k. olsen, michael. the l2 acquisition of spanish rhotics by li english speakers the effect of li...

8/10/2019 K. OLSEN, Michael. the L2 Acquisition of Spanish Rhotics by LI English Speakers the Effect of LI Articulatory Routines and Phonetic Context for Allophonic Va

1/19

The L2 Acquisition of Spanish Rhotics by L1 English Speakers: The Effect of L1 Articulatory

Routines and Phonetic Context for Allophonic VariationAuthor(s): Michael K. OlsenSource: Hispania, Vol. 95, No. 1 (March 2012), pp. 65-82Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and PortugueseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41440363.

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2/19

The

L2

Acquisition

of

Spanish

Rhotics

by

LI

English Speakers:

The Effect

of LI

Articulatory

Routines

and Phonetic Context for

Allophonic

Variation

Michael K. Olsen

UniversityfPittsburgh,

SA

Abstract:his rticleffersfine-grainednvestigationfhow irst-languageLI) phoneticsnvolving

English

hoticsffect

panish

hotic

roduction

y

second-language

L2)

learners.

pecifically,

his

studynvestigates

ow ifferent

I

English

hotic

rticulatory

outines

retroflex-like

nd

unched-like)

and he

honetic

ontext

hat

roduces

llophonicaps

n

English

ffecthe

ccuracy

f

Spanish

hotic

pronunciation

y

L2

learners.

ap

nd

rill

ccuracy

ates s well s

English

hotic

rticulation

ere

calculated

rom

ecordings

f

forty-eighteginning-levelniversitypanish

tudents

eading

exts

n

Spanish

nd

English.

esults

rom

ultiple

inear

egressions

how hat

nglish

hoticrticulation

s

a

significantredictor

f

rill

ccuracy

nd s a

predictor

f

ap ccuracy

hen

ontrolling

or mount

f

Spanishxposure.

hese esults

uggest

hat

I

articulatory

outinesffecthe

ccuracy

f

ap

nd

rill

production.

esults rom

paired amples

-testhow hat

significantlyigh ercentage

f

ccurately

producedaps

n

Spanish

ere ound

n

words hat ollowhe ame

rticulatory

ontext

hat

roduces

taps

n

English.

hese esults

uggest

hat n

overarchingheory

f he econd

anguagecquisition

f

phonologyhouldonsiderow ubtle ifferencesnLI articulatoryoutinesnd ransferfLI phonetic

contextf

llophones

o

L2

phonemes

nfluences

2

speech roduction.

Keywords:

cquisitionxpectations/expectaciones

e

adquisicin,cquisition

f

rhotics/adquisicin

e

rticos,

I

influence/influencia

e

LI,

L2

phonetics/fontica

e

L2,

L2

phonologycquisition/adquisicin

fonolgica

e

L2,

second-language

cquisition/adquisicin

e

segundaengua,

panish honology/

fonologia

e

espanol,panish

hotics/rticosn

spafiol

1. Introduction

The

representations

described

taskthat

interms

learners

and

ofhow

how

have

distinctive

the

when

learner's

acquiring

acoustic

first

second

material

language

language

is

(LI)

mapped

phonetic

(L2)

onto

phonology

different

repertoire

abstract

can

and

be

describednterms fhowdistinctivecousticmaterialsmapped nto ifferentbstract

representations

nd how the earner's irst

anguage

LI)

phonetic epertoire

nd

phonology

nteract

ith

he

L2

phonological

ystem.

his

tudy

eeks o furtherxamine

ow

LI

phonetics

nfluence2

phonologycquisition.

ecently,

number

f tudies avecome

o

light

hat ave ooked

t

rhotic

erception

nd

production

n L2

Spanish

earners.

ace

(2006)

investigated

ntervocalichotics

mong

ntermediate

nd dvanced 2

Spanish

earners

hose

LI

was

Englishnoting

he

developmentalrajectory

f

phones

used

in L2

Spanish

hotics.

