Duration as a secondary cue in Spanish rhotics
This study investigates language learners' attention to segmental duration when perceiving the Spanish tap-trill contrast. Previous research has demonstrated that native speakers (NSs), heritage language learners (HLLs), and second language (L2) learners maintain distinct segmental durations wh...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddd.uab.cat:323558 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/323558 https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.5565/rev/isogloss.522 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Continuous variables T Taps Trills Spanish-english bilinguals Perception Phonology |
| Sumario: | This study investigates language learners' attention to segmental duration when perceiving the Spanish tap-trill contrast. Previous research has demonstrated that native speakers (NSs), heritage language learners (HLLs), and second language (L2) learners maintain distinct segmental durations when maintaining the tap-trill contrast (e.g., Amengual, 2016; Henriksen, 2015; McCandless, 2020; Willis & Bradley, 2008). In this study, 31 HLLs and 104 L2 learners from a Midwest university listened to five minimal pairs in Spanish with modified closure durations (40 experimental stimuli) ranging from /ɾ/-like (tap-like) (22-40ms) to /r/-like (trill-like) (52ms-85ms). Visual analog sliders were used to connect learners' learner characteristics to continuous perceptions. Results of a regression analysis suggest that both L2 learners and HLLs attend to closure duration when perceiving contrast (β = .009, p < .001), though HLLs demonstrate less categorical overlap than L2 learners. In both groups, linguistic confidence is the strongest predictor of selection certainty for both taps (β = 0.824, p < .001) and trills (β = 1.125, p < .001). The results support a clearer understanding of heritage and developing L2 phonological mapping of the Spanish /ɾ/-/r/ contrast, as well as the utility and limitations of employing continuous measurements in perception research. |
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