Chapter 9. Individual differences do not affect trill variation by advanced learners of Spanish
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Sara L. Zahler
Abstract
The current study analyzed whether variation in trill pronunciation by advanced learners of Spanish is conditioned by individual differences in phonological short-term memory, executive working memory, second language vocabulary score, and years of study, as well as five linguistic variables. We found that none of the individual difference variables significantly affected variation, while surrounding phonetic context and lexical stress were important predictors of this variation. The findings suggest that these individual differences do not impact trill variation by advanced learners, possibly because these factors are more important at lower levels of proficiency, or because trill variability is largely impacted by phonetic factors due to the well-known articulatory difficulty of this sound.
Abstract
The current study analyzed whether variation in trill pronunciation by advanced learners of Spanish is conditioned by individual differences in phonological short-term memory, executive working memory, second language vocabulary score, and years of study, as well as five linguistic variables. We found that none of the individual difference variables significantly affected variation, while surrounding phonetic context and lexical stress were important predictors of this variation. The findings suggest that these individual differences do not impact trill variation by advanced learners, possibly because these factors are more important at lower levels of proficiency, or because trill variability is largely impacted by phonetic factors due to the well-known articulatory difficulty of this sound.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Regional variation
- Chapter 1. Discontinuous Plurality in Chilean Spanish 14
- Chapter 2. Person restrictions in non-canonical agreement patterns in Spanish 34
- Chapter 3. Exploring future-in-the-past variation in Seville and Caracas 58
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Part 2. Diachronic variation
- Chapter 4. Derived verbs and future-conditional stem regularization in written Spanish in synchrony and diachrony 82
- Chapter 5. The emergence of sound change in two varieties of Spanish 106
- Chapter 6. Real and apparent (time) changes in Yucatan Spanish 130
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Part 3. Learner profile variation
- Chapter 7. Civics, ideology, and Spanish in Kansas 154
- Chapter 8. Promoting Spanish L2 pragmatic competence in a virtual environment 173
- Chapter 9. Individual differences do not affect trill variation by advanced learners of Spanish 196
- Chapter 10. L2 sociolinguistic perception of stylistic variation 225
- Index 249
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Regional variation
- Chapter 1. Discontinuous Plurality in Chilean Spanish 14
- Chapter 2. Person restrictions in non-canonical agreement patterns in Spanish 34
- Chapter 3. Exploring future-in-the-past variation in Seville and Caracas 58
-
Part 2. Diachronic variation
- Chapter 4. Derived verbs and future-conditional stem regularization in written Spanish in synchrony and diachrony 82
- Chapter 5. The emergence of sound change in two varieties of Spanish 106
- Chapter 6. Real and apparent (time) changes in Yucatan Spanish 130
-
Part 3. Learner profile variation
- Chapter 7. Civics, ideology, and Spanish in Kansas 154
- Chapter 8. Promoting Spanish L2 pragmatic competence in a virtual environment 173
- Chapter 9. Individual differences do not affect trill variation by advanced learners of Spanish 196
- Chapter 10. L2 sociolinguistic perception of stylistic variation 225
- Index 249
