Evaluative Reactions to Nonnative Spanish

This study investigates whether there is a relationship between the native Spanish “Rater” evaluative reactions of Spanish spoken by second-language learners, called “Talkers,” based on the distance of their first language from Spanish. The Talkers’ first languages are grouped by distance from Spanish: close (Brazilian Portuguese and French), mid (Serbian and Polish), and far (Korean and Chinese). The Raters (n=50) are played recordings of the six Talkers reading the same story in Spanish and they are asked to rate each Talker on a 7-point Likert scale in 15 different categories (e.g. unintelligent/intelligent, easy/difficult to understand, and outgoing/shy). Results show statistically significant differences in the ratings in 13 of the 15 categories based on language distance. Talkers of close languages are rated as being the most intelligent, sophisticated, hardworking, educated, wealthy, fluent, reliable, friendly, open-minded, and outgoing (all p ≤ 0.010). Conversely, the Talkers of distant languages are rated as being unsophisticated, difficult to understand, beginning in Spanish, poor, serious, not fluent, unreliable, and shy. In addition, results show that Raters are most likely to make judgments in the categories that related to the Talkers’ Spanish competence (ease of understanding, level of Spanish, accentedness, and fluency) and most hesitant to make judgments in the categories of wealth, openmindedness, friendliness, and trustworthiness

Evaluative Reactions to Nonnative Spanish

This study investigates whether there is a relationship between the native Spanish “Rater” evaluative reactions of Spanish spoken by second-language learners, called “Talkers,” based on the distance of their first language from Spanish. The Talkers’ first languages are grouped by distance from Spanish: close (Brazilian Portuguese and French), mid (Serbian and Polish), and far (Korean and Chinese). The Raters (n=50) are played recordings of the six Talkers reading the same story in Spanish and they are asked to rate each Talker on a 7-point Likert scale in 15 different categories (e.g. unintelligent/intelligent, easy/difficult to understand, and outgoing/shy). Results show statistically significant differences in the ratings in 13 of the 15 categories based on language distance. Talkers of close languages are rated as being the most intelligent, sophisticated, hardworking, educated, wealthy, fluent, reliable, friendly, open-minded, and outgoing (all p ≤ 0.010). Conversely, the Talkers of distant languages are rated as being unsophisticated, difficult to understand, beginning in Spanish, poor, serious, not fluent, unreliable, and shy. In addition, results show that Raters are most likely to make judgments in the categories that related to the Talkers’ Spanish competence (ease of understanding, level of Spanish, accentedness, and fluency) and most hesitant to make judgments in the categories of wealth, openmindedness, friendliness, and trustworthiness

Bilingual Spanish Vowels: The Case of Heritage Speakers

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, both speaker groups centralized unstressed vowels, but no differences were found between groups. The heritage speaker data alone appear quite comparable to those of previous studies; however, the comparison to native Spanish-speaking late bilinguals points to important differences (and similarities) not previously signaled in studies that compare production to monolingual norms