Individual differences in the acquisition of language-specific and dialect-specific allophones of intervocalic /d/ by L2 and heritage Spanish speakers studying abroad in Sevilla

Date

2022

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Abstract

This study examines the role of language proficiency and other individual factors (attitudes, input) in the acquisition of language-specific [ð] and dialect-specific [∅] allophones of Spanish intervocalic /d/ in the /ado/ context by L2 and heritage Spanish speakers during a short-term study abroad in Sevilla, Spain. Twenty L2-intermediate, 10 L2-advanced, and 10 Heritage-advanced Spanish speakers completed a reading task at the beginning and the end of the program. Based on an acoustic analysis, a mixed-effects linear regression model found that only L2-advanced and Heritage-advanced groups demonstrated more approximant-like [ð] over time. However, proficiency level interacted with attitudes and input. There were a few [∅] realizations, mostly produced by an L2-advanced speaker who also demonstrated metalinguistic awareness of the dialect-specific allophone. The findings imply that advanced (L2 and heritage) speakers with favorable attitudes toward the local variety are most likely to demonstrate gradient language-specific allophonic changes during a short-term SA program.

Description

© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.

Keywords

Study Abroad, Second Language Acquisition, Allophonic Changes

Citation

Regan, B. (2022). Individual differences in the acquisition of language-specific and dialect-specific allophones of intervocalic /d/ by L2 and heritage Spanish speakers studying abroad in Sevilla. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1–28. http://doi.org/10.1017/S027226312200002X

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