Perception of foreign accent in Spanish by native and nonnative listeners: Investigating the role of VOT and speech rate

Previous research on the perception of foreign accent has focused on the ratings of native and near-native listeners and few studies have explored the perception of degree of foreign accent by nonnative listeners, despite the fact that it could shed light on what language learners perceive as foreign-accented and potentially tell us about their developing system. The present dissertation aims to investigate the perception of degree of foreign[Leer más]
29/12/2016

Perception of foreign accent in Spanish by native and nonnative listeners: Investigating the role of VOT and speech rate

Previous research on the perception of foreign accent has focused on the ratings of native and near-native listeners and few studies have explored the perception of degree of foreign accent by nonnative listeners, despite the fact that it could shed light on what language learners perceive as foreign-accented and potentially tell us about their developing system. The present dissertation aims to investigate the perception of degree of foreign[Leer más]
29/12/2016

Social Networks, L2 Pragmatics, and Spanish Hasta as an Aspectual Marker with and without Negation: Student Understandings, Judgments, and Uses

This dissertation investigates how social networks influence understandings, judgments, and uses of L2 pragmatics. The pragmatic target is the particle hasta ‘until’ as it is used orally and in writing to mark inception with and without negation in Spanish. This study examines how L2 students of Spanish understand, judge, and use hasta when they are members of social networks in university Spanish classes based on (a) pedagogy practice, (b)[Leer más]
29/12/2016

Enhancing listening and spoken skills in Spanish connected speech for Anglophones

Native speech is directed towards native listeners, not designed for comprehension and analysis by language learners. Speed of delivery, or economy of effort, produces a speech signal to which the native listener can assign the correct words. There are no discrete words in the speech signal itself therefore there is often a linguistic barrier in dealing with the local spoken language. The creation, development and application of the Dynamic[Leer más]
29/12/2016