Rose

(2010a)

tested he

predictions

f the

Perceptual

ssimilation

odel

Best

1995)

in L2

learners'

erceptual

iscrimination

frhoticsndfound hat

erception

enerally

ncreased

ith

proficiency

evel.Rose

2010b)

described he

ange

f

phones

hat I

English peakers

tilize

for 2

Spanish

hotics

n

ntervocalic

osition.

he results

f his

tudy uggest

hat

2 learners

employ

j]

inall

Spanish

hotic ontextst

first,

oving

o more

r]

dominantrticulationsn

all rhotic ontextsnd

finally ifferentiating

etween

r]

nd

r]

t themore

dvanced evels.1

While hese tudies aveadded o our

understanding

f

what o

expect

n

the

development

f

AATSP

opyright

2012

Hispania

5.1

2012):

5-82

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3/19

66

Hispania

95 March 0

1

L2

Spanish

hotics,

tarting

ith

he

LI

phones eading

o theL2

phones,

nd have utilized

acoustic

nalysis

o

categorize

hotics,

hey

idnot

nvestigate

he

nfluencef

LI

phonetics

n

L2

accuracy irectly.

notherecent

tudy

hat

nvestigated

2

Spanish

hotics

s

Hurtado

nd

Estrada2010).This tudynvestigatedinguisticactorsphonologicalnvironmentnd

ap/trill

pronunciation)

s well as various

ociolinguistic

actorshat ontributedo

the

pronunciation

of

Spanish

hotics

y

LI

English peakers

nd found hat

inguistic

actorsnd

nput

eceived

throughtudy

broad nd

explicit

nstruction

mproved

ronunciation.

his

nvestigation

s

important

ecause t

shows,

s did the

previously

mentioned

tudies,

hat

2

Spanish

hotic

pronunciation

an

mprove

ver

ime.Waltmunson

2005)

investigated

herelative

ifficulty

of the

cquisition

f

rhotics

ith

espect

o Iii and /d/. his

study

laces

the

cquisition

f

L2

Spanish

hotics elative o

the

cquisition

f other

2

Spanish

hones;

which urthersur

knowledge

f

where hoticsre

situated

n

terms fthe

arger icture

fthe

cquisition

f

L2

Spanish

honology.lthough

hese tudies ave

ontributedoour

understanding

f he actors

that ffect heproductionfSpanish hotics yLI English peakers, hichnecessitateshe

incorporation

fLI andL2

phonetics,

owLI

English rticulatory

outines

nd

phonetic

ontext

for

I

allophonic

ariationsnfluencehe

cquisition

f

Spanish

hotics as

argely

een eft ut.

One

LI

articulatoryhenomenon

hat

may

nfluence

he

L2

acquisition

f

Spanish

hotics

is

the

range

f

articulationshat

nglish peakers mploy

or he

English

hotic

II.

English

rhotic

rticulationsre

usually hought

f as two

maximally

istinctrticulationsretroflex

and

bunched;

lthough

ntermediateariation

oes

exist

cross

peakers

Alwan,

Narayanan,

andHaker

1997;

Espy-Wilson

t al.

2000).

The

distinctrticulationshat I

English peakers

employ

an be

describeds

within-category

ubphonemic

as

opposed

o

allophonic)

ariants

since

speakers

o

not

perceive

ifferencesetween

rticulations,

or re

they overned

y

phonetic

ontext

cross

speakers.

n

other

words,

I

English peakers ssign variety

f

differentrticulationsoone

category;

n this ase /j/. hese

English

within-category

iffer-

ences re

relevanto the

tudy

f he

cquisition

f

L2

Spanish

hotics

ecause,

lthough

hese

differencesre not

perceived

n

the

LI,

differences

n

articulatory

outine

may

till ffecthe

accurate

roduction

f L2

Spanish

hotics.2

Spanish peakers

roduce

hotics

y

raising

he

pex

of the

ongue

owards he lveolar

ridge,making

very

rief

losure or

aps

nd

multiple

losures or

rills.Whiledialectal nd

individual

ariations o

exist,

sually ccurring

s fricativesr

approximants

Blecua

2001;

Hammond

999;

Lindau

1985),

apical taps

and trills re

generally

hat

English-speaking

learners f

Spanish

re

taught

n

a classroom

etting

Face

2006).

The

mportantoint

s that

in

both

hotics f standard

panish,

peakers

aise he

pex

of the

ongue

oward

he

lveolar

ridgeBlecua2001).BecauseLI Englishetroflexhoticsequirehe peakeroraise he ongue

apex

towards

he lveolar

idge,

he

production

f both

panish

hotics hould e

facilitated

when

hey

re

represented

n

he

nterlanguage

honology

s

allophones

f111inceboth

pan-

ish

rhotics

ecessitate raised

ongue pex.

On the ther

and,

roduction

f

Spanish

hotics

wouldbe

impeded

when

nglish peakers

mploy

bunched-like

j]

because

hey

reused

to

the

pposite

irectionf

movementfthe

ongue pex.

Another

I

English henomenon

hat

may

nfluence

2

acquisition

f

Spanish

hoticss

the

phonetic

ontext hat

onvertshe lveolar

tops

ii and dl to

taps

n

English,

which re

physiologically

imilar o

Spanish aps.

