation of thirty-eight speakers was conducted to assess the status of ceceo in the city of Huelva in comparison to other Andalusian cities. As compared to earlier dialectal accounts of Huelva as predominantly ceceante, the results indicate a change from above in which the local ceceo is demerging to the standard Castilian distinción led by women from all socioeconomic groups as well as men from middle class neighborhoods. Ceceo appears to be converting into a linguistic marker correlating with men from working class neighborhoods with less formal instruction. The implications are that Huelva, similar to other Andalusian cities, has undergone large-scale societal changes that have led to the demerger of the traditional dialectal feature ceceo in favor of the national Castilian prestige feature of distinción.
This study investigates subject pronominal expression in second language Chinese and compares learner usage with patterns found in their first language. The results show that (a) overt pronouns are used more for singular, +animate subjects than plural, –animate ones; (b) switch in subject surface form favors overt pronouns; (c) English and Russian speakers use overt pronouns more than Korean and Japanese speakers; (d) statements favor overt pronouns most, followed by questions and then imperatives; (e) females use overt pronouns more than males; (f) conversations slightly favor overt pronouns, whereas narratives favor null pronouns; (g) higher proficiency learners across language groups use more null subject referents than do lower proficiency learners; and (h) nonspecific subject referents promote null subjects. Comparison results show that learner patterns are similar to those of their native speaker peers on most dimensions explored except that they tend to overuse overt pronouns. That is, the learners have acquired the subject pronoun use pattern in Chinese rather successfully but need to further develop their sociolinguistic competence regarding null pronoun usage.
The relationship between group and individual has been explored within the variationist paradigm. In L1, group patterns of variation are replicated by the individual. Second language acquisition research is concerned with the indi-vidual learner, but second language acquisition variationist researchers tend to group learners. Little empirical evidence exists that such grouping is valid, given the importance of individual variation. This article investigates whether it is meaningful to group learners. This is a longitudinal, quantitative study of the acquisition of variation by Irish speakers of French L2 over three years, of which one is a year abroad experience. Participants are five advanced learn-ers, twenty years old, with five years of French classes at secondary school and two at university. A computer (Varbrul) analysis shows similar patterns in group and individual, in the deletion of ne. Theoretical implications are that it is legitimate to apply group standards to individual speakers and that native speaker variation acquisition is linked to a prolonged stay in the native speaker community.
Adolescents’ attitudes towards standard Galician, non-standard Galician and
Spanish are examined in this study using a matched-guise test. Results show that
adolescents perceive standard and non-standard Galician differently and that
different values are attached to the three linguistic varieties investigated. Our
findings confirm that certain stigmas are still attached to speaking non-standard
Galician and to having a Galician accent when speaking Spanish. Finally, results
provide evidence of gender-related trends in regard to standard and non-standard
Galician, and also reveal a covert social disapproval of women.
This paper explores the linguistic and social factors behind the acquisition of glottal variation in English /t/ by native Polish speakers living in Manchester, UK. It investigates the speech of 40 Polish adults of varying levels of English language proficiency, who have been in Manchester for varying lengths of time, in order to establish what might be encouraging or prohibiting the acquisition of this widespread linguistic feature. Using quantitative sociolinguistic methods, factors such as level of English, length of residence, age, gender, motivation and attitude are considered in accounting for the variation in acquisition. Findings suggest that in addition to level of English and length of residence effects there is a fairly robust gender difference, with women tending to use glottal variants more frequently than men. This gender difference is explored in more detail with reference to a gender as practice type approach.
Studies in SLA have debated the importance of context of learning in
the process of developing linguistic skills in a second language (L2).
The present paper examines whether study abroad, as it provides
opportunities for authentic L2 context, facilitates the acquisition of
Spanish phonology. The corpus of this investigation is composed of
speech samples from 46 students of Spanish: 26 studying abroad in Spain
and 20 in a regular classroom environment in the United States. The
students read a paragraph with 60 target words including segments such
as word-initial stops (i.e., [p t k]), 1 intervocalic
fricatives (i.e., [
]), word-final laterals
(i.e., [l]), and palatal nasals (i.e.,
).
