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Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 35:1 (2022) ► pp.173–205

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The role of phonological short-term memory in second language phonology

Exploring vowel quality among English-speaking learners of Spanish

ORCiD logo with link | University at Albany, State University of New York
ORCiD logo with link | University of Florida
Published online: 25 March 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.20003.zah
Abstract
This study reports on the production of the five Spanish vowels in stressed and unstressed contexts by English-speaking advanced learners of Spanish at two experience levels who differed according to phonological short-term memory (PSTM) capacity. Our findings indicate that learners with higher PSTM capacity were less likely to reduce both stressed and unstressed vowels in Spanish. Consequently, learners with higher PSTM in fourth-year Spanish courses produced vowels that were more native-like than lower PSTM fourth-year learners. On the other hand, higher PSTM graduate students of Spanish produced a Spanish vowel space that was more expanded than that of native Spanish, particularly for /u/, compared to lower PSTM graduate learners, who were more native-like. These findings suggest that PSTM does play a role in second language phonology, even at advanced levels, and may help to explain why individual differences in pronunciation exist even at very high levels of second language proficiency.
Resumen
El papel de la memoria fonológica en la fonología de segundas lenguas: La calidad vocálica de los aprendices angloparlantes de español
En este estudio, se analiza la producción de las cinco vocales españolas en sílabas tónicas y átonas por aprendices angloparlantes de español divididos en dos niveles de competencia y que se diferencian por su capacidad de memoria fonológica a corto plazo. Nuestros resultados muestran una menor tendencia por parte de los aprendices con mayor capacidad de memoria fonológica a reducir las vocales en español tanto en contextos tónicos como átonos. Por consiguiente, entre los estudiantes de cuarto curso, los aprendices con mayor memoria fonológica produjeron vocales que se parecían más a las vocales de los hablantes nativos que los aprendices con menor memoria fonológica. Por otro lado, el espacio vocálico producido por los aprendices graduados con mayor memoria fonológica resultó ser más extenso que el de los nativos, particularmente para la /u/, en comparación con los aprendices graduados con menor memoria fonológica, cuyas vocales se parecían más a las de los hablantes nativos. Estos resultados apuntan a que la memoria fonológica juega un papel importante en la fonología de segundas lenguas incluso en los niveles más avanzados, lo que podría explicar por qué hay diferencias individuales en la pronunciación de segundas lenguas incluso en los hablantes con competencia muy avanzada.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Spanish and English vowel systems
    • 2.2L2 acquisition of Spanish vowels
    • 2.3Phonological short-term memory and L2 pronunciation
  • 3.This study
  • 4.Method
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Tasks
      • 4.2.1Measure of PSTM
      • 4.2.2Production task
      • 4.2.3Other tasks
    • 4.3Vowel analysis
    • 4.4Statistical analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Vowel /a/
    • 5.2Vowel /e/
    • 5.3Vowel /i/
    • 5.4Vowel /o/
    • 5.5Vowel /u/
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
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