While

his s a

completely

ifferent

henomenon

han

the nfluence

f

articulatory

outines,

ecause t

nvolves he ransferf an LI

phonological

rule

ndnot

muscle

movements,

his s another

argelynexploredhenomenon

n

he

cquisi-

tion f

Spanish

hotics.

adefoged

2006)

formulateshis

roduction

s a

phonological

ule,

stating

alveolar

tops

become

voiced

taps

when

hey

ccur

between wovowels he econd

of which s

unstressed"

74).

Alternations

n

atomic nd atom

xemplify

his ule.The word

atomic

9'thamik]

hows

hat

when ii s the

nset

f

stressed

yllable,

t

s realized s

[th].

he

word tom

'aeram]

hows hat

r]

alternates ith

th]

when

tress

alls n a

syllable

hat oes

not ontainii in

tsonset.



4/19

Olsen /

L2

Acquisition

f

Spanish

Rhotics 67

A

phonological

ule s needed o

explain

he istributionf

aps

ecause

hey

re

llophonic

in

English.

panish

aps

are

phonemic

n the ensethat

rule

s notneeded o

explain

heir

distribution.

aps

can be realized

n

both tressed nd unstressednvironmentss

exempli-

fied nthe wordsmejoro me'xoro]improvefirst erson ingular)' ndmejor mexo'ro]

'improved

third

erson

ingular)'.

tress oes not nfluence

ap

distribution

n

Spanish

s

it

does

n

English.

While ntervocalic

apsmay

be

represented

honemically

n

Spanish, hey

re

neutralized ith rillsn other ontexts

nd,

n

that

ense,

aps

renot

ompletelyhonemic

n

the amemanners other

panish honemese.g.,

/d/ hich

as

allophonic

ariants

d]

and

]

foundn

complimentary

istribution).

f

the

English honetic

ontexthat

roduces

aps

nflu-

ences he

production

f

Spanish

aps,

earners f

Spanish

hould e able to

produce aps

more

accurately

hen n

environments

imilar o the

predictable

nvironments

n

which

hey

xist

in

English following

stressed

yllable

nd

n

theonset f an unstressed

yllable).

ecause

trills o not xist

n

Standard merican

nglish,

o

LI

phonetic

ontext

s

predicted

o affect

theircquisition.

Differences

nLI

articulatory

outines,

uch

s

retroflexndbunched

j]

and he

I

phonetic

context hat

roduces llophonic aps,may

both ffect he

cquisition

f

Spanish

hotics. s

beginning

earnersssimilate

2

segments

o their

xisting

I

segments,

I

phonetics

hould

dominatehe

roduction

f

L2

sounds.Results fthis

tudy

xpand

ur

knowledge

fhow he

LI

influences

he

cquisition

f

L2

phonology.

f

both

ypes

f

LI

phonetichenomena

nfluence

L2

production,

2

acquisition

f

phonology

s influenced

ot

nly y

LI abstract

honological

categories,

ut lso

by articulatory

outines ound

n theLI

as

well as

phonetic

ontexts

hat

create

llophonic

ariants,

egardless

f

the

imilarity

f

phonemes

hat he ontextffects

n

each

anguage.

Colantoni nd Steele

2008)

discussed heneed to

incorporatehonetic

onstraintsnto

hypotheses

egarding

2

phonology cquisition. hey

showed hat

pecific

I

articulatory

conventionshat re

not

necessarilyredisposedy erodynamics

i.e., ongue

hape

n

English

rhotic

rticulation)

lso nfluence

2

speech roduction.

ecauseof

his,

t

s

mportant

o

carry

out tudies n

LI

phonetic henomena

hat

may

nfluence

he

cquisition

f

L2

phonological

systems.

herefore,

he

hypothesis

ested

n

this

tudy

s that

I

articulatory

outines

nd LI

phonetic

ontextsnfluencehe

production

f

L2

phonology.

The

acquisition

f

Spanish

hotics

y

English

peakers

s

revelatoryegarding

hecur-

rent

ypothesis

ecausedistinct

redictions

an be made

regarding

he nfluencef both

I

articulatory

outines

nd

phonetic

ontext ue to thedifferences

n

rhotics

etween hese wo

languages.3

he

present tudy nvestigateseginning

2

Spanish

earners' hotic

roduction

in intervocalicosition. pecifically,texamines hepossible ffect I articulatoryoutine

differences

i.e.,

the

differing

outinesnvolved

n

retroflex-likerticulations

s. bunched-like

articulations

s described

bove)

have on

Spanish

hotic

roduction,

nd the effect hat

n

English

I

phonetic

ontexthat

roduces

llophonic

ariation

i.e.,

the ontext

hat

roduces

taps

s

allophones

f

alveolar

tops

s described

bove)

has on accurate

2

pronunciation

o

test he

hypothesis

hat oth

ypes

f

phonetic

actors

ontributeo

L2

phonology

cquisition.

