Sandhi forms in Brazilian Portuguese/English interphonology – focus on listening comprehension

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating listening comprehension of sandhi forms (assimilation, linking and contraction.) in Brazilian Portuguese/English Interphonology. Fifty-two Brazilian learners of English, aged 15 to 50 years old at a minimum B1 level of English proficiency, answered two listening tasks, one with and another without sandhi forms, and filled up a questionnaire about the frequency they watched movies in English, with and without subtitles, and listened to songs in English paying attention to their lyrics. The data collected were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Results indicated that sandhi forms tend to cause listening comprehension difficulties for the Brazilian learners of English who participated in the study, especially when there were content words involved and the sandhi form had a minimal pair. Even though participants used to watch movies and series in English with subtitles, both in English and in Portuguese, a better performance was observed among those who consumed contents without them.