Date of Award

Spring 4-28-2016

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

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Department

Modern Languages & Cultures; College of Arts & Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Aroline Seibert Hanson

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover how dialectal differences in L1 Spanish impact the L2 English pronunciation of 6 speakers (5 dialects). Spanish and English share several sounds (phonemes) such as /m, n, f/. However, both languages also contain distinct phonemes (Whitley, 2002). Due to this imperfect overlap, phonemes that are distinct in English may have been grouped into one category by learners, reflecting the Spanish inventory, which makes it more difficult to differentiate sounds in received and therefore produced English speech (Flege 2004). Even among Spanish dialects, phonemes can vary (Whitley, 2002). As a result, speakers of different dialects may be attuned to hear and produce different English phonemes. Based on analysis of audio recordings and background questionnaire data, differences in speakers’ pronunciation are more likely due to factors other than dialect, such as age, length of residence, language use and exposure.

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