Contextual Variation in L2 Spanish: Voicing Assimilation in Advanced Learner Speech
Abstract
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.
©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- On the Locative Reading of Dimensional Adjectives and the Internal Syntax of Estar
- Variability and Systematicity in Interlanguage Development: An Analysis of Mode and its Effect on L2 Spanish Morphology
- Contextual Variation in L2 Spanish: Voicing Assimilation in Advanced Learner Speech
- The Emergence of Future Verbal Morphology in Spanish as a Foreign Language
- La nueva frontera: Spanish-Speaking Populations in Central Washington
- Book Reviews
- Silvina Montrul: El bilingüismo en el mundo hispanohablante
- State of the Discipline. Topic: Intonation
- Sp_ToBI and the Phonological Analysis of Spanish Intonation: A Critical Perspective
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- On the Locative Reading of Dimensional Adjectives and the Internal Syntax of Estar
- Variability and Systematicity in Interlanguage Development: An Analysis of Mode and its Effect on L2 Spanish Morphology
- Contextual Variation in L2 Spanish: Voicing Assimilation in Advanced Learner Speech
- The Emergence of Future Verbal Morphology in Spanish as a Foreign Language
- La nueva frontera: Spanish-Speaking Populations in Central Washington
- Book Reviews
- Silvina Montrul: El bilingüismo en el mundo hispanohablante
- State of the Discipline. Topic: Intonation
- Sp_ToBI and the Phonological Analysis of Spanish Intonation: A Critical Perspective