This

study

lso

provides

better

nderstanding

f

English-Spanishnterlanguage

honology

regarding

hotic

cquisition

f

beginners.

The

specific

esearch

uestions

ddressed

n this

tudy

re:

1 Does the 1within-categoryifference anifestedndifferentannersfAmerican

English

hotic rticulation

i.e.,

retroflex-like

r

bunched-like)

ffecthefacilitation

of

Spanish

hotic

roduction?

2. Does the

phonetic

ontext hat

roduces

llophonic aps

n

English

ffect

ccuracy

in

Spanish

hotic

roduction?



5/19

68

Hispania

95

March 0

1

2.

Interlanguage Phonology System

English

has one

phonemic

hotic 11which an be

produced tilizing

wo

maximally

distinctiverticulationsithntermediateariations. ne is known s the etroflexj] andthe

other s the unched

j].

Speakers

who

mploy

more etroflex-like

j]

articulations

ift

he

pex

of heir

ongue

p

and

point

t oward

he lveolar

idge,

eeping

he

ongue

orsum

elatively

low

in

the oral

cavity. peakers

who

employ

more

bunched-like

j]

articulations

ontract

their

ongue ip

back and raisethe

tongue

orsum oward

he

palate.

Other

onstrictions

n

thevocal

tract

lips

and

pharynx)

o

contributeo the

production

f

English

hotics; owever,

the

variation

cross

peakers

ies n

thedifferences

n

tongue

onstriction

n

the

palatal egion

(Espy-

Wilson t l.

2000).

Whetherrnot he

ifferent

ays

f

producingnglish

hotics ave

an

acoustic ffects not s

important

or he

cquisition

f

Spanish

hotics

although

coustic

effects

ay

e

important

or

earnersf

L2

English)

s the

hysiologicalspect

f

he

iffering

articulationsnd

he

way

o measure

uch rticulationsF5-F4

distance

ith

greater

5-F4

difference

ndicating

more etroflex-likerticulationnd smaller ifference

ndicating

more

bunched-likerticulation

Zhou

et l.

2008).

The

reason hat coustic ffectsf

English

hotics

are

not

mportant

s

that he

coustics

f

English

nd

Spanish

hotics re

completely

ifferent

and

there s no

logical

reason o assume

ny ype

ftransferased on

acoustic imilaritiesr

differences.he

physiologically

ifferent

rticulations,owever,

re

omparable

in

the ase

of

retroflex

rticulations)

nd

contrastable

in

the ase

ofbunched

rticulations)

etween

nglish

and

Spanish.

Althoughaps

are not

usually

ssociatedwith

hotics

n

English,

ecause

they

occur s

allophones

f alveolar

top

onsonants t/nd A s in

thewordmatter

maeq], hey

are

mportant

o this

tudy

ecauseoftheir hotic

tatus

n

Spanish. peakers

roduce apsby

raising

he

pex

ofthe

ongue

owards

he lveolar

idge

nd

making very

rief

losure.

Spanish,nlike nglish,as wodistincthonemichotics a tap/r/nd trill r/,llustrated

by

the

minimal

airs oro foro]

forum'/

orro foro]

lining'.4 panish peakers roduce

aps

in

the

ame

way

as the

llophonic ap

n

English

nd are describedn

a mannerimilar o

the

descriptionlready

mentioned

y

Tomas

1921).

Trills

differ

n

that he

number f closures

is

greater.

ol

(2002)

noted hat

rills

sually

ntailed

our,

nd

sometimes

ive

r six

quick

successive losures. t has

also been noted hat

ubjects

ften

yperarticulate

n

laboratory

conditions,

nd

that ess

taps

re

more ommon n

speech

hat s

more asual

Blecua

1999).

Although

ariation

n

articulatory

esturesssigned

o rl xist or

ative

peakers,

hoticshat

L2

learnersre

taught

n

classroom

ettings

n

the

United tates an

be described

imply

s

alveolar

aps

nd

alveolar rills

Face

2006).

2.1

Interlanguage

hotic

Phonological

Structure

In

the

case of

LI

English peakers

earning panish

s an

L2,

learnersmust

cquire

new

peech

ound,

he

rill

r/,

ndmust

eassign

n

English

llophone

f lveolar

tops

r]

to

become

tsown

phoneme

d.

