/eɪ/ vs. /e/ in Non-Native Productions of Spanish and English
Mentor 1
Hanyong Park
Location
Union 191
Start Date
24-4-2015 1:00 PM
Description
In this experiment we examined the extent of this native language transfer with regard to the English diphthong /eI/ and the Spanish pure vowel /e/. Of particular note, is the fact that the English vocalic inventory does not include /e/. While Spanish does include /eI/ the distribution is distinct from that of /e/. Due to the vowel distribution in the subject’s native language, we expect to see a difference in their vowel production in their second language. Specifically, native English speakers will diphthongize /e/ in Spanish words while native Spanish speakers will monophthongize /eI/ in English words. For this experiment, consistent vowel change will be marked by at least a 50% production. Subjects were recorded in a delayed repetition task saying a series of 10 English and 10 Spanish sentences. The target words were multisyllabic and all vowels followed voiceless consonants. Data analysis was performed in Praat and involved quartile comparisons to determine whether a diphthong was produced and then F1 and F2 averages were taken of the entire vowel and each steady state where a diphthong was present. The subjects included 3 male English speakers, 2 male Spanish speakers and 2 female Spanish speakers. English speakers’ diphthong production in Spanish was not significantly different from that of the Spanish speakers. However, the Spanish speakers produced English diphthongs at a much lower rate than the native speakers. The results did not support the first hypothesis although the second hypothesis regarding Spanish production was partially supported.
/eɪ/ vs. /e/ in Non-Native Productions of Spanish and English
Union 191
In this experiment we examined the extent of this native language transfer with regard to the English diphthong /eI/ and the Spanish pure vowel /e/. Of particular note, is the fact that the English vocalic inventory does not include /e/. While Spanish does include /eI/ the distribution is distinct from that of /e/. Due to the vowel distribution in the subject’s native language, we expect to see a difference in their vowel production in their second language. Specifically, native English speakers will diphthongize /e/ in Spanish words while native Spanish speakers will monophthongize /eI/ in English words. For this experiment, consistent vowel change will be marked by at least a 50% production. Subjects were recorded in a delayed repetition task saying a series of 10 English and 10 Spanish sentences. The target words were multisyllabic and all vowels followed voiceless consonants. Data analysis was performed in Praat and involved quartile comparisons to determine whether a diphthong was produced and then F1 and F2 averages were taken of the entire vowel and each steady state where a diphthong was present. The subjects included 3 male English speakers, 2 male Spanish speakers and 2 female Spanish speakers. English speakers’ diphthong production in Spanish was not significantly different from that of the Spanish speakers. However, the Spanish speakers produced English diphthongs at a much lower rate than the native speakers. The results did not support the first hypothesis although the second hypothesis regarding Spanish production was partially supported.
