1887
Volume 11, Issue 1
  • ISSN 2215-1931
  • E-ISSN: 2215-194X
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

The present study compares the L2 acquisition of Spanish rhotics (intervocalic taps /ɾ/ and trills /r/) by 16 semester-long study-abroad (SA) participants and 7 at-home (AH) peers using an experimental production task. Data collected at three different time points (pre-/mid-/post-semester) suggest an advantage of study-abroad in the acquisition of trills containing multiple occlusions. Participants at all proficiency levels showed significant movement towards multiple-occlusion trills throughout the semester. Intensity of contact with Spanish interacted with proficiency, enhancing gains at certain levels. Results indicate that segment duration can also serve as a useful phonemic contrast. While both the SA and AH groups significantly increased trill segment duration over time, only the SA group sustained the increase from mid- to post-semester. These findings have theoretical and pedagogical implications for the acquisition of L2 phonetic categories and phonemic distinctions that differ from the L1.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jslp.24037.mic
2025-04-29
2025-12-15
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Amengual, M.
    (2016) Acoustic correlates of the Spanish tap-trill contrast: Heritage and L2 Spanish speakers. Heritage Language Journal, 13(2), 88–112. 10.46538/hlj.13.2.2
    https://doi.org/10.46538/hlj.13.2.2 [Google Scholar]
  2. Avello, P.
    (2013) L2 phonological development in speech production during study abroad [Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra]. TDX Digital Cooperative Repository. https://hdl.handle.net/10803/128624
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Avello, P. & Lara, A. R.
    (2014) Phonological development in L2 speech production during study abroad programmes differing in length of stay. InC. Pérez-Vidal (Ed.), Language acquisition in study abroad and formal instruction contexts (pp.137–166). Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/aals.13.08ch6
    https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.13.08ch6 [Google Scholar]
  4. Bataller, R.
    (2010) Making a request for a service in Spanish: Pragmatic development in the study abroad setting. Foreign Language Annals, 431, 160–175. 10.1111/j.1944‑9720.2010.01065.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2010.01065.x [Google Scholar]
  5. Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S.
    (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software67(1), 1–48.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bennett, J.
    (2011) Developing intercultural competence. In2011 Association of International Education Administrators Conference Workshop, San Francisco, CA.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Briggs, J.
    (2015) Out-of-class language contact and vocabulary gain in a study abroad context. System, 531, 129-140. 10.1016/j.system.2015.07.007
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.07.007 [Google Scholar]
  8. Boersma, P. & Weenink, D.
    (2023) Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (version 6.4.01) [computer program] www.praat.org
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Bongiovanni, S., Long, A. Y., Solon, M., & Willis, E. W.
    (2015) The effect of short-term study abroad on second language Spanish phonetic development. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 8(2): 243–283. 10.1515/shll‑2015‑0010
    https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2015-0010 [Google Scholar]
  10. Bradley, T. G.
    (2004) Gestural timing and rhotic variation in Spanish codas. InT. Face (Ed.), Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp.197–224). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Bradley, T. G., & Willis, E. W.
    (2012) Rhotic variation and contrast in Veracruz Mexican Spanish. Estudios de Fonética Experimental, 211, 43–74.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Canfield, D. L.
    (1981) Spanish pronunciation in the Americas. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Colantoni, L.
    (2006) Increasing periodicity to reduce similarity: An acoustic account of deassibilation in rhotics. InM. Díaz-Campos (Ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonetics and Phonology (pp.22–34). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Collentine, J.
    (2004) The effects of learning contexts on morphosyntactic and lexical development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26(2), 227–248.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Cummings Ruiz, L. D., & Montrul, S.
    (2020) Assessing rhotic production by bilingual Spanish speakers. Languages, 5(4), 51. 10.3390/languages5040051
    https://doi.org/10.3390/languages5040051 [Google Scholar]
  16. Daidone, D., & Darcy, I.
    (2014) Quierro comprar una guitara: Lexical encoding of the tap and trill by L2 learners of Spanish. InR. T. Miller, K. I. Martin, C. M. Eddington, A. Henery, N. Marcos Miguel, A. M. Tseng, A. Tuninetti & D. Walter (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 2012 Second Language Research Forum (pp.39–50). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Daidone, D., & Zahler, S.
    (2021) A variationist analysis of second language Spanish trill production. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 14(1), 1–37. 10.1515/shll‑2021‑2038
    https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2021-2038 [Google Scholar]
  18. del Puy Ciriza, M., & Rivera-Campos, A.
    (2020) Teaching the Spanish trill to L1 English speakers using ultrasound instruction: A preliminary study on pronunciation pedagogy. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 7(1), 20–33. 10.1080/23247797.2020.1770464
    https://doi.org/10.1080/23247797.2020.1770464 [Google Scholar]
  19. Detrixhe, K. A.
    (2015) The effect of studying abroad on the acquisition of the Spanish trill for second language learners. PhD thesis. University of Kansas, USA.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Díaz-Campos, M.
    (2004) Context of learning in the acquisition of Spanish second language phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26(2), 249–273. 10.1017/S0272263104262052
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263104262052 [Google Scholar]
  21. (2006) The effect of style in second language phonology: An analysis of segmental acquisition in study abroad and regular-classroom students. InC. A. Klee & T. Face (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages (pp.26–39). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Face, T. L.
    (2006) Intervocalic rhotic pronunciation by adult learners of Spanish as a second language. InC. A. Klee & T. L. Face (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 7th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages (pp.47–58). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Flege, J. E.
    (1995) Second language speech learning: theory, findings and problems. InW. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and Linguistic Experience: Issues in Cross-language Research (pp.229–273). Timonium, Maryland: York Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Freed, B. F., Segalowitz, N. & Dewey, D. P.
    (2004) Context of learning and second language fluency in French: Comparing regular classroom, study abroad, and intensive domestic immersion programs. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26(2), 275–301. 10.1017/S0272263104262064
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263104262064 [Google Scholar]
  25. Garraty, J., & Adams, W.
    (1959) From main street to the Left Bank: Students and scholars abroad. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Gluszek, A., & Dovidio, J. F.
    (2010) The way they speak: A social psychological perspective on the stigma of nonnative accents in communication. Personality and social psychology review, 14(2), 214–237. 10.1177/1088868309359288
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309359288 [Google Scholar]
  27. Goodin-Mayeda, C. E.
    (2016) Acoustic analysis of the tap/trill contrast by heritage and native speakers of Spanish. Paper presented atCurrent Approaches to Spanish and Portuguese Second Language Phonology Conference. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Henriksen, N.
    (2014) Sociophonetic analysis of phonemic trill variation in two sub-varieties of Peninsular Spanish. Journal of Linguistic Geography, 2(1), 1–21. 10.1017/jlg.2014.1
    https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2014.1 [Google Scholar]
  29. (2015) Acoustic analysis of the rhotic contrast in Chicagoland Spanish: An intergenerational study. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 5(3), 285–321. 10.1075/lab.5.3.01hen
    https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.5.3.01hen [Google Scholar]
  30. Henriksen, N., & Willis, E. W.
    (2010) Acoustic characterization of phonemic trill production in Jerezano Andalusian Spanish. InM. Ortega-Llebaría (Ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 4th Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp.115–127). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Herd, W., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J.
    (2013) Perceptual and production training of intervocalic /d, ɾ, r/ in American English learners of Spanish. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133(6), 4247–4254. 10.1121/1.4802902
    https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4802902 [Google Scholar]
  32. Hernández, T. A.
    (2010) The relationship among motivation, interaction, and the development of Second language oral proficiency in a study-abroad context. Modern Language Journal, 94(4), 600–617. 10.1111/j.1540‑4781.2010.01053.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01053.x [Google Scholar]
  33. Hothorn, T., Bretz, F., & Westfall, P.
    (2008) Simultaneous inference in general parametric models. Biometrical Journal: Journal of Mathematical Methods in Biosciences, 50(3), 346–363. 10.1002/bimj.200810425
    https://doi.org/10.1002/bimj.200810425 [Google Scholar]
  34. Hothorn, T., Hornik, K., Strobl, C., & Zeileis, A.
    (2020) Party: A Laboratory for Recursive Partytioning, R package v. 1.3-4. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/party/index.html
  35. Hualde, J. I.
    (2005) The sounds of Spanish. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. (2014) Los sonidos del español. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Hurtado, L., & Estrada, C.
    (2010) Factors influencing the second language acquisition of Spanish vibrants. Modern Language Journal, 941, 74–86. 10.1111/j.1540‑4781.2009.00984.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00984.x [Google Scholar]
  38. Johnson, K. E.
    (2008) Second language acquisition of the Spanish multiple vibrant consonant (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Arizona, Tucson.
  39. Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., & Christensen, R. H. B.
    (2017) lmerTest package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software, 82(13), 1–26. 10.18637/jss.v082.i13
    https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v082.i13 [Google Scholar]
  40. Ladefoged, P., & Maddieson, I.
    (1996) The sounds of the world’s languages. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Lafford, B. A., & Collentine, J.
