Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Second Language Pronunciation
Vol. 5:3 (2019) ► pp.435–463

Phonological (in)visibility

The perception of reduced Spanish vowels among L1-Spanish speakers, L2-Spanish learners, and English monolinguals

| The University of Texas at San Antonio

Reduced vowels between obstruents and rhotics are durationally variable and phonologically invisible in Spanish, e.g. p ə rado ‘field’ as /pɾ/. The present study compares L1-Spanish speakers, English monolinguals, and L2-Spanish learners’ perceptual boundaries for reduced vowels in Spanish. A native speaker produced 70 Spanish nonce words with word-initial obstruent + vowel + flap sequences, and the duration of each vowel was manipulated from 100% to 75%, 50%, and 25% of its original duration. To determine whether these groups perceive variably reduced vowels as phonologically visible, 78 listeners counted the number of syllables perceived in 280 target audio files. Linear regression models fitted to 21,436 responses indicate that English monolinguals apply an L1 perceptual strategy, but L2-Spanish learners have shifted their perceptual boundaries. The study concludes that the perception of highly variable acoustic information becomes more native-like with greater L2 proficiency, while age of acquisition is less predictive of native-like perception.

Keywords: speech perception, L2 Spanish, reduced vowels, intrusive vowels, svarabhakti vowels
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Language learners and the L2 phonological system
    • 2.2Intrusive and reduced vowels
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Stimuli
    • 3.2Experiment design
    • 3.3Participants
    • 3.4Statistical analysis
  • 4.Results and discussion
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 May 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jslp.17034.cha
References
Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C., & Tily, H. J.
(2013) Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68(3), 255–278. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S.
(2014) lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using eigen and S4. R package version 1.1-7. Retrieved on 15 November 2016, from [URL]
Best, C. T.
(1994) The emergence of native-language phonological influences in infants: A perceptual assimilation model. In H. C. Nusbaum (Ed.), The development of speech perception: The transition from speech sounds to spoken words (pp. 233–277). Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
(1995) A direct realist perspective on cross-language speech perception. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Theoretical and methodological issues in cross-language speech research (pp. 171–204). Timonium: York Press.Google Scholar
(2003) Cross-language perception of nonnative vowels: Phonological and phonetic effects of listeners’ native languages. In M. J. Sole, D. Recansens & J. Romero (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 2889–2892). Barcelona: Causal Productions.Google Scholar
Best, C. T., & Tyler, M. D.
(2007) Nonnative and second-language speech perception: Commonalities and complementarities. In M. J. Munro & O. S. Bohn (Eds.), Second language speech learning: The role of language experience in speech perception and production (pp. 13–34). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blecua, B.
(2001) Las vibrantes del español: Manifestaciones acústicas y procesos fonéticos. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Bradley, T. G., & Schmeiser, B.
(2003) On the phonetic reality of /r/ in Spanish complex onsets. In P. M. Kempchinsky, J. Liskin-Gasparro, & C. E. Piñeros (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the Sixth Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 1–20). Somerville: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Carter, P. M.
(2005) Quantifying rhythmic differences between Spanish, English, and Hispanic English. Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Romance Linguistics: Selected Papers from the 34th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (pp. 63–75). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2007) Phonetic variation and speaker agency: Mexicana identity in a North Carolina Middle School. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 13(2), 1–14.Google Scholar
Chládková, K., & Podlipský, V. J.
(2011) Native dialect matters: Perceptual assimilation of Dutch vowels by Czech listeners. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130(4), 186–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chappell, W.
(2016) Bilingualism and aspiration: Coda /s/ reduction on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. In S. Sessarego & F. Tejado-Herrero (Eds.), Spanish language and sociolinguistic analysis (pp. 261–282). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Colantoni, L., & Steele, J.
(2005) Phonetically-driven epenthesis asymmetries in French and Spanish obstruent-liquid clusters. In R. Gess & E. Rubin (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 34th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (pp. 77–96). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Escudero, P.
(2000) The perception of English vowel contrasts: Acoustic cue reliance in the development of new contrasts. In A. James & J. Leather (Eds.), New sounds 2000: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech (pp. 122–131). Klagenfurt: University of Klagenfurt.Google Scholar
(2005) Linguistic perception and second language acquisition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University.Google Scholar
(2009) The linguistic perception of similar L2 sounds. In P. Boersma & S. Hamann (Eds.), Phonology in perception (pp. 152–190). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Escudero, P., & Boersma, P.
(2003) Modelling the perceptual development of phonological contrasts with Optimality Theory and the Gradual Learning Algorithm. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics, 81, 71–85.Google Scholar
Escudero, P., & Polka, L.
(2003) A cross-language study of vowel categorization and vowel acoustics. In M. J. Sole, D. Recansens, & J. Romero (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 861–864). Barcelona: Causal Productions.Google Scholar
Flege, J. E.
(1988) The production and perception of foreign language speech sounds. In H. Winitz (Ed.), Human communication and its disorders: A review (pp. 224–401). Norwood: Ablex.Google Scholar
(1991) Perception and production: The relevance of phonetic input to L2 language learning. In C. Ferguson & T. Heubner (Eds.), Crosscurrents in second language acquisition and linguistic theories (pp. 249–290). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1995) Second language speech learning: Theory, findings and problems. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language speech research (pp. 233–27). Timonium: York Press.Google Scholar
