The Development of Castilian Dialectal Features During a Semester Abroad in Toledo, Spain

266 Pages·2013·1.97 MB·English

The Development of Castilian Dialectal Features
During a Semester Abroad in Toledo, Spain

A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
BY

Angela A. George

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Dr. Timothy L. Face, Adviser
Dr. Carol A. Klee, Co-adviser

May 2013
© Angela A. George 2013
Acknowledgements
I am deeply grateful for several people who have helped shape me as a researcher
as well as encouraged me along the way, ultimately leading to this dissertation. First and
foremost, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my participants, for without them this
research would not exist. I thank the Learning Abroad Office, particularly Holly
Zimmerman for allowing me to conduct this research using this study abroad group. I
also acknowledge and thank the wonderful people at the site of the study abroad program
at the Fundación Ortega y Gasset in Toledo, Spain. In particular, I thank Rosa Almoguera
for introducing me to the community and facilitating the collection of my data on site. I
am forever grateful to all of the Toledo speakers who volunteered their time to converse
with the participants.
I could not have completed this dissertation without the support of my advisors,
faculty, family, and friends. I express many thanks to Professor Carol Klee and Professor
Timothy Face for advising me throughout the entire Ph.D. process, providing valuable
feedback along the way. The initial idea for this research was formed and developed in
Professor Martha Bigelow‘s course, and I am thankful that she is serving on my
committee. I thank Professor Francisco Ocampo for opening my mind to prototypicity. I
express my thanks to Professor Elaine Tarone for introducing me to the field of Second
Language Acquisition and to Professor Andrew Cohen for his knowledge on Second
Language Pragmatics and Assessment. I thank Andy Sell for his help designing an online
questionnaire and The Office of Research Consultation and Services for providing me
with a statistics consultant. I acknowledge and thank my parents (Herman and Fran),
siblings (Chris, Elisabeth, and Joey), and most importantly my wife (Charlie) for all of
their support and encouragement to finish what I started. Thanks to my cats (Charo and
Santi) for providing comfort and comic relief. I will always appreciate my friends, who
remain too numerous to name, both at and outside the University, for their support. I
appreciate both their encouragement and their distractions, which kept me sane.
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Dedication
This dissertation is dedicated to Charlie McAnulty.
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Abstract
While students typically are able to increase their proficiency level and increase
their use of categorical features while studying abroad, less is known about the
development, or lack thereof, over time of variable features. The current study examines
the development of three geographically variant features, specific to the dialect of North-
Central Castilian Spanish: the informal second person plural form vosotros, the
interdental fricative [θ], and the uvular fricative [χ] in 25 adult speakers of English
learning Spanish.
During a 13-week semester abroad in Central Spain, the participants—all
undergraduate majors or minors of Spanish—completed four tasks at the beginning,
middle, and end of the semester to elicit the 3 dialectal features. In addition, the learners
completed questionnaires about their background, language contact, and attitudes toward
Castilian Spanish. To expand on the answers in the questionnaire, the participants
completed a semi-structured interview with the researcher.
The results showed a significant increase from the beginning to the middle of the
semester in the production of vosotros (9% to 18%) and [χ] (9% to 13%), but no
significant change from the middle to the end of the semester. On the other hand, the use
of [θ] remained about the same throughout the semester, around 7%. The social factors
correlated with the increased use of the features were stronger motivation to learn
Spanish, less contact with English and fewer weekend trips, more dialectal awareness,
and a stronger desire to speak Castilian Spanish.
This study adds to the growing amount of research on the acquisition of variable
features by learners of Spanish in a study abroad environment. It also examines social
and linguistic factors correlated with the use of salient dialectal features. It fills a gap in
previous research by examining the relationship between social factors, such as language
attitudes, and the production of variable features, as previously noted by Geeslin (2011).
Finally, it also provides insight into the acquisition of a dialect in one's second language
by study abroad learners.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements i
Dedication ii
Abstract iii
List of Tables viii
List of Figures x
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Background and Statement of Problem 1
Rationale for Study 3
Significance of the Study 5
Research Questions 6
Overview 7
Chapter 2: Literature Review 8
The Three Dialectal Features Under Investigation 8
Dialectal Acquisition Research of an L1 11
Dialectal Acquisition Research of an L2 11