The findings reveal the following patterns for both regular classroom and
study abroad students across time: (a) similar gain in the case of
voiced initial stops and word-final laterals, (b) lack of gain in the
case of intervocalic fricatives, and (c) high levels of accuracy in the
case of the palatal nasal in the pretest. Concerning the external data,
the following factor groups predicted phonological gain among all
learners: years of formal language instruction, reported use of Spanish
before the semester, reported use of Spanish outside the classroom
during the semester (days), reported use of Spanish outside the
classroom during the semester (hours), gender, entrance Oral
Proficiency Interview, exit Oral Proficiency Interview, and level at
which formal instruction began.
We investigate Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants' acquisition of the variable (ing), which occurs in progressive tenses, participles, noun phrases, etc., and which can be pronounced [iŋ] or [In]. A VARBRUL 2 program analysis of native speaker speech shows that the production of (ing) is constrained by phonological, grammatical, stylistic, and social factors. An analysis of the nonnative speakers' acquisition of these norms shows that [In] is more frequent before anterior segments (reflecting ease of articulation), and that males use [In] more frequently than females, especially in monitored speech (perhaps reflecting their desire to accommodate to a male native speaker norm rather than to an overall native speaker norm). The analysis also shows evidence of grammatical constraints which are different from those in the native speakers' speech. This difference may reflect the fact that it is easier to acquire the [In] variant in “frozen forms,” such as prepositions, than in productive rules.
In this article, we describe a new research project on African Nova Scotian English (ANSE), a variety spoken by descendants of African American slaves who immigrated to Nova Scotia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Subsequent segregation from surrounding populations has created a situation favoring retention of the vernacular, in conjunction with Standard English. In addition to providing the first systematic linguistic documentation of ANSE, we detail the characteristics of the Canadian scenario that make it an ideal test of the creole-origins and divergence hypotheses: in particular, that, more clearly than other African American English varieties that evolved independently in the diaspora, the Canadian situation has featured no creole influence. This fact can effectively date the occurrence of any creole-like features in contemporary ANSE (and, by extension, other varieties of African American Vernacular English [AAVE]) to (at least) the late 18th century, an important time-depth characterization. We then present the results of a series of quantitative analyses of linguistically diagnostic features and compare them to those obtained for (1) another transplanted variety of African American English (Samaná English) and (2) a prototype variety (the Ex-slave Recordings), and note the striking similarities among them. The results militate in favor of a genetic relationship among ANSE and its counterparts as a common precursor of contemporary varieties, thereby providing the first methodologically consistent cross-linguistic comparison of three distinct vestiges of “early” African American English, and contributing missing links in the history and development of AAVE.
With Chinese native-speaker data as the baseline, this study investigates the use of the morphosyntactic particle DE by learners of Chinese as a second language. The general patterns are as follows: (a) DE tends to be deleted more in informal speech than in formal settings; (b) higher proficiency and longer residence in China—more interactions with native speakers—promote DE deletion; and (c) females tend to adopt more formal language style and use DE more than males. The study also found that teachers and textbooks use DE much more often than native speakers. Learners’ patterns of DE use closely follow those of their teachers and textbooks, suggesting the necessity of explicit instruction in sociolinguistic variants in L2 classrooms.
This study examined two issues: (a) whether there are gains in accurate and speedy comprehension of second language (L2) pragmatic meaning over time and (b) whether the gains are associated with cognitive processing ability and the amount of language contact in an L2 environment. Forty-four college students in a US institution completed three measures three times over a 4-month period: (a) the pragmatic listening test that measured the ability to comprehend implied speaker intentions, (b) the lexical access test that measured ability to make speedy semantic judgment, and (c) the language contact survey that examined the amount of time learners spent in L2 outside the class. The learners' pragmatic comprehension was analyzed for accuracy (the scores on the pragmatic listening test) and comprehension speed (the average time taken to answer items correctly). Results showed that the learners made significant improvement on comprehension speed but not on accuracy of comprehension. Lexical access speed was significantly correlated with comprehension speed but not with accuracy. The amount of speaking and reading outside class that the students reported on the language contact survey significantly correlated with the gains in comprehension speed but not with accuracy of comprehension.
