The Perception of English [ɛ] and [ei̯] and of Spanish [e] and [ei̯] by L2 Learners of Spanish with L1 English
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Date
2024-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
In many Spanish classrooms, the diphthongization of Spanish [e] by L1 (first language) English speakers is widely noted, anecdotally speaking. An example is the pronunciation of the last syllable of interesante as [ei̯] instead of [e]. In Spanish, the monophthong /e/ and diphthong /ei̯/ are contrastive and produce meaning distinctions (for example, pena ‘shame’ vs. peina ‘(s)he brushes’). Unlike in Spanish, however, English [e] is only ever realized as the diphthong [ei̯]. Note that the English diphthong [ei̯] is shorter in length than Spanish [ei̯], hence the difference in notation. Besides [ei̯], English also has the mid-vowel [ɛ]. This study intends to explore the acquisition processes and developmental stages involved in mid-vocoid perception in Spanish from the beginner to advanced levels of second language (L2) acquisition. It looks to build on previous work on the acquisition of the Spanish vocoids [e] and [ei̯]. While no collected data is featured in this thesis, this research project is ongoing. The data collection stage will take place as soon as possible. The research team that collaborated on this study plans to implement this methodology in the near future to address its proposed research questions.
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Hispanic Linguistics, Vowel, perception, phonology