Because

English

peakers' honetic

nventories

o

not ontain

trills,

hey

re

more

asily

cquired

han

aps Flege

1995).

This s because

peakers

o notneed

to

reassign

n

existing hone

n

their

I,

andare able to

constructnew

phoneme.

owever,

this

does not

mean hat earners

ccurately

roduce

rills efore

aps.

Due to the

rticulatory

difficulty

f

trills,

hey ctually

how

up

later n

rhotic

evelopment

han

aps

Face 2006).

Figure

shows he

native tructuref

English

aps

nd

Spanish

hotics.5

he

allophonic

ap

s

foundncomplementaryistributionf lveolartops t/nd d/. heconnectingines etween

the

honemes

nd he

r]

ndicatehis

elationship.

ecauseboth

panish

hotics old

honemic

status,

he

ines how he

panish

honemes onnectingirectly

otheir

orresponding

hones.

Figure

shows he

process

hat

ative

nglish peakers

must

ndergo

o

acquire target-like

phonological

ystem

egarding

hotics. he broken

ines ndicate he

rocess

f

disassociation

from

lveolar

tops

nthe I

and he rrow

ndicateshe

honemicizationrocess

hat

r]

must



6/19

Olsen /

L2

Acquisition

f

Spanish

Rhotics 69

Figure

.

Phonological

tructuref

English ap

and

Spanish

Rhotics

Figure

.

Phonological estructuring

f

English ap

and

Spanish

Rhotics

undergo.

earnersmust

lso

acquire

he

rill,

whichdoes notexist

n

English.

his

process

occurs s learners otice

subconsciously)

hat hedistributionf

taps

s no

longer redictable

anda

separate honeme

must e

posited.

While he

cquisition rocess

lone

s

quite omplicated,

here re lso other

onfounding

factors.

rthography

s one

mportant

actorhat

anhave

negative

nfluencenthe

cquisition

of

Spanish

hotics

Koda

1989;

Munro nd

Derwing

994;

Zampini

994).

Because

taps

nd

non-intervocalicrills re

representedrthographically

s

,

classroom earners'

with

no

prior xperience)

mmediate

esponse

s toreferothe

English

hotic 11 hich hares he ame

grapheme.

nstead f

activating

he

ap

already

xistent

n

their

honological epresentation,

the lveolar pproximant11s activated.While his rthographicnfluencesprobablytronger

for

aps,

t s

possible

hat

rr>,

he ntervocalic

rapheme

or

rills,

lso activates he lveolar

approximant.

n

nterlanguagehonologicalystem egarding

hotics

after

contrastetween

all rhoticsnvolved

s

perceived)

onsists f he wo

phonemes

d and rl.

The formers realized

as

the

llophones

r]

and

i]

and the atter

s realized s

[r]

nd

j]. Figure

shows he

ypical

interlanguage

tructuref

beginning

2

Spanish

earnerss

seen n he ata f

he

resent

tudy.



7/19

70

Hispania

95 March

0

1

Figure

.

Interlanguagehonological

tructure

fRhotics

3. L2

Phonological Acquisition

Although

earners

o through process

f

earning honology

tarting

ith

heir

I and

moving

owards n

L2,

the

anguage

henomena

vident

n

this

process

ometimes o

not

resemble

he I

or

he 2

as shown

n

Figure

(Ellis 2008).

Differences

n

nterlanguages

ay

occur ecause he

cquisition

f

phonology

elies

n

phonetically

ncoded

honemicategories

as well as individual ifferences

n

earners'bilities o form

honetic-phonemic

appings.

One

L2

phonologicalcquisition

model hat escribes

cquisition

n

terms

f differences

between

I

and

L2

articulations

s

Flege's

1995)

SpeechLearning

Model

SLM).

According

to theSLM, L2 learnerserceive ll L2 soundsnterms f establishedI segmentsntheir

phonologicalystem

rom heonset f

L2

exposure.

hrough xperience,

2

learners otice

phonetic

ifferencesetween

arget

egments

nd

LI

segments

nd re bletocreate

different

phonetic ategory

or he

argetanguage

egment.

his means hat ative

nglish peakers

would,

t

first,

nterpret

he

oiced nterdentalricative

]

found

n

heword ada

[kaa]

each'

as a voiced lveolar

top

d].

