Research on Heritage Spanish Phonetics and Phonology: Pedagogical and Curricular Implications

Abstract

This paper creates a novel link between research on linguistics and education by discussing what we know about the sound system of heritage language users of Spanish and how these findings can inform practices implemented in heritage Spanish courses in the USA. First, we provide an overview of terminology associated with heritage language research, situating heritage Spanish programs within the educational context of the USA, and explaining why heritage Spanish phonetics and phonology remain relatively unexplored. Next, we delve into previous linguistic research on the heritage Spanish sound system in terms of individual vowels and consonants, as well as at the level of intonation, rhythm, and stress, while highlighting any observed differences between the system of heritage Spanish and those of Spanish speakers of other backgrounds. Finally, motivated by the phonetic/phonological insight of previous work, in addition to existing pedagogical and curricular research on heritage Spanish, we consider how and why the inclusion of specific types of soundsystem-based commentary and practice in the educational experience of heritage users of Spanish could be beneficial.

A Preliminary Exploration of Declarative Intonation in the Chilean Diaspora of Sweden

“…While heritage phonetics and phonology have consistently lagged behind the study of other domains of heritage linguistic systems, within the last decade, we have significantly increased our knowledge of heritage Spanish phonetics and phonology. General evidence of this growth can be observed when chronologically comparing state-of-the-art type chapters that have been written on the topic (Rao 2019;Rao and Amengual 2021;Rao and Kuder 2016;Rao and Ronquest 2015;Ronquest and Rao 2018). However, upon closely examining the subfield of heritage Spanish phonetics and phonology, we continue to note the following trends in previous studies on relevant topics: (1) they deal with heritage speakers of Mexican Spanish; (2) they are based in the US, where the societally-dominant language is English;…”

Preliminary Results on the Development of the Perception of Spanish /e/ and /ei/ by Heritage Learners vs. L2 Learners of Spanish in the Classroom

“…In the case of heritage Spanish, studies have mostly focused on consonants because monophthongs /i, e, a, o, u/ are considered to be "easy" to acquire, subject to little variation, and relatively stable across dialects (Hualde 2005;Quilis and Esgueva 1983;Rao and Kuder 2016;Ronquest 2013). In theory, the uncrowded nature of the Spanish vocalic space, as opposed to the complex English vocalic space, only supposes the elimination of vocalic contrasts by assimilating native categories into new target language categories (Cobb and Simonet 2015).…”

“…Thus, heritage learners show divergences in their heritage phonological systems, as well as different needs and learning challenges from those of L2 learners (Montrul 2010). Nevertheless, the assumption that their pronunciation is native-like has meant that this aspect of language learning is assigned a very low priority in the classroom (Rao and Kuder 2016). Rao and Kuder (2016) explain that, in a 2011 survey of the Center for Applied Linguistics, only 2 of 137 textbooks used specifically for heritage learners of Spanish included a section on phonetics and phonology, and that only 10 mentioned pronunciation as a learning objective.…”

“…Nevertheless, the assumption that their pