Abstract

VERA DIETTES, Kelly Johanna. VOWEL REDUCTION PHENOMENA BY COLOMBIAN SPANISH SPEAKERS OF L2 ENGLISH: AN ACOUSTIC STUDY. Forma funcion, Santaf, de Bogot, D.C. [online]. 2014, vol.27, n.1, pp.11-43. ISSN 0120-338X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/fyf.v27n1.46940.

This study assessed the performances of a group of speakers of L2 English when perceiving and producing the English vowel Schwa. It evaluated the hypotheses proposed by the Speech Learning Model (SML), developed by Flege and colleagues (1988, 1992, 1999, and 2002), which suggest that L2 speakers are capable of creating phonetic categories for new L2 sounds. The effect of orthography was chosen as a variable that could affect L2 speakers’ abilities. The study was carried out in three stages: the first one evaluated initial L2 speakers’ perceptual and productive abilities; stage two consisted of pronunciation training in vowel reduction processes; and stage three evaluated performances after training. Results suggest that Second Language (L2) speakers were influenced by the orthography; therefore, they perceived and produced Schwas as instances of their native vowels.

Keywords : English; l2-phonology acquisition; SML; Schwa; Colombian l1 Spanish.

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