Over

time,

peakers

would

recognize

hat he

L2

phone

s

not

the

ameas the

LI

form nd formulate

separate

egment

n

their

honologicalystem.

he

SLM also

predicts

hat

eparating

2

segments

rom

I

segments

hat re

phonetically

loser

to those

LI

segmentse.g.,

[t]

and

[th])

will

be moredifficulthan

eparating

2

segments

from

I

segments

hat ave more

honetic

istance etween

hem

e.g.,

j]

and

r]).

Because

L2 segmentshat re more istant rom I segmentsre more asily eparated,he LM also

predicts

hat

2

learners ore

asilyproduce

hem.

In

terms f the

cquisition

f

Spanish

hotics

ithin

he

SLM,

rhotics ouldat first e

perceived

s the

nglish

j]

because f

sufficiently

mall

erceived honetic

istance etween

theL2 and

LI

phones

nd because of

the

orthographic

nfluence entionedbove.

Spanish

rhotics

ill

lso be

produced y

L2

learnerss

English

j]

because

hey

re nfluenced

y

the

phonological

tructuref

hose

I

categories

owhich

hey

remost

imilar,

t east tthe

arly

stages

f

L2

development.

hismeans hat

aps

hould e more

ccuratelyroduced

n

contexts

where

hey

re

produced

n

the

I

(i.e.,

the nset f n unstressed

yllable ollowing

stressed

syllable).

ecause

articulatory

outines or

aps

re

more imilar o

routines

sed

by speakers

who

mploy

etroflexrticulationsor

I

English

hotics,

hese

peakers

re

predicted

o

more

accuratelyroduce panish hotics.herefore,I within-categoryifferencesay ffecthe

accurate

ronunciation

f

Spanish

hotics

ven

when

hey

re not

perceived y

LI

speakers,

becauseoftheir

egree

f

imilarity

o

target hones.



8/19

Olsen /

L2

Acquisition

f

Spanish

Rhotics 7

1

4. Current

Study

The current

tudy

nvestigated

ne

LI

articulatory

outine ifferencendone

LI

phonetic

contexthat nfluencehe cquisitionfSpanish hoticsyEnglish peakers. pecifically,his

study

ddressed he ffectsf hedifferent

ays

o

produce

j]

in

English.

t

also addressed he

influencehat he

phonetic

ontext

nvolving

r]

n

English

as on the

cquisition

fthe ame

phone

n

Spanish.

he remainderfthis

aper

onsists f

description

fthe

participants

nd

the

rocedures

sed

n

he

tudy,nalytical

esults,

nd discussion nwhat he esultsndicate.

4.1

Participants

nd Procedures

Fifty-one

ative

nglish-speaking

dults rom

niversityeginning

panish

lasses

par-

ticipated

n

his

tudy.

ivenative

panish-speakers

three

emales nd wo

males)

representing

dialects rom varietyfSouthAmericanountriesndSpainalsoparticipatedoprovide

base for hotic

ccuracy

ates. he datafrom hree fthenative

nglish-speakingarticipants

arenot ncluded

n

this

tudy

ecause ither n instrument

alfunction

r

user rror ccurred

rendering

heir

ecordings

naudible.

Therefore,

he

data elicitedfrom totalnumber f

forty-eightarticipants

ere ncluded n the

nalyses.

articipants

illed ut a

questionnaire

that

sked hem o ndicate

f

English

was their ative

anguage

nd to rate heir

xposure

o

Spanish

i.e.,

lassroom-based

xposure

nd

xposure hrough

edia)

efore

aking

he

panish

class

n

which

hey

were

urrently

nrolled n a Likert cale from -7 where

=

'no

exposure'

and 7= 'extensive

xposure'.

All L2

Spanish

earners

ndicated

hat

hey

werenative

nglish

speakers.

Participants

ecorded hemselves

eading

text

n

Spanish dapted

rom

reading

ound

inMosaicos

4thed.) (Castells,

Guzman,

apuerta,

nd Garcia

2006)

designed

o elicit he

samenumber f

possible ap

and

trill

rticulationsrom ach

participant

n

order o calculate

accuracy

ates.

hey

ccomplished

his ask n Macintosh

omputersquipped

with eadsets

using

Audio Recorder .2. The

Spanish

ext ontained total f

thirty-two

ntervocalic

aps.

Nineteen

aps

occurred

n

the nsets f unstressed

yllables

where he

precedingyllable

was

stressed

the

ame nvironment

n

which lveolar

tops

ecome

aps

n

English),

s

in

theword

pero ['pero]

but'.

