Startseite Dialect comprehension and identification in L2 Spanish: Familiarity and type of exposure
Artikel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

Dialect comprehension and identification in L2 Spanish: Familiarity and type of exposure

  • Elena Schoonmaker-Gates EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 1. Mai 2018

Abstract

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.

Appendix. Comprehension task (presented in random order)

UtterancePart APart B
Mientras las abejas zumban por todas partesColombiaMexico
Todos los tesoros de las islasPeruMexico
Se consideraba un excelente expertoSpainVenezuela
Desde ahora sabe qué hacer en verano y en invierno tambiénArgentinaColombia
En el primer lote había dos cisnes negrosMexicoPeru
Yo sé que viajar instruye muchoMexicoSpain
Nunca me lo habría imaginado asíVenezuelaCuba
El hombre descubre la claveSpainCuba
El boxeador extraño se exasperó al tomar el examenCubaPeru
Una colección de cien publicacionesCubaArgentina
Veintinueve vacas hambrientas vuelven a comer hierbaArgentinaSpain
Al llegar a la llanura lluviosaPeruArgentina

Identification task - Excerpt 1

“Yo no veo ningún caballo” le dije a ella al llegar a la llanura lluviosa. Yo sé que viajar instruye mucho pero ayer en la calle de Nueva York, con el billete en el bolsillo, nunca me lo habría imaginado así.

Identification task - Excerpt 2

El cazador de libros se sentía feliz al encontrar en una casa señorial de Zaragoza una colección de cien publicaciones científicas insólitas.

References

Baker, Wendy. 2008. Social, experiential and psychological factors affecting L2 dialect acquisition. In Melissa Bowles, Rebecca Foote, Silvia Perpiñán & Rakesh Bhatt (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 2007 Second Language Research Forum, 187–198. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Suche in Google Scholar

Baker, Wendy, David Eddington & Lyndsey Nay. 2009. Dialect identification: The effects of region of origin and amount of experience. American Speech 84. 48–71.10.1215/00031283-2009-004Suche in Google Scholar

Boersma, Paul & David Weenink. 2012. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (Version 5. 3.32)[Computer software]. Retrieved from http://www.praat.org.10.1097/AUD.0b013e31821473f7Suche in Google Scholar

Brown, Keith. 1968. Intelligibility. In Alan Davies (ed.), Language testing symposium, 180–191. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar

Clopper, Cynthia G. & David B. Pisoni. 2004. Homebodies and army brats: Some effects of early linguistic experience and residential history on dialect categorization. Language Variation and Change 16. 31–48.10.1017/S0954394504161036Suche in Google Scholar

Cunningham-Andersson, Una. 1996. Learning to interpret sociodialectal cues. Speech, Music and Hearing: Quarterly Progress and Status Report 37(2). 155–158.Suche in Google Scholar

Díaz-Campos, Manuel & Inma Navarro-Galisteo. 2009. Perceptual categorization of dialect variation in Spanish. In Joseph Collentine, Maryellen García, Barbara Lafford & Francisco Marcos Marín (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 11th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, 179–195. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Suche in Google Scholar

Douglas, Adamson, H. & Vera M. Regan. 1991. The acquisition of community speech norms by Asian immigrants learning English as a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 13(1). 1–22.10.1017/S0272263100009694Suche in Google Scholar

Eisenstein, Miriam & Diana Berkowitz. 1981. The effect of phonological variation on adult learner comprehension. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 4. 75–80.10.1017/S0272263100004307Suche in Google Scholar

Evans, Bronwen G. & Paul Iverson. 2007. Plasticity in vowel perception and production: A study of accent change in young adults. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 121(6). 3814–3826.10.1121/1.2722209Suche in Google Scholar

Geeslin, Kimberly L. & Aarnes Gudmestad. 2008. The acquisition of variation in second-language Spanish: An agenda for integrating studies of the L2 sound system. Journal of Applied Linguistics 5(2). 64–77.10.1558/japl.v5i2.137Suche in Google Scholar

George, Angela. 2014. Study abroad in central Spain: The development of regional phonological features. Foreign Language Annals 47(1). 97–114.10.1111/flan.12065Suche in Google Scholar

Lipski, John M. 1994. Latin American Spanish. New York, NY: Longman.Suche in Google Scholar

Major, Roy, Susan Fitzmaurice, Ferenc Bunta & Chandrika Balasubramanian. 2005. Testing the effects of regional, ethnic, and international dialects of English on listening comprehension. Language Learning 55. 37–69.10.1111/j.0023-8333.2005.00289.xSuche in Google Scholar

Matsuura, Hiroko. 2007. Intelligibility and individual learner differences in the EIL context. System 35(3). 293–304.10.1016/j.system.2007.03.003Suche in Google Scholar

Matsuura, Hiroko, Reiko Chiba & Miho Fujieda. 1999. Intelligibility and comprehensibility of American and Irish Englishes in Japan. World Englishes 18(1). 49–62.10.1111/1467-971X.00121Suche in Google Scholar

Munro, Murray J., Tracey M. Derwing & James E. Flege. 1999. Canadians in Alabama: A perceptual study of dialect acquisition in adults. Journal of Phonetics 27(4). 385–403.10.1006/jpho.1999.0101Suche in Google Scholar

Preston, Dennis R. 1986. Five visions of America. Language in Society 15(2). 221–240.10.1017/S0047404500000191Suche in Google Scholar

Raish, Michael. 2015. The acquisition of an Egyptian phonological variant by U.S. students in Cairo. Foreign Language Annals 48. 267–283.10.1111/flan.12140Suche in Google Scholar

Ringer‐Hilfinger, Kathryn. 2012. Learner acquisition of dialect variation in a study abroad context: The case of the Spanish [θ]. Foreign Language Annals 45(3). 430–446.10.1111/j.1944-9720.2012.01201.xSuche in Google Scholar

Schmidt, Lauren B. 2009. The effect of dialect familiarity via a study abroad experience on L2 comprehension of Spanish. In Joseph Collentine, Maryellen García, Barbara Lafford & Francisco Marcos Marín (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 11th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, 143–154. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Suche in Google Scholar

Schmidt, Lauren B. 2015. Not all forms of dialect contact are the same: Effects of regional media, travel, and social contacts on the perception of Spanish aspirated-/s. Borealis–An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics 4(1). 99–120.10.7557/1.4.1.3284Suche in Google Scholar

Stephan, Cristoph. 1997. The unknown Englishes? Testing German students’ ability to identify varieties of English. Englishes around the World 1. 93–108.10.1075/veaw.g18.12steSuche in Google Scholar

Stephen, Graham A. & Karin Sequén. 2008. Seseo, ceceo and yeísmo (or, some major variations in Spanish pronunciation). [Audio files]. Retrieved from http://es-xchange.blogspot.com/2008/03/seseo-ceceo-and-ye-or-some-major.htmlSuche in Google Scholar

Sullivan, Kirk P.H. & Y.N. Karst. 1996. Perception of English accent by native British English speakers and Swedish learners of English. In Paul McCormack & Alison Russell (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth Australian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 509–514. Adelaide, Australia: Australian Speech Science and Technology Association.Suche in Google Scholar

Wilcox, George K. 1978. The effect of accent on listening comprehension: A Singapore study. English Language Teaching Journal 32. 118–127.10.1093/elt/XXXII.2.118Suche in Google Scholar

Wolfram, Walt, Phillip Carter & Beckie Moriello. 2004. Emerging Hispanic English: New dialect formation in the American South. Journal of Sociolinguistics 8(3). 339–358.10.1111/j.1467-9841.2004.00264.xSuche in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2018-05-01
Published in Print: 2018-04-25

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Heruntergeladen am 3.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/shll-2018-0007/html?lang=de
Button zum nach oben scrollen