Doctoral Dissertation Research: The production and perception of subject focus prosody in second languages

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

English and Spanish are the most widely spoken languages in the United States, and the number of Spanish speakers continues to grow. As such, more Americans who grew up speaking only English are interested in acquiring Spanish as a second language. Nonetheless, mistakes in grammar and mispronunciation can often lead to unsuccessful communication. While second language instruction tends to focus on the acquisition of vocabulary, syntax and the sounds of the target language, little attention is paid to intonation, or the melody of speech. Importantly, non-native intonation has been shown to cause misunderstandings in terms of the intentions a speaker is trying to convey. Intonation conveys a wide array of meanings, including (but by no means limited to) sentence-type, surprise, focus and politeness. Non-native speakers tend to transfer the melodies associated with specific meanings in their native tongue to their second language, but the relationship between intonation and its many meanings differs from language to language. Therefore, non-native speakers often unintentionally communicate the wrong meaning in their second language. For example, it has been shown that native speakers of Spanish sound rude to English speakers since they use less exaggerated pitch movements, while English speakers may sound over-excited to Spanish-speaking listeners. Therefore, there is a great need for instructors to focus on intonation in the classroom. More research is needed to understand what specific types of issues learners might face when learning the intonation patterns of a second language, and the meanings associated with them. The present study focuses on how intonation is used to signal information status, that is, whether information in a conversation is new or old to the listener. For instance, if A asks B "Who ate the cake? ", B can respond, "Mary ate the cake". The intonation used on the word "Mary" in this context could differ when compared to a context where A says to B, "Sarah ate the cake", while B knows that it was actually Mary that ate the cake. Here B could use corrective intonation to indicate that A was wrong: "MARY ate the cake". At the same time, reduced intonational prominence might be given to the words ate the cake in the second scenario since the fact that someone ate the cake was already activated in the conversation. This shows that speakers are aware of whether information in conversation is new or old, and modify their intonation patterns based on these differences. However, Spanish and English differ in their intonational strategies for doing so. This research aims to understand how learners who have not received formal instruction on the uses of intonation become aware of intonational differences throughout the learning process. Ms. Sanchez will carry out both production and perception experiments designed to understand how U.S. college students are able to produce and comprehend Spanish intonational strategies for conveying information status. While the work is of theoretical importance, there are practical and pedagogical implications that should allow for non-native speakers to better convey their intentions and understand the intentions of others.