Nicholas Henriksen

The Development of L2 Spanish Intonation During a Study Abroad Immersion Program in León, Spain: Global Contours and Final Boundary Movements

Abstract The current study is the first technically-principled examination of second language Spanish intonation as it develops in a study abroad context. As such, it aims to identify patterns of development related to overall F0 contours and final boundary movements by creating individual profiles for each L2 learner at the beginning and the end of their stay abroad. Our data come from 5 English-speaking learners of Spanish enrolled in a study abroad immersion program for 7 weeks in León, Spain. We collected data through a computerized production task that elicited three context-based sentence types: declaratives, absolute interrogatives, and pronominal interrogatives. This task was administered once upon arrival to León and again at the end of the 7-week program (approximately 6 weeks elapsed between tasks). In our analysis, we calculated the initial and final tonal levels in addition to the Low and High tones of pitch accents (when applicable). For each learner the most common strategy employed at each recording time was identified. Our findings show that despite individual variation, most L2 learners modify their intonational patterns (i.e. pitch accent and boundary movements) through an increase in frequency of use of their more dominant intonation patterns and/or changes in their final boundary tone inventory.

The Intonation and Signaling of Declarative Questions in Manchego Peninsular Spanish

This paper is an experimental investigation on the tonal structure and phonetic signaling of declarative questions by speakers of Manchego Peninsular Spanish, a dialect of Spanish for which little experimental research on intonation is currently available. Analysis 1 examines the scaling and timing properties of final rises produced by 16 speakers under various pressures of tonal crowding. The quantitative results provide evidence for two contrasting nuclear pitch accent specifications: L* vs. H*. These data are consistent with the findings and analyses of final rises in Dutch, although certain time pressure effects had not been reported in this previous body of research. Analysis 2 provides a phonetic comparison of the two question contours uncovered in Analysis 1 with those of lexically and syntactically identical declarative statements. The findings indicate that speakers differentiate the two question contours from corresponding statement contours in dissimilar fashion and that for the L*H% contour, the terminal rise may be the only F0 signal of its question intent. Some speculation on the possible causes of this variation is offered in conclusion.

Style, prosodic variation, and the social meaning of intonation

This paper reports on an acoustic analysis of the intonational patterns of declarative questions and wh-questions produced by a group of young adults residing in a rural town of south-central Spain. Question intonation has been reported as highly variable across and within Spanish dialects; recent sociophonetic research on multiple languages suggests that intonational variation may be accounted for by speaking condition (i.e. speech style) in addition to other linguistic and social factors. This study is an initial attempt to examine the potential interactions between speaking condition (read speech vs. task-based dialogue) and social characteristics (speaker sex) on intonational variation. First, it is shown that 12 of the 16 speakers undergo at least one style-shift between speaking conditions; these data are captured in variationist terms, providing empirical assessments about formal and vernacular variants for the two sentence types in question. Second, it is shown that speaker sex differences play a role in style-shifting, and this leads to the hypothesis that variation in declarative questions may have developed as a marker of local identity for Manchego men. All in all, this study offers empirical support that the findings on sociophonetic variation warrant consideration in current models of speech production.

Patterns of vowel laxing and harmony in Iberian Spanish: Data from production and perception

