Cover not available

In:Innovative Approaches to Research in Hispanic Linguistics: Regional, diachronic, and learner profile variation
Edited by Sara Fernández Cuenca, Tiffany Judy and Lauren Miller
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 38] 2023
► pp. 225–247

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 10
L2 sociolinguistic perception of stylistic variation

Attitudes toward two variable linguistic features of Spanish

 | Roanoke College
Published online: 7 June 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.38.10mic
Abstract
There is growing interest in using experimental perception tasks to study the sociolinguistic competence of second language learners. Previous studies on L2 attitudes and perception have largely focused on single linguistic variants presented in guises with limited social context. This chapter reports on a study that explores the L2 sociolinguistic perception of stylistic variation in Spanish. L2 learner participants (n = 108) completed a matched-guise task in which they evaluated digitally manipulated audio guises containing the variable reduction of [paɾa] to [pa] and the variable weakening of coda /s/. The guises were rated according to social attractiveness and social superiority. Linear mixed-effects modeling selected speaker voice, linguistic variables, and experience with linguistic courses as significant factors in predicting the attitudinal responses.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Review of literature
    • 2.1Stylistic variation and social meaning
    • 2.2Second language communicative competence
    • 2.3L2 attitudes and sociolinguistic perception in Spanish
    • 2.4Spanish coda /s/-weakening
    • 2.5Reduction of [paɾa] to [pa]
  • 3.Research questions
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Tasks and procedures
      • 4.2.1Spanish matched-guise task
      • 4.2.2Proficiency measure and background questionnaire
    • 4.3Statistical analysis
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
References (39)
References
Adamson, H. D. & Regan, V. M. (1991). The acquisition of community speech norms by Asian immigrants learning English as a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13 (2), 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bentivoglio, P., Guirado, K., & Suárez, G. (2005). La variación entre para y pa en el habla de Caracas. In M. L. Ramírez (Ed.), Homenaje a Montes Giraldo. Estudios de dialectología, lexicografía, lingüística general, etnolingüística e historia cultural (pp. 214–37). Instituto Caro y Cuervo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bentivoglio, P., & Sedano, M. (2011). Morphosyntactic variation in Spanish speaking Latin America. In M. Diaz-Campos (Ed.), The Handbook of Hispanic Sociolinguistics, (pp. 168–186). Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell-Kibler, K. (2007). Accent, (ING), and the social logic of listener perceptions. American Speech, 82(1), 32–64. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). The sociolinguisic variant as a carrier of social meaning. Language Variation and Change, 22, 423–441. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cargile, A., Giles, H., Ryan, E. B., & Bradac, J. (1994). Language attitudes as a social process: A conceptual model and new directions. Language & Communication, 14(3), 211–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carter, P., & Callesano, S. (2018). The Social meaning of Spanish in Maimi: dialect perceptions and implications for socioeconomic class, income, and emloyment. Latino Studies, 16, 65–90. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chappell, W. (2019). Caribeño or mexicano, profesionista or albañil?: Mexican listeners’ evaluations of /s/ aspiration and maintenance in Mexican and Puerto Rican voices. Sociolinguistic Studies 12(3–4), 367–393. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chappell, Whitney and Matthew Kanwit. 2022. Do learners connect sociophonetic variation with regional and social characteristics? The case of L2 perception of Spanish aspiration. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 44(1): 185–209. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, L. & Schleef, E. (2010). The acquisition of sociolinguistic evaluation among Polish born adolescents learning English: Evidence from perception. Language Awareness 19(4) 299–322. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clopper, C. G., & Bradlow, A. R. (2009). Free classification of American English dialects by native and non-native listeners. Journal of Phonetics 37(4), 436–451. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Díaz-Campos, M., Fafulas, S., & Gradoville, M. (2012). Variable degrees of constituency: Frequency effects in the alternation of pa vs. para in spoken discourse. In M. Díaz-Campos & K. Geeslin (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, (pp.75–87). Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
