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Title:
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Spanish and English Voiced Stop Phonemes and Spirantization: A study in second language acquisition
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Author:
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Mary L. Zampini
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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Georgetown University
, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
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Degree Date:
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1993
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Phonology
Language Acquisition
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Subject Language(s):
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English
Spanish
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Director(s):
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Cristina Sanz
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Abstract:
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This dissertation considers some of the issues in second language (L2) acquisition as they relate to Spanish spirantization and the acquisition of /b d g/ by both native English learners of Spanish and native Spanish learners of English. A research experiment was conducted to investigate L2 pronunciation of /b d g/ by both types of learners at two different stages in the learning process, as well as for two types of tasks: an informal conversation and a formal reading task.
It is shown that errors in pronunciation by both groups of learners are due to native language transfer, and these errors are examined in light of the predictions made by the Marked Differential Hypothesis (Eckman, 1985) and the Ontogeny Model of second language phonological acquisition (Major, 1987). It is concluded that the models are too simplistic to adequately characterize acquisition of the voiced stop phonemes by the learners involved, because they fail to take into account a number of factors that affect the acquisitional process. In addition, it is shown that the English learners of Spanish do not acquire all spirantized variants of Spanish /b d g/ equally, due to differences in the underlying phonemic inventories of the two languages.
Finally, an interlanguage rule of Spanish spirantization for the English-speaking leraners of Spanish is proposed based upon the results of the research. The rule is formulated within a framework of theoretical phonology consistent with models of feature geometry and underspecification theory. The interlanguage rule is compared to an L1 rule of spirantization for native Spanish speakers, and projections are made as to how the rule may change as learners achieve proficiency in L2.
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Page Updated: 26-Nov-2009
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