Chapter 8. Acquiring sociolinguistic competence during study abroad
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Rebecca Pozzi
Abstract
Recent research suggests that students make gains in the acquisition of dialectal features during study abroad; however, much of the research conducted on this topic in Spanish-speaking contexts has focused on features characteristic of Spain. This chapter examines the acquisition of three features of Buenos Aires Spanish by 23 North American students studying in Buenos Aires: (1) sheísmo/zheísmo, the realization of /ʝ/ as either the voiceless palatal fricative [ʃ] or the voiced palatal fricative [ʒ]; (2) /s/-weakening; and (3) voseo, the use of the informal second person pronoun vos and its corresponding conjugations. By the end of the semester, learner rates of use of [ʃ] or [ʒ] are over 90% and their rates of use of vos are over 70%. However, /s/-weakening rates remain low throughout the semester. These results suggest that students seek to adopt the features of the local variety to which they are exposed while abroad, particularly when they are highly salient and/or prestigious.
Abstract
Recent research suggests that students make gains in the acquisition of dialectal features during study abroad; however, much of the research conducted on this topic in Spanish-speaking contexts has focused on features characteristic of Spain. This chapter examines the acquisition of three features of Buenos Aires Spanish by 23 North American students studying in Buenos Aires: (1) sheísmo/zheísmo, the realization of /ʝ/ as either the voiceless palatal fricative [ʃ] or the voiced palatal fricative [ʒ]; (2) /s/-weakening; and (3) voseo, the use of the informal second person pronoun vos and its corresponding conjugations. By the end of the semester, learner rates of use of [ʃ] or [ʒ] are over 90% and their rates of use of vos are over 70%. However, /s/-weakening rates remain low throughout the semester. These results suggest that students seek to adopt the features of the local variety to which they are exposed while abroad, particularly when they are highly salient and/or prestigious.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of tables ix
- List of figures xiii
- Acknowledgements xv
- Editors and contributors xvii
- Chapter 1. Variation and second language acquisition 1
- Chapter 2. An investigation of the use of the multifunctional particle ‑ le by second language learners of Mandarin Chinese 15
- Chapter 3. Production and evaluation of sociolinguistic variation in Mandarin Chinese among children in Singapore 43
- Chapter 4. Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of L3 variation 71
- Chapter 5. What can Cantonese heritage speakers tell us about age of acquisition, linguistic dominance, and sociophonetic variation? 97
- Chapter 6. Spanish rhotic variation and development in uninstructed immersion 127
- Chapter 7. Linguistic variation and second language Spanish 159
- Chapter 8. Acquiring sociolinguistic competence during study abroad 199
- Chapter 9. Variation in choice of prepositions with place names on the French L1–L2 continuum in Ontario, Canada 223
- Chapter 10. Variation, identity and language attitudes 253
- Chapter 11. Sociostylistic variation in L2 French 279
- Chapter 12. Differential object marking in heritage and homeland Italian 311
- Chapter 13. On (not) acquiring a sociolinguistic stereotype 337
- Author index 359
- Subject index 363
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of tables ix
- List of figures xiii
- Acknowledgements xv
- Editors and contributors xvii
- Chapter 1. Variation and second language acquisition 1
- Chapter 2. An investigation of the use of the multifunctional particle ‑ le by second language learners of Mandarin Chinese 15
- Chapter 3. Production and evaluation of sociolinguistic variation in Mandarin Chinese among children in Singapore 43
- Chapter 4. Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of L3 variation 71
- Chapter 5. What can Cantonese heritage speakers tell us about age of acquisition, linguistic dominance, and sociophonetic variation? 97
- Chapter 6. Spanish rhotic variation and development in uninstructed immersion 127
- Chapter 7. Linguistic variation and second language Spanish 159
- Chapter 8. Acquiring sociolinguistic competence during study abroad 199
- Chapter 9. Variation in choice of prepositions with place names on the French L1–L2 continuum in Ontario, Canada 223
- Chapter 10. Variation, identity and language attitudes 253
- Chapter 11. Sociostylistic variation in L2 French 279
- Chapter 12. Differential object marking in heritage and homeland Italian 311
- Chapter 13. On (not) acquiring a sociolinguistic stereotype 337
- Author index 359
- Subject index 363