Thirteen

aps

occurred

n

other ntervocalicnvironments

i.e.,

occurring

after

n

unstressed

yllable

nd

comprising

he nset feither stressedrunstressed

yllable),

as

in

thewords

iferente

dife'rente]

different'r numro

'numro]

number'.

he text lso

contained

our

ntervocalic

rills s in the

words

ierran

'sjeran]

close'

(third

erson lural)

orcorreosko'reos]mail' plural).norder o determinehe ype fEnglish hoticrticulation

employed, articipants

lso recorded hemselves

ronouncing

our

nglish

words

ontaining

[j]

arrow

car,

proud,

ndheart

along

with

prolonged

j]

pronunciation.hey

were sked

to

pronounce

ach word wice ndto holdout he

j]

for few econds.

All

recordings

ere

nalyzed sing

raat

Boersma

nd

Weenink

009).

Successful

aps

were ounted hen here as a clear losure fthevocal tractndicated

n

the

pectrogram

y

a brief reak

n

he ormanttructures.uccessful rills ere ounted

ollowing

ol

2002)

and

Blecua

1999),

when t east wo uccessive losures fthevocal tract ere vident.

igure

shows n

example

f an accurate

ap

articulationnd

Figure

is an

example

f an accurate

trill rticulation.

Manner f articulationf

English j]

in

each

participant

as calculated

y averaging

he

distances etween 4 and F5 taken rom ach of the

pronounced nglish

words nd the

pro-

longed

j].

The distance etween

4

andF5 ofthe

j]

articulations

n

each wordwas

produced

by veraging

ll of he 4 andF5

frequencies

easuredt6.25 millisecond

ntervals

hroughout

each

pronunciation

nd

subtracting

he

F4

average

rom heF5

average.

Care was taken o

exclude

ny urrounding

ounds rom he

j]

measurements.

igure

shows n

example

f a



9/19

72

Hispania

95 March 012

Figure

.

Example

fAccurate

ap

Articulation

Figure

.

Example

fAccurate rill

Articulation

window rom hich

4

andF5

measurementsere btained

measured

very

.25 milliseconds

withinhewindow).

As mentioned

reviously,greater

istance etween 4

and

F5

indicates more etroflex-

likearticulation

hereas lowerdistance etween

4

and F5 indicates more

unched-like

articulation

Zhou

et al.

2008).

Figure

is a

spectrogram

f a bunched

j]

articulationnd

Figure

is a

spectrogram

f

a rhotic

j]

articulation.s can be

seen,

hedistance

etween

4

andF5

in

Figure

is

relatively

mall

ompared

o the

distance etween

4

and

F5 in

Figure

.

Zhou et al.

(2008)

found hat ifferencesetween

4

and F5 for

articipants

males

with

similar ocal tract

ength) mploying

etroflexrticulations ere around1400

Hz,

while

differencesor

peakers mploying

unched rticulationsere round 00 Hz. The

average

distance etween 4 and

F5 varied

mong peakers

n

the

presenttudy,anging

rom

25

Hz

and 1603

Hz

with meanof

1057

Hz

and a standard eviation f 219 Hz. This broad

angeof differencess not

urprising

ecauseof the

possibility

f ntermediaterticulationscross

speakers.

ecause

English

hotic

rticulations

n

his

tudy

ell

long

continuum

ith

etroflex

and

bunched

oles, hey

were

nalyzed

s such.

Tap

ccuracy

ateswere alculated or ach tudent

y

dividing

he otal

umberf ccurate

taps

by

the

otalnumber f

possible aps.

Tap

accuracy

ateswere lso calculated or

aps

n

phonetic

nvironmentshat

roduce aps

n

English

s well s

taps

nother

nvironmentso

test



10/19

Olsen /

L2

Acquisition

f

Spanish

Rhotics

73

Figure . Measurementf j] Articulations

Figure

.

Spectrogram

fBunched

j]

Articulation

Figure

.

Spectrogram

fRetroflex

j]

Articulation



11/19

74

Hispania

95 March

0 1

for he

ossible

nfluencehat

he

nglish

ap

rule

has

on

accuracy

f he

roduction

f

Spanish

taps.

Trill

ccuracy

ateswere alculated

n the amemanner.

4.2

Results

The

participantesponses

o the Likert cale

ranking

ask,

which sked them o rank

themselves

ccording

o the

mount

f

exposure

o

Spanish rior

o

enrolling

ntheir

panish

class,

created normal

istribution

ith

peak

around he econd

ranking

little

xposure).

The

percentage

f

participants

hat ndicated

aving

ittle

xposure

was

37.5%

(N= 18).