Dialect Acquisition as a Result of Study Abroad 14
L2 Spanish SA Phonology Research 21
Mophosyntactic Features in SA Research 28
Variationist SLA Approach 31
Accommodation 33
Saliency and Noticing 34
Attitudes 35
Social Networks and SA 37
Conclusion: Review of the Literature 42
Chapter 3: Methodology 43
The Participants and the Research Site 43
Positionality 46
Tasks/Instruments 48
The Conversation 49
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The Reading Passage 49
The Word List 50
The Discourse Completion Test 50
Semistructured Interview 51
The Attitude Questionnaire 52
The Language Background and Use Questionnaire 54
Global Rating of Dialect 56
Identifying and Coding the Dependent Variables 56
Identifying and Coding the Independent Variables 57
Statistical Analysis 65
Survey Measuring Foreign Accent and Dialect 66
Chapter 4: Results 67
Interdental Fricative 67
Development over Time 67
Describing the Trends for the Medium-frequency Group 70
Development over Time in [θ] Production 70
Overgeneralization of [θ] 71
Correlations of [θ] and the Individual Factors 72
Frequency Groups 74
Correlations of Independent Variables by Frequency Group 75
Lexical Frequency 81
The Three Tasks Eliciting the Interdental Fricative 82
Words Produced with [θ] 88
Grapheme 89
Placement 90
Individual Factors and Participants Who Increased Use of [θ] 91
Uvular Fricative 92
Development over Time 92
Describing the Trends for the Medium-frequency Group 96
Development over Time in [χ] Production 96
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Correlation of Individual Factors and [χ] at Each Point in Time 97
Frequency Groups 99
Factors that Correlate with [χ] Production 100
Lexical Frequency for [χ] 102
The Three Tasks and the [χ] Production 104
Native Speakers versus Participants 109
Task 109
Words Produced with [χ] 110
Word Placement 111
Participants with Increased [χ] Production 111
Second-person Plural Informal Vosotros 113
Development over Time 117
Correlations by Frequency Group 120
Increased Use of Vosotros 125
Correlation of the Three Dependent Variables 126
Participants with More Castilian Dialectal Features 128
Participants with No Castilian Dialectal Features 131
Survey to Measure Foreign Accent and Dialect 133
Dialect Rating 135
Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusions 140
How Does SA in Toledo, Spain Affect the Production of Distinct
Castilian Dialectal Features: [θ], [χ], and Vosotros? 140
Interdental Fricative 140
Uvular Fricative 142
Vosotros 143
Phonological Features 143
All Three Dialectal Features 144
What Social Factors Correlate with Increased Production of Dialect-
specific Variants in the Spanish of American Students Studying in
Toledo, Spain? 145
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Interdental Fricative 145
Uvular Fricative 149
Vosotros 153
What Linguistic Factors Correlate with Production of Dialect-specific
Variants in the Spanish of American Students Studying in Toledo,
Spain? 157
Interdental Fricative 157
Uvular Fricative 158
Conclusions 159
Significance of this Study 159
Pedagogical Implications 162
Limitations and Future Studies 164
Final Summary 165
References 167
Appendix A: Interview (or Conversation) with North Central Spain Speaker 179
Appendix B: Reading Passage 182
Appendix C: Word List 189
Appendix D: Vosotros Task 199
Appendix E: Semistructured Interview 212
Appendix F: Language Dialect Attitudes Questionnaire 213
Statements about Spanish—Beginning of Semester 213
Statements about Spanish—Midsemester 215
Statements about Spanish—End of Semester 217
Appendix G: Background Questionnaires 219
Beginning of Semester 219
Midsemester 231
End of Semester 241
Appendix H: Use of Each Feature throughout the Semester by Each Participant 251
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List of Tables
Table 1: Participant Characteristics 45
Table 2: Statements of Spanish Questionnaire 59
Table 3: Individual Factors 64
Table 4: Total Uses of [θ] Across All Tasks * 68
Table 5: Interdental Fricative Percentages 71
Table 6: Tokens of [θ] Overgeneralization at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3 72
Table 7: Correlation Coefficients for [θ] 73
Table 8: [θ] Use by Frequency Group 75
Table 9: Spearman's Correlation Coefficients for [θ] by Frequency Group 76
Table 10: [θ] Lexical Frequency 81
Table 11: Uses of [θ] in Each Task 83
Table 12: Interdental Fricative Frequency in Each Task 86
Table 13: Orthographic Context: Combined Word List and Reading Passage 89
Table 14: Placement of [θ]: Combined Word List and Reading Passage 90
Table 15: Increase in Frequency of [θ] 91
Table 16: Uses of [χ] at Time 1, Time 2 and Time 3 93
Table 17: [χ] Production 96
Table 18: Correlation Coefficients for [χ] for 25 Participants 98
Table 19: [χ] Use by Frequency Group 99
Table 20: Correlation Coefficients for [χ] by Frequency Group 101
Table 21 [χ] Lexical Frequency in the Word List and Reading Passage 103
Table 22: Uses of [χ] at Time 1, Time 2 and Time 3 in Each Type of Task 105
Table 23: [χ] Use in Each Task 108
Table 24: Placement of [χ]: Combined Word List and Reading Passage 111
Table 25: Increase in Frequency of [χ] 112
Table 26: Attempted Uses of Vosotros by Each Participant 114
Table 27: Attempted Uses of Vosotros 117
Table 28: Correlation Coefficients for Vosotros 118
Table 29: Vosotros Use by Frequency Group 120
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