Abstract We investigate the production and perception outcomes of sound changes involving phonological vowel harmony, and how phonetic processes (i.e., /s/ lenition and vowel laxing) bear on these outcomes. Our data come from two varieties of Iberian Spanish: Eastern Andalusian Spanish (EAS), a variety that undergoes lenition of word-final /s/, and North-Central Peninsular Spanish (NCPS), a variety that typically retains /s/. In Experiment 1 we show that EAS (but not NCPS) speakers lax the low and mid vowels /a e o/ (i.e., approximating [ae ɛ ɔ], respectively) of /as es os/-final words. In Experiment 2 we show that EAS (but not NCPS) speakers harmonize the mid vowels /e o/ when followed by laxed /a e o/. We analyze this right-to-left spreading as a phonologically-induced change, and argue that it cannot be interpreted as anticipatory coarticulation with word-final lax vowels. During Experiment 3, EAS and NCPS listeners judged the grammatical status of stimuli from the minimal pair [nene] – [nene] (‘boy’ – ‘boys’) in a forced-choice word identification task. While all listeners tended to associate [nene]-type stimuli as singular words, EAS listeners alone reliably associated [nene]-type stimuli as plural words. This suggests that EAS listeners have greater perceptual sensitivity to the /e/-/e/ contrast than NCPS listeners. Altogether, our multifaceted approach offers insight on sound change from varied temporal perspectives: we explain what historical factors may have led to laxing and phonological harmony, and what synchronic motivations these processes may have.

A Reanalysis of Paradigmatic Variation in the Old Spanish Imperfect

Abstract Research on the history of the Old Spanish imperfect paradigm in -ie has yet to provide a consistent account of the morphological and phonological factors that contributed to the eradication of this paradigm from Spanish verb morphology. A detailed analysis that takes into account the interaction of factors that played an integral part in the evolution of other facets of Old Spanish morphology and phonology may shed more light on the disappearance of the -ie paradigm and the eventual restoration of its etymological competitor in -ia. The current investigation compares data from four Old Spanish texts with the purpose of examining the impact that five linguistic variables had on the Old Spanish imperfect between the late 13th and early 15th centuries. The results show that different sets of variables are responsible for variation in each text, indicating that -ie ~ -ia alternation was not attributable to the impact of one linguistic factor, but rather to that of a combination of multiple factors through time. Furthermore, the important discovery is made here that the development of the Old Spanish imperfect is best understood from a more comprehensive framework of Spanish diachrony.

Prosodic timing and language contact: Spanish and Yagua in Amazonian Peru

Abstract This study examines measures of prosodic timing (i. e., segment-to-segment durational variability) in Yagua and Spanish spoken in Amazonian Peru. We performed an acoustic analysis of consonantal and vocalic durations from sociolinguistic interviews in Spanish (for Yagua-Spanish bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals) and from oral narratives in Yagua (for Yagua-Spanish bilinguals). Subsequently, we applied variability metrics to the speech of each group to compare their respective timing values. Our results show that, first, Yagua displays more segment-to-segment durational variability than monolingual Spanish. Second, L1-Yagua/L2-Spanish speakers show primarily Yagua-like timing values in Spanish, whereas Yagua-Spanish simultaneous bilinguals show primarily Spanish-like values in Spanish. These results suggest that ethnic Yagua communities are converging toward Spanish-like patterns of prosodic timing. This research contributes to the Spanish contact and prosodic timing literature by offering bilingual and monolingual data from one of the world’s most complex and typologically diverse geolinguistic areas.

Syllable structure and word stress effects in Peninsular Spanish nuclear accents

Abstract In this study we analyzed temporal alignment between F0 turning points and acoustic landmarks in rising (L+¡H*) and falling (H+L*) nuclear pitch accents in Peninsular Spanish wh-questions. In the research design we devised two experimental factors based on nuclear syllable configuration: syllable structure (open vs. closed) and stress position (penultimate vs. ultimate). Regarding leading tone alignment, the L point of L+¡H* displayed close synchrony with the start of the nuclear syllable, whereas the H point of H+L* was more variable within the pretonic syllable. These findings provide only partial (i.e., accent-specific) confirmation for the syllable onset anchoring hypothesis. Regarding starred tone alignment, both accents showed the same result: syllable structure did not affect alignment in words with penultimate stress. Although these findings support the principle of segmental anchoring in nuclear position, we propose that anchoring landmarks for tonal targets may constitute entire segments themselves. All in all, this work contributes to the study of intonational phonology by documenting that patterns of temporal alignment are specific to individual pitch accent specifications.