The current study explores the second language(L2) acquisition of subconsciously held language attitudes. Specifically, we determine whether L2 learners perceive differences between Spanish speakers of four geographic varieties and evaluate them differently, and if these perceptions change with proficiency. Following sociolinguistic methodological practices, we administered a verbal guise task to American English-speaking learners of Spanish from four university enrollment levels. We found that the learners differentially evaluated speakers of these regional varieties across dimensions of solidarity (kindness) and standardness (prestige). We observed development across levels in the evaluation of regional varieties for prestige, while differentiations in kindness ratings remained consistent across levels. We also show that, for our highest-level group, study abroad experience may contribute to patterns of subconscious evaluation. Although one would not expect L2 classroom learners to possess native-like subconscious attitudes, the present study is an essential step in understanding how such attitudes develop in L2 acquisition.
In this study, we investigate first-person-singular subject expression in Louisiana French. This variety is undergoing language death and features extreme variation, with twelve first-person-singular subject forms identified within our corpus. We demonstrate that variationist methods are robust for examining such variation in obsolescing languages, and we provide a model for undertaking such analyses. Examining different aspects of our data, we fit two mixed-effects models, one that analyzes the four most frequent phonological variants of the atonic pronoun je ‘I’ and the other that focuses on the tonic pronoun mon ‘me.’ Several linguistic and social factors predict the use of these subject forms, supporting the claim that variability in declining languages is systematic, just as variation in healthy languages is. We argue that variationist methodologies have contributions to make to research on obsolescing languages and that variationist examinations of endangered and minority languages can provide methodological and theoretical contributions to the study of language variation and change more broadly.
Research on the second language (L2) acquisition of the Spanish copulas has been central to our understanding of key concepts and issues in the field of SLA such as stages of development and variability in L2s. However, this research has focused nearly exclusively on native English-speaking learners. The present study examined native Korean-speaking learners’ acquisition and use of the Spanish copulas with adjectives in oral production. Analyses of the range and frequency of copula forms produced across four levels of Spanish language study revealed an increase in ser and estar use and a decrease in developmental omission as learner level increased. Predicate type, resultant state, and Spanish grammar score significantly influenced use of estar over ser. Comparison with native English-speaking learners revealed differences between first language groups in terms of rates of form use, but similar developmental trends and predictors of estar use overall.
The current study examines the production of the Spanish trill by advanced second language (L2) learners using a variationist approach. Findings indicate that learners produced less multiple occlusion trills than native speakers and their variation was not constrained by the same factors as native speakers. Phonetic context conditioned the use of the multiple occlusion variant for native speakers, whereas frequency and speaker sex conditioned this variation for learners, and in the opposite direction of effect as expected from previous native speaker research. Nevertheless, the majority of tokens produced by learners were other variants also produced by native speakers, and when the variation between native and non-native variants was examined, learners’ variation was conditioned not only by frequency, but also phonetic context. Some of the phonetic contexts in which learners produced non-native variants were comparable to those in which native speakers were least likely to produce the multiple occlusion trill, indicating that articulatory constraints governed variation in trill production similarly for both groups. Thus, although L2 learners do not exhibit native-like trill variation, they appear to be developing toward a more native-like norm. These insights provide support for adopting a multifaceted variationist approach to the study of L2 phonological variable structures.
People often believe that some language varieties are more prestigious than others, which can trigger speech‐centered biases and inform social judgments of the speaker. However, it is largely unknown what types of language experience and exposure might mitigate language biases, especially for second language (L2) learners. The goal of this study was to investigate this issue by focusing on L2 French learners’ attitudes toward European and Quebec varieties of French. L2 French learners in Montreal (N = 106) rated 2 audios recorded by native speakers from France in a listening comprehension task, with 1 of the 2 speakers introduced as a speaker of Quebec French. The learners described their language learning experience, filled out a French social network questionnaire, and completed a French proficiency test. Results revealed some evidence of reverse linguistic stereotyping, with learners preferring to speak like one speaker significantly more than the other, based on the speaker's assumed identity, not actual speech. Four of the 6 speaker ratings were also associated with participants’ oral proficiency scores, social network density, and positive experiences in Quebec. Findings have implications for the use of speech models in L2 teaching and for the mitigation of language‐centered biases in L2 classrooms.
