¡Ya pué[h]! Perception of coda-/s/ weakening among L2 and heritage speakers in coastal Ecuador

Chelsea Escalante

doi:10.21283/2376905x.8.128

Abstract

   This investigation lies at the intersection of second language acquisition (SLA), sociophonetic variation, and speech perception. Specifically, it investigates the perception of coda /s/-aspiration (producing disco as [dih.ko]), a dialectal feature characteristic of Guayaquileño (coastal Ecuadorian) Spanish, among 14 young-adult English speakers who travel to Ecuador. The study investigates the participants’ ability to perceive an aspirated variant as a legitimate /s/ over time as they are further exposed to the local variety. It also explores the linguistic and extralinguistic factors that play a role in the perception of the variable such as phonological context of /s/, proficiency level, and individual differences in experience with /s/-weakening dialects. Results suggest that most learners are able to acquire new mappings within their interlanguage phonological system. However, results vary according to proficiency, phonological context of /s/, and at the individual level. The results also suggest that gains in sociolinguistic competence can be seen in terms of perception (as opposed to only in learner production), which underscores the necessity to include perceptual studies in future research in variationist SLA.  

Highlights

Variationist approaches to second language acquisition (SLA) have gained influence in recent years, in part due to their ability to offer quantitative analyses of the interlanguage system using statistical tools that are capable of examining the complex relationships between a wide range of linguistic and social variables (Bayley & Tarone, 2012)
The goal of the current study is two-fold: first, it seeks to determine through a multivariate analysis the factors constraining learner perception of a highly frequent variable form in Spanish: coda /s/-weakening; second, it suggests that sociolinguistic competence can and should be measured in terms of how learners produce variable forms and how they perceive and process such forms
Three participants were considered heritage language learner (HLL): one participant was born in Quito, Ecuador and lived there until age nine at which time he immigrated to Sacramento, CA; one participant was half-Colombian and raised in New York; the third was unsure of her biological heritage because she was adopted, but she considers herself half-Mexican and she spoke some Spanish at home, mainly with her grandmother who was a monolingual Spanish speaker

Summary

Introduction

Variationist approaches to second language acquisition (SLA) have gained influence in recent years, in part due to their ability to offer quantitative analyses of the interlanguage system using statistical tools that are capable of examining the complex relationships between a wide range of linguistic and social variables (Bayley & Tarone, 2012). Adamson & Regan, 1991; Bayley, 1996; Major, 2004), were concerned with the alternation of non-categorical structures according to native speaker (NS) patterns (sociolinguistic variation) Examples of this type of variation among learners of Spanish would include copula contrast, subject expression, or weakening of coda /s/. The goal of many of these Type 2 studies is to measure the sociolinguistic competence of L2 speakers, or their knowledge of the sociocultural norms of language and of discourse, vis-a-vis the use of a sociolinguistic variable. As Schmidt (2011, p. 21) states, in order to perceive /s/-weakening, do L1 English L2 Spanish speakers “need to acquire the perception of a phonetically similar sound in a new phonetic context, [but] they must come to recognize [h] as a legitimate variant of a different phonemic category, /s/”

Objectives

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion