Acquiring Variable L2 Spanish Intonation in a Study Abroad Context

Abstract

This dissertation identifies and describes some of the major ways second language (L2) Spanish intonation changes over time in a study abroad context. It focuses on the intonation of two specific utterance types: broad focus declaratives and absolute interrogatives. Additionally, it explores a few important factors in how L2 intonation changes over time, namely: intonational characteristics of learners' first and second languages, task style/formality, and interaction with native Spanish speakers. The methodology employed combines traditional methodological approaches of intonational phonology and second language acquisition to analyze the data of nine English speaking learners of L2 Spanish who spent a semester in the Andes of Venezuela, a region known for its distinct absolute interrogative intonation. The results indicated that the L2 Spanish intonation of most learners was considerably different at the end of the semester abroad. Seven of nine learners adopted a new most frequent intonational pattern for broad focus declaratives. One learner also adopted a new preferred contour for absolute interrogatives. The learners were also dramatically more consistent in their use of particular patterns for each of the two utterance types investigated. A few learners showed evidence of an expanded pitch range. These changes resulted in an interlanguage intonation that was remarkably more like the target language and less like the learners' first language. Additionally, task formality or style was shown to be a significant variable related to variation in L2 Spanish intonation. At the end of the semester, the learners used the target dialect specific absolute interrogative pattern significantly more often in the informal task than they did in the formal one. Finally, native speaker interaction was another variable shown to have a significant effect on the development of target dialect intonational features. The proportion of time the learners reported speaking Spanish and English significantly interacted with change in dialect specific pattern use over time. Moreover, the three learners who showed the most L2 intonational development expressed what appear to be signs of high levels of social integration into the target language community.