Previous studies of native English speakers learning Spanish as a second language (L2) document compromise voice onset time (VOT) values; however, the focus has been predominantly on voiceless stops and has almost exclusively investigated beginning and intermediate learners. This study fills a gap in the literature by considering the acquisition of VOT in both voiceless and voiced Spanish stops by long-time native English-speaking residents of Spain. Overall, the results show that the L2 speakers’ VOT values differ from those of native speakers across all stop consonants; yet L2 speakers’ productions of voiceless, as opposed to voiced, stops more closely approximate those of native speakers. Considerable individual variation is observed as no speaker achieves native-like performance overall, and no consonant is mastered by more than half of the speakers. Results are considered in light of what they contribute to our understanding of ultimate attainment of Spanish VOT, specifically, and L2 phonology more generally.
Spanish is described as having an /s/ regressive voicing assimilation process by which the sibilant is voiced when followed by a voiced consonant. However, experimental studies documenting the nature of the process – including variation in its realization across speech varieties – are limited. The current study presents an acoustic analysis of the phonetic nature of the process, including an analysis of the linguistic and social factors which influence voicing of the /s/. Using an identical controlled phrase elicitation task, rates and location of voicing within the /s/ segment were compared across three varieties of Spanish: Mexican Spanish (Mexico City) and two Peninsular varieties (León and Vitoria). Different voicing rates and different linguistic voicing predictors were found across dialects. The data suggest that /s/ voicing before a voiced consonant is far from a categorical process in Spanish, with variable rates of application between 43% and 63%. We propose that, based on the data, /s/ voicing in Spanish is, in fact, better understood as a progressive voicing process (i. e. continuation of voicing from the previous vowel), and that the linguistic factors that condition voicing can be explained in part through articulatory and aerodynamic mechanisms. We also discuss the phonetics and phonology of the process.
The current study examines the combined effect of type and quantity of contact with the target language on the second language development of a variable structure, ‘subject pronoun expression’ in L2 Spanish. A written contextualized task and a language contact questionnaire were given to 26 second language learners of Spanish before and after a six-week study abroad in Valencia, Spain. Their selection of overt and null subject pronouns was compared to native speakers from the study abroad region as well as to learners and native speakers in previous research in a US university context. Results suggest that learners with higher rates of self-reported contact with native speakers while abroad approximate the Valencian native speaker norms more at the end of study abroad than those who report fewer contact hours. However, differences between the groups at the beginning of study abroad indicate that characteristics other than contact hours also differentiate the two learner groups.
Previous work has shown that both native and nonnative listeners’ production and perception of regional variation changes with an individual’s residential history, social ties, and exposure to different dialects. The present study investigates the relationship between L2 learners’ dialect familiarity and their ability to understand and identify regional varieties in the read speech of native speakers from six different regions. The source and depth of participants’ past dialect exposure, as well as a measure of their proficiency in Spanish, were also accounted for in this investigation of 60 L1 English speakers’ performance on a transcription task and a dialect identification task. Results revealed that familiarity was a significant predictor of learners’ dialect identification regardless of level, and it also predicted the dialect comprehension of more advanced students. Comprehension but not identification was also more accurate when multiple types of exposure were reported and when exposure was through native instructors, study abroad, and media from a specific region. Ultimately, the present findings shed light on second language learners’ comprehension and identification of different regional varieties of Spanish with and without prior exposure to each dialect, including the effects of different sources of exposure on participants’ perception.
In view of the apparent successes achieved with Labovian quantitative methods in the analysis of phonological Variation, it is not surprising to find these techniques being extended to include the study of syntax. SANKOFF (1973), for example, suggests that the extension of probabilistic considerations from phonology to syntax is not a conceptually difficult Jump. In my opinion, however, SANKOFF's optimism is premature. An analogous view of syntactic Variation is incoherent; it is a moot point what one means by the notion 'syntactic Variation*. We simply do not have a sociolinguistic (nor a syntactic) theory which is sufficiently well articulated and restricted to deal with the problem of Variation in syntax. Perhaps the most serious issue which the problem of syntactic Variation raises concerns the kind of semantic/pragmatic theory upon which the foundations of an integrative sociolinguistic theory should be based.*
This study seeks to advance understanding of second-language (L2) acquisition of future-time reference in French, by comparing the developmental trajectories of learners living in and away from the target-language setting. Study-abroad learners in France ( n = 45), foreign-language learners living in the US ( n = 37), and native speakers of Hexagonal French ( n = 30) participated in this study. They completed a written-contextualized task, a language-proficiency test and a background questionnaire. For each written-contextualized-task item, participants selected from among three responses that differed with respect to the form (inflectional future, periphrastic future, present). Items were designed to test for the influence of three factors on the form selected: presence/absence of a lexical temporal indicator, temporal distance, and (un)certainty. Additionally, two extra-linguistic factors were examined: learning context and proficiency level. The analyses of frequency and the multinomial logistic regressions suggest that, despite developmental similarities between learning contexts, acquisitional paths of study-abroad and foreign-language learners were not identical.
This study aimed to advance research on first and second language future‐time expression in Spanish and to demonstrate the strengths of combining functionalist, concept‐oriented approaches (e.g., Andersen, 1984; Bardovi‐Harlig, 2000; Shirai, 1995; von Stutterheim & Klein, 1987) with variationist approaches. The study targeted 140 participants (120 English‐speaking learners of Spanish of varying proficiency and 20 native speakers of Spanish) who completed an oral task responding to eight prompts (e.g., describe tus planes para este fin de semana “describe your plans for this weekend”). Results from cross‐tabulations and multinomial regressions indicated gradual inclusion of new linguistic and social variables as learner proficiency increased and demonstrated the value of considering both group and individual behavior. Findings were discussed in relation to stages of acquisition of future‐time expression.
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This study uses a mixed-effects model to examine the acquisition of targetlike patterns of phonological variation by 17 English-speaking learners of French during study abroad in France. Naturalistic speech data provide evidence for the incipient acquisition of a phonological variable showing sociostylistic variation in native speaker speech: the elision of /l/ in third-person subject clitic pronouns ( il vient [il vjɛ̃] ∼ [i vjɛ̃] “he is coming”). Speech data are compared and correlated with the results of a social network strength scale designed for the study abroad learning context. Results demonstrate that phonological variation patterns are acquired in a predictable order based on token type and collocation and that social networks with native speakers are statistically significant predictors of phonological variation patterns.
The present study connects research on the L2 acquisition of variable structures to the ever-growing body of research on the role of study abroad in the language learning process. The data come from a group of 46 English-speaking learners of Spanish who participated in immersion programs in two distinct locations, Valencia, Spain and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Simultaneously, we tested a group of native speakers from each region to create an appropriate target model for each learner group. Learners completed a written contextualized questionnaire at the beginning and end of their seven-week stay abroad. Our instrument examines three variable grammatical structures: (1) the copulas
The present study examines whether, and to what degree, regressive voicing assimilation of Spanish /s/ (as in rasgo /rasgo/ [ˈraz.ɣ̞ o]) occurs in the speech of advanced second language (L2) learners of Spanish. Acoustic analyses of L2 productions of /s/ in the voicing context (preceding a voiced consonant) and in the non-voicing context (preceding a voiceless consonant) elicited from a contextualized picture-description task revealed a contextual voicing effect in the speech of only a limited number of the advanced L2 speakers. The low occurrence of the assimilation process even amongst the advanced learners may be attributed in part to the variable nature of voicing in the input and to the complexity of the process (i.e. subject to different stylistic, linguistic, and social factors). The study also provides a phonetic description of the variants of L2 Spanish /s/ and finds that when voicing does occur, it is phonetically similar to native Spanish voicing in terms of the phonetic contexts in which voicing occurs, patterns of durational differences of /s/ according to voicing, and the variable nature of its occurrence.
The purpose of the current study is to investigate the acquisition of spirantization of /b, d, ɡ/ in the Spanish of adult learners who have spent two years abroad in a Spanish-speaking country. In addition to whether or not participants acquired spirantization, this study seeks to discover the influence of certain factors (e.g. style, prior Spanish instruction, Spanish language use, attitude, motivational intensity, etc.) on their target-like pronunciation of /b, d, ɡ/. Two different tasks were administered, one formal (a reading list) and another less formal (a read story). Tokens of /b, d, ɡ/ were analyzed spectrographically for manner of articulation. The results show that the majority of the learners pronounced target-like /b, d, ɡ/ over 80% of the time. A logistic regression analysis shows that the following factors are significant in their contribution to the acquisition of spirantization: Cultural Integration, Spanish language use, Empathy, Music Instruction, High School Spanish Instruction, and Motivational Intensity.