    (2006) The effects of study abroad and classroom contexts on the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. InR. Salaberry & B. A. Lafford (Eds.), The art of teaching Spanish: Second language acquisition from research to praxis (pp.103–126). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Larson-Hall, J.
    (2017) Moving beyond the bar plot and the line graph to create informative and attractive graphics. Modern Language Journal, 101(1), 244–270. 10.1111/modl.12386
    https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12386 [Google Scholar]
  43. Long, A. Y., Solon, M., & Bongiovanni, S.
    (2018) Context of learning and second language development of Spanish vowels. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 111, 59–87. 10.1515/shll‑2018‑0003
    https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2018-0003 [Google Scholar]
  44. Magnan, S., & Lafford, B.
    (2011) Learning in a second language setting (study abroad). InS. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp.525–540). Oxford: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Menke, M. R., & Face, T. L.
    (2010) Second language Spanish vowel production: An acoustic analysis. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 3(1), 181–214. 10.1515/shll‑2010‑1069
    https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2010-1069 [Google Scholar]
  46. Mora, J. C.
    (2008) Learning context effects on the acquisition of a second language phonology. InC. Pérez-Vidal, M. Juan-Garau & A. Bel (Eds.), A portrait of the young in the new multilingual Spain, 241–263. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Olsen, M. K.
    (2012) The L2 acquisition of Spanish rhotics by L1 English speakers: The effect of L1 articulatory routines and phonetic context for allophonic variation. Hispania, 95(1), 65–82. 10.1353/hpn.2012.a469667
    https://doi.org/10.1353/hpn.2012.a469667 [Google Scholar]
  48. Olsen, M. K.
    (2016) Limitations of the influence of English phonetics and phonology on L2 Spanish rhotics. Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics5(2), 313–331. 10.7557/1.5.2.3898
    https://doi.org/10.7557/1.5.2.3898 [Google Scholar]
  49. Pérez-Vidal, C.
    (Ed.) (2014) Language acquisition in study abroad and formal instruction contexts. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/aals.13
    https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.13 [Google Scholar]
  50. R Core Team
    R Core Team (2023) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL: www.R-project.org/
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Rose, M.
    (2010) Intervocalic tap and trill production in the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 3(2), 379–420. 10.1515/shll‑2010‑1080
    https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2010-1080 [Google Scholar]
  52. Shively, R. L.
    (2008) L2 acquisition of [β], [ð], and [ɣ] in Spanish: Impact of experience, linguistic environment, and learner variables. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 27(2), 79–115.
    [Google Scholar]
  53. (2011) L2 pragmatic development in study abroad: A longitudinal study of Spanish service encounters. Journal of Pragmatics, 431, 1818–1835. 10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.030
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.030 [Google Scholar]
  54. Simões, A. R. M.
    (1996) Phonetics in second language acquisition: An acoustic study of fluency in adult learners of Spanish. Hispania, 791, 87–95. 10.2307/345617
    https://doi.org/10.2307/345617 [Google Scholar]
  55. Solé, M. J.
    (2002) Aerodynamic characteristics of trills and phonological patterning. Journal of Phonetics, 30(4), 655–688.
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Solon, M., & Long, A. Y.
    (2018) Acquisition of phonetics and phonology abroad: What we know and how. InC. Sanz & A. Morales-Front (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Study Abroad: Research and Practice (pp.69–85). New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Stevens, J. J.
    (2011) Vowel duration in second language Spanish vowels: Study abroad versus at-home learners. Arizona working papers in SLA & teaching, 181, 77–104.
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Tagliamonte, S., & Baayen, R. H.
    (2012) Models, forests, and trees of York English: Was/were variation as a case study for statistical practice. Language Variation and Change, 24(2), 135–178. 10.1017/S0954394512000129
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394512000129 [Google Scholar]
  59. Whitley, M. S.
    (2002) Spanish/English contrasts: A course in Spanish linguistics. Washington: Georgetown University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Widdison, K. A.
    (1998) Phonetic motivation for variation in Spanish trills. Orbis: Bulletin International de documentation linguistique [International bulletin of language documentation], 401, 51–61.
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Willis, E. W.
    (2007) An acoustic study of the “Pre-aspirated Trill” in narrative Cibaeño Dominican Spanish. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 371, 33–49. 10.1017/S0025100306002799
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100306002799 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/jslp.24037.mic
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/jslp.24037.mic
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): L2 Spanish; phonetic gains; rhotics; second language acquisition; study abroad
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error