Flemming, E., & Johnson, S.
(2007) Rosa’s roses: Reduced vowels in American English. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37(1), 83–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fought, C.
(2003) Chicano English in context. London: Anthony Rowe Ltd. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grieser, D., & Kuhl, P. K.
(1989) Categorization of speech by infants: Support for speech-sound prototypes. Developmental Psychology, 25(4), 577–588. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guion, S. G.
(2003) The vowel systems of Quichua-Spanish bilinguals: An investigation into age of acquisition effects on the mutual influence of the first and second languages. Phonetica, 601, 98–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J., & Newport, E.
(1989) Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 211, 60–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kazanina, N., Phillips, C., & Idsardi, W. J.
(2006) The influence of meaning on the perception of speech sounds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(30), 11381–11386. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Keys, K. J.
(2002) Interlanguage phonology: Theoretical questions and empirical data. Linguagem & Ensino, 5(1), 75–91.Google Scholar
Kuhl, P. K.
(2000) A new view of language acquisition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 971, 11850–11857. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuhl, P. K., Conboy, B. T., Coffey-Corina, S., Padden, D., Rivera-Gaxiola, M., & Nelson, T.
(2008) Phonetic learning as a pathway to language: New data and native language magnet theory expanded (NLM-e). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 3631, 979–1000. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuhl, P. K., Williams, K. A., Lacerda, F., Stevens, K. N., Lindblom, B.
(1992) Linguistic experience alters phonetic perception in infants by 6 months of age. Science, 255(5044), 606–608. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ladefoged, P.
(2005) Vowels and consonants: An introduction to the sounds of languages, 2nd edition. Malden: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lipski, J.
(1994) Latin American Spanish. New York: Longman Publishing.Google Scholar
Major, R. C.
(1998) Interlanguage phonetics and phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 201, 131–137. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Malmberg, B.
(1965) Estudios de fonética hispánica. Madrid: Instituto Miguel de Cervantes.Google Scholar
Massone, M.
(1988) Estudio acústico y perceptivo de las consonantes nasales y líquidas del español. Estudios de Fonética Experimental, 31, 15–34.Google Scholar
Matuschek, H., Kliegl, R., Vasishth, S., Baayen, H., & Bates, D.
(2017) Balancing Type I error and power in linear mixed models. Journal of Memory and Language, 941, 305–315. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayr, R., & Escudero, P.
(2010) Explaining individual variation in L2 perception: Rounded vowels in English learners of German. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(3), 279–297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S.
(2012) Bilingual background questionnaire for Spanish/English speakers. Retrieved on 25 January 2015, from [URL]
Morgan, T. A.
(2010) Sonidos en contexto: Una introducción a la fonética del español con especial referencia a la vida real. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Navarro, T.
(1963) Manual de pronunciación española. New York: Hafner Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Nimz, Katharina
(2016) Sound perception and production in a foreign language: Does orthography matter? Potsdamn: Potsdam University.Google Scholar
Quilis, A.
(1970) El elemento esvarabático en los grupos [pr, br, tr]. Phonetique et linguistique romaines: Melanges offerts a M. Georges Straka (pp. 99–104). Lyon-Strasbourg: Societe de Linguistique Roman.Google Scholar
(1993) Tratado de fonología y fonética españolas. Madrid: Editorial Gredos.Google Scholar
R Core Team
(2014) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Google Scholar
Ramírez, C. J.
(2002) Characterization of the epenthetic vowel between the clusters formed by stops/fricatives + flap in Spanish. In B. Spreng (Ed.), Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Niagara Linguistic Society 19 (pp. 67–74). Toronto: University of Toronto, Linguistic Graduate Course Union.Google Scholar
Rastle, K., McCormick, S. F., Bayliss, L., & Davis, C. J.
(2011) Orthography influences the perception and production of speech. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(6), 1588–1594.Google Scholar
Robinson, P., & Ellis, N.
(2008) Handbook of cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmeiser, B.
(2006) On the durational variability of svarabhakti vowels in Spanish consonant clusters. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Davis.Google Scholar
(2009) On the current state of vowel intrusion analysis in Spanish within Optimality Theory. In J. Collentine, M. García, B. Lafford, & F. Marcos Marín (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 11th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 207–218). Somerville, Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Schmidt, L. B.
(2011) Acquisition of dialectal variation in a second language: L2 perception of aspiration of Spanish /s/. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Strange, W.
(1995) Cross-language study of speech perception: A historical review. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research (pp. 3–45). Timonium: York Press.Google Scholar
van Leussen, J.-W., & Escudero, P.
(2015) Learning to perceive and recognize a second language: The L2LP model revised. Frontiers in Psychology, 61, 1000. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vanek, C., & McDaniel, S.
(2006) Surveygizmo. Boulder, Widgix.Google Scholar
Vasiliev, P., & Escudero, P.
(2014) Speech perception in second language Spanish. In K. L. Geeslin (Ed.), The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (pp. 130–145). Somerset: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Widdison, K.
(2004) Perceptual awareness of vowel fragments appearing in Spanish Cr and CC environments. Paper presented at Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Sep. 17–18.
Zampini, M.
(1998) The relationship between the production and perception of L2 Spanish stops. Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, 31, 85–100.Google Scholar
Zampini, M., & Green, K.
(2001) The voicing contrast in English and Spanish: The relationship between perception and production. In J. Nicol (Ed.), One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing (pp. 23–48). London: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ziegler, J. C., & Ferrand, L.
(1998) Orthography shapes the perception of speech: The consistency effect in auditory word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 5(4), 683–689. DOI logoGoogle Scholar