This study investigates the role that native language transfer and task formality play in the second language acquisition of the Spanish voiced stop phonemes /b d g/ and their spirantized variants, [¢ ¤],f in order to identify specific problems that beset learners. The results of a data-based experiment involving two groups of native English speakers studying Spanish reveal that native language transfer plays a prominent role in hampering the acquisition of the voiced spirants [¢ ¤ f]. Students largely fail to spirantize the voiced stops in L2 speech and incorrectly transfer the phonemic status of English /¤/ to Spanish, leading to a slower rate of acquisition of this phone. The presence of orthographic v also interferes with the acquisition of Spanish [b] and [¢] and leads to a decrease in accurate pronunciation during formal reading tasks.
This study constitutes the first statistical analysis to employ a Bayesian multinomial probit model in the investigation of subject expression in first and second language (L2) Spanish. The study analyzes the use of third-person subject-expression forms and demonstrates that the following variables are important for subject expression: perseveration, switch reference, number of the verb, specificity, verbal tense/mood/aspect, object pronoun, referent cohesiveness, the interaction of switch reference and referent cohesiveness, and the interaction of native language and four independent variables (number, specificity, tense/mood/aspect, and object pronoun). However, only certain parameters of these independent variables predicted use. The analysis highlights that, for advanced L2 speakers and native speakers, all forms of subject expression (i.e., lexical noun phrases, null subjects, personal pronouns, and other pronouns) allow variation and should be examined for a thorough understanding of subject expression in Spanish. The study offers theoretical and empirical evidence for the need to conduct cross-disciplinary research in second language acquisition.
The present study aims at analyzing the acquisition of dialect variation by native English–speaking university students who study Spanish for a semester in Spain. The selected variable is the phoneme /q/ (theta). The goal is to assess learner awareness, opinion, and use of []. Data were elicited through a set of oral and written tasks conducted with 15 university students prior to, during, and after attending their study abroad program in Madrid. Although post–study abroad learners demonstrated high awareness of native speaker use of this dialect feature compared to pre–study abroad learners, this did not seem to determine their use of []. Data suggested that (non) acquisition varies according to the dialect employed by the native speaker(s) with whom students are in contact before and after living abroad.
This study investigated the development of two regional pronunciation features by 25 Spanish major or minors from a variety of universities in the United States who studied abroad for one semester in central Spain. Data were collected at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester using three tasks that ranged from reading a formal passage aloud to informal spontaneous speech. All tasks elicited the interdental and the uvular fricative, both salient phonological features of Castilian Spanish. Several linguistic and extralinguistic factors may account for the increase in use of the features throughout the semester by a small percentage of students.
Twenty-five years ago, Labov’s variationist framework was seen as a breakthrough for linguistics. Since then, however, sociolinguistics has been overly preoccupied with the problems involved in using the linguistic variable to analyze nonphonological variation. This has prevented any real progress being made in our understanding of syntactic variation. Analogies are drawn with the structuralists’ preoccupation with emic concepts. The paper proposes a definition of ‘syntactic variation’ and the x2018;linguistic variable’ and considers the type of perspective needed for a coherent sociolinguistic theory. It also considers the analytical frameworks that are needed to advance our understanding of the role of syntactic and pragmatic variation in everyday communication.
This article adds to the growing body of research focused on second-language (L2) variation and constitutes the first large-scale study of the production of potentially variable grammatical structures in Spanish by English-speaking learners. The overarching goal of the project is to assess the range of forms used and the degree to which native and L2 speakers of Spanish differ in several independently defined syntactic or discourse-based contexts. The contexts examined in the current study have been the object of sociolinguistic research in monolingual environments and include the following: copula contrast, mood distinction, past-time reference, future-time reference, and subject expression. Interview data from 16 English-speaking learners and 16 native speakers of Spanish from a variety of countries, all of whom are part of a single speech community in the United States, are examined. The analysis focuses on the range of forms used in each of the contexts investigated and the frequency with which these forms appear. A possible relation of individual characteristics, such as country of origin, years of language study, and time spent abroad, to this frequency of use is also considered.