D’Onofrio, A. (2020). Personae in sociolinguistic variation. WIREs Cogn Sci, 11, e1543. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Drager, K. & Hay, J. (2012). Exploiting random intercepts: Two case studies in sociophonetics. Language Variation and Change 24(1): 59–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eckert, P. (2008). Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 12, 453–476. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Escalante, C. (2018). “¡Ya pué[h]! Perception of coda-/s/ weakening among L2 and heritage speakers in coastal Ecuador.” EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages 5(1), 1–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. (2003). A comparison of copula choice: Native Spanish speakers and advanced learners. Language Learning, 53, 703–764. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K., Linford, B. & Fafulas, S. (2015). Variable subject expression in second language Spanish: Uncovering the developmental sequence and predictive linguistic factors. In A. M. Carvalho, R. Orozco, & N. Lapidus Shin (Eds.), Subject Pronoun Expression in Spanish: A Cross-dialectal perspective (pp.193–212). Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. & Long, A. Y. (2014). Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acqusition: Learning to Use Language in Context. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. & Schmidt, L. B. (2018). Study abroad and L2 learner attitudes. In C. Sanz & A. Morales-Front (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Study Abroad Research and Practice (Chp. 25). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K., Gudmestad, A., Kanwit, M., Linford, B., Long, A. Y., Schmidt, L. & Solon, M. (2018). Sociolinguistic competence and the acquisition of speaking. In R. A. Alonso (Ed.), Speaking in a Second Language (pp.1–25). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hernández Campoy, J., & Jiménez Cano, J. (2003). Broadcasting Standardization: An analysis of the linguistic normalisation process in Murcian Spanish. Journal of Sociolinguistics 32(2), 227–255.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
IBM Corp. (2021). IBM SPSS Statistics for windows (Version 28.0) [Computer software]. IBM Corp.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W., Ash, S., Ravindranath, M., Weldon, T., Baranowski, M., & Nagy, N. (2011). Properties of the sociolinguistic monitor. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 15(4), 431–463. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lambert, W. E., Hodgson, R. C., Gardner, R. C., & Fillenbaum, S. (1960). Evaluational Reactions to Spoken Language. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60, 44–51. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lipski, J. M. (2011). Socio-phonological variation in Latin American Spanish. In M. Díaz-Campos (Ed.) The Handbook of Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp.72–97). Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mougeon, R., Nasadi, T. & Rehner, K. (2010). The Sociolinguistic Competence of Immersion Students. Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Núñez-Méndez, E. (2022). Variation in Spanish /s/: Overview and New Perspectives. Languages, 7(77),1–50. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schilling, N. (2013). Investigating Stylistic Variation. In J. K. Chambers & N. Schilling, The Handbook of Language Variation and Change (pp. 327–349), Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidt, L. B. (2018). L2 development of perceptual categorization of dialect sounds: A study in Spanish. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 40, 857–882. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schoonmaker-Gates, E. (2017). Regional variation in the language classroom and beyond: Mapping learners’ developing dialectal competence.” Foreign Language Annals, 50(1), 177–194. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020). The Acquisition of Dialect-specific phonology, phonetics, and sociolinguistics in L2 Spanish: Untangling Learner Trends. Critical Multilingualism Studies, 8(1), 80–103.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solon, M. & Kanwit, M. (2022). New methods for tracking development of sociophonetician competence: Exploring a preference task for Spanish /d/ deletion. Applied Linguistics. Advance online publication. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tarone, E. (1985). Variability in interlanguage use: A study of style-shifting in morphology and syntax. Language learning, 35(3), 373–403. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Compernolle, R. & Williams, L. (2012). “Reconceptualizing Sociolinguistic Competence as Mediated Action: Identity, Meaning-Making, Agency. The Modern Language Journal, 96, ii, 234–250. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walker, A., García, C., Cortés, Y., & Campbell-Kibler, K. (2014). Comparing social meanings across listener and speaker groups: The indexical field of Spanish /s/. Language Variation and Change, 26(2), 169–89. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zahn, C. J. H., Robert. (1985). Measuring Language Attitudes: The Speech Evaluation Instrument. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 4(2), 113–123. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Michalski, Ian & Aarnes Gudmestad
2025. An exploration of L1 attitudes and individual characteristics in the study of sociolinguistic perception in additional-language Spanish. In Research at the Intersection of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 43], ► pp. 289 ff. DOI logo
Schoonmaker-Gates, Elena
2025. Second Language Learner Attitudes Towards Peer Use of a Variable Sociophonetic Cue. Languages 10:7 ► pp. 164 ff. DOI logo
Gudmestad, Aarnes, Amanda Edmonds, Carlos Henderson & Christina Lindqvist
2024. The interpretation of verbal moods in Spanish: A close replication of Kanwit and Geeslin (2014). Studies in Second Language Acquisition 46:5 ► pp. 1337 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue