Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Exploratory Study Of Heritage Spanish Rhotics: Addressing Methodological Challenges Of Heritage Language Phonetics Research, Elizabeth M. Kissling

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

When speaking their heritage language, heritage speakers typically sound much like other “native speakers.” However, recent studies have found that heritage speakers (HSs) are highly variable and produce a range of more and less “native-like” phonetic features. In an effort to stimulate productive new research in this area, this article addresses some of the methodological challenges of heritage language phonetics research, namely dealing with high variability and identifying the best predictors of that variability. A study on heritage Spanish rhotics is presented to elucidate those methodological challenges. The study took an exploratory, bottom-up approach to analyzing the rhotics produced by …