Latin American Languages and Societies Commons^™

Bilingual Spanish Vowels: The Case Of Heritage Speakers, Megan E. Solon, Nyssa Knarvik, Joshua Declerck

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Other Graduate Student Scholarship

Previous research on heritage Spanish vowel production has revealed consistent and systematic differences—including asymmetry in the vowel space, condensing and fronting of back vowels, and reduction and centralization of unstressed vowels—as compared to traditional descriptions of the monolingual Spanish vowel triangle. The present study takes another look at heritage Spanish vowels (both quality and quantity), using a group of “homeland” native Spanish-speaking late Spanish-English bilinguals for comparison purposes. Data for both groups were collected via a dyadic, meaning-focused task. Results revealed significant differences between heritage and homeland groups in front and mid-vowel quality, but no differences in vowel quantity. Additionally, …