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Spanish dialects may differ according to the behavior of voiced obstruents following r, l, s, and the glides. For most dialects, for example, Mexican, fricatives occur in these environments; in some, such as highland Colombian, stops tend to occur. Another feature distinguishing dialects is s-aspiration/deletion. Several Central American dialects are of particular interest because they are both s-aspirating/deleting and stop-conserving in the series of postconsonantal environments (Canfield, 1961/1981). Detailed examination of spirantization in these dialects, as well as of the particular question of what occurs after /s/ → [s] [z] [h] [Ø] has been nonexistent. Obviously, if s is deleted before a voiced obstruent, the resulting environment of the obstruent is intervocalic, which is a favored environment for spirantization. For this investigation, 14 Honduran speakers were interviewed using standard sociolinguistic interview techniques. Tokens were transcribed and categorized according to whether s-aspiration/deletion had applied, whether spirantization had applied, and by preceding/following environment. It is shown that (a) in Honduran Spanish the group r, l, glides, and s inhibit spirantization variably, much as they do in highland Colombian Spanish; (b) neither voicing, aspiration, nor deletion of (s) favor spirantization, despite the apparently favorable (surface) environment created when deletion applies; (c) even though an analysis of (b) that orders spirantization before deletion is apparently explanatory, a view that attributes spirantization to syllable structure offers a more comprehensive explanation of what happens when the two variable processes intersect by applying to adjacent segments.
The purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, and interaction with a second language (L2) culture in shaping students’ speaking performance before and after participation in a 1-semester study-abroad program in Spain. A 2-part questionnaire (Student Background Information and Motivation Index), a language contact profile, and a pretest and posttest simulated oral proficiency interview were administered to 20 study-abroad participants. The results highlight 3 major points. First, students can indeed improve their L2 speaking proficiency during a 1-semester study-abroad program. Second, there is a positive relationship between students’ integrative motivation and their interaction with the L2 culture. Third, student contact with the Spanish language has a significant effect on their speaking improvement. The data confirm the importance of focusing on learning activities that enhance students’ integrative motivation and interaction with the L2 culture in both the formal classroom (“at home”) and in the study-abroad program.
Current difficulties in achieving intersubjective agreement in linguistics require attention to principles of methodology which consider sources of error and ways to eliminate them. The methodological assumptions and practices of various branches of linguistics are considered from the standpoint of the types of data gathered: texts, elicitations, intuitions and observations. Observations of the vernacular provide the most systematic basis for linguistic theory, but have been the most difficult kinds of data for linguists to obtain; techniques for solving the problems encountered are outlined. Intersubjective agreement is best reached by convergence of several kinds of data with complementary sources of error.
In the present study, I continue ongoing efforts to incorporate social constructionist viewpoints into sociolinguistics by demonstrating how two interlocutors use linguistic resources to project and shape ethnic (and other facets of) identity in unfolding talk. The interaction is a sociolinguistic interview from a large-scale sociolinguistic study of a rural tri-ethnic community in the southeastern U.S. I examine a range of features and types of features and in addition use both quantitative and qualitative methods. Further, I examine the linguistic usages of both the researcher (the interviewer) and the research subject. The analysis confirms that identity is dynamic and multifaceted and is very much a product of ongoing talk, although pre-existing linguistic and social structures also come into play. In addition, the analysis demonstrates that identity is dialogic as well as dynamic and that researchers play a large role in shaping the linguistic usages of those they study.
This paper is concerned with the social mechanisms of linguistic change, and we begin by noting the distinction drawn by Bynon (1977) between two quite different approaches to the study of linguistic change. The first and more idealized, associated initially with traditional nineteenth century historical linguistics, involves the study of successive ‘states of the language’, states reconstructed by the application of comparative techniques to necessarily partial historical records. Generalizations (in the form of laws) about the relationships between these states may then be made, and more recently the specification of ‘possible’ and ‘impossible’ processes of change has been seen as an important theoretical goal.
Pronunciation development and instruction in distance language learning
- Martin I. A.
- Bayley R.