Two

participants

ndicated hat

hey reviously

ad a fair mount f

exposure

o

Spanish

Likert

ranking

f

5),

andno

participants

ndicatedhat

hey

ad

undergone

onsiderable

Likert

anking

of

6)

or extensive

Likert

anking

f

7)

exposure

o

Spanish rior

o

enrolling

n

this ourse.

Figure

shows hedistributionf

participantesponses.

Figure

.

Distribution

f

Exposure

o

Spanish

rior o Enrollment

Thirty-one

nglish-speakingarticipants

64.6%)

were ble to

produce

t leastone

tap

accurately

as

udgedby

he

nvestigatorsing pectrograms).

hile

articipants

hatwerenot

able to

produce

t

east ne

tap

where ound

n

all ofthe

xperience

evels,

he

majority

ere

found

n

the ower

xperience

evels,

ndicating

hat

approduction

ncreases

ith

xperience.

Successful

aps

onsisted f clear losure fthevocal tract nd successful rills onsisted f

at east wo uccessive

losures. f the

ccurately roduced aps, ccuracy

ates

anged

rom

3.1%

1/32)

o

1

0%

(32/32)

with mean f

56.3%.

Tap accuracy

ates or henative

panish-



12/19

Olsen /

L2

Acquisition

f

Spanish

Rhotics 75

speaking

articipants

anged

rom

6.9%

(31/32)

o

100%

32/32)

with

mean f

97.5%.

An

independent-samples

-test as

performed

otest he

ignificance

f he ifferenceetween he

means f

Spanish

ap accuracy

ates etween he

participantroups.

he differenceetween

English-speaking

articipants'

ap ccuracy

ates

M=36.3,

SD=36.1)

and

Spanish-speaking

participants'ap

ccuracy

ates

M=97.5,

SD=1.4)

was

significant,(51)=11.661,/?


13/19

76

Hispania

95 March 0

1

group.

nglish

hoticrticulation

ft2=.235)

lone

proved

obe a

significant

redictor=.484,

/?=.042)

for he

participants

ho ranked hemselvess

having

ittle

rior

xposure

o

Span-

ish

2

onthe

ikert

cale).

For

participants

ho

reportedaving

ome

prior xposure

o

Spanish

(3 on the Likert cale),English hotic rticulationR2=.321) approached ignificances a

predictor

f

ap ccuracy=. 567,/?=.

88).

For ll other

articipants,nglish

hoticrticula-

tionwas

not

significant

redictor

f

tap

accuracy R2=.

215,

=. 464,/?

.209 for

roup

;

R2 . 1

1

=

.40

1

p

=

.285 for

roup

).6

F

gure

1

shows

he

elationship

etween

ap

ccuracy

rates nd

English

hotic rticulation

eparated y Spanish xposure roup.

he data

points

n

the econd

roup

etter

it

he

egression

ine,

howing significant

orrelation.hedata

points

in the hird

roup

lso indicate weak

relationship

o the

egression

ine.The

other

roups

o

not how

trong

orrelations.

Figure

1.

Correlation etween

ap

Accuracy

nd

English

hoticArticulation

y

ExposureGroup

To see whetherhe

nglish honetic

ontexthat

roduces aps

ffected

panish ap

ccu-

racy, paired-samples

- estwas

performed.

his est

ompared

hemeans f he

ccuracy

ates

oftaps including nly heparticipantshat roducedccurateaps,N=31) foundnphonetic

environments

hat

attern

ike he

nglish ap

rule

M=61

.6,

SD=3

1

4)

and

aps

ound

n

other

environments

M=45.4, SD=30.9).

A

significant

ifferenceas found etween hese

means;

/(30)=4.845,/?


14/19

Olsen /

L2

Acquisition

f

Spanish

Rhotics

77

Figure

2. Means of

Accuracy

atesof

Taps

n Differentnvironments

mean

ccuracy

f

taps

n

English ap

rule nvironmentss

significantlyigher

han hemean

accuracy

f

taps

n

other nvironments.

Seven

English-speakingarticipants

ut f he

orty-eight

14.6%)

were

bleto

produce

t

least ne accurate rill. fthe ccuratelyroducedrills,ccuracy ates anged rom5% (1/4)

to

50%

(2/4)

with meanof

35.7%.

Trill

ccuracy

ates

mong

henative

panish-speaking

participantsanged

rom

0%

2/4)

o

100%

4/4)

with mean f

85%.

An

ndependent-samples

t-tQSt as

performed

o

compare panish

rill

ccuracy

ates

etween he

participant

roups.

Thetest

howed

significant

ifference,

(5

=

1

1

724,

k. olsen, michael. the l2 acquisition of spanish rhotics by li english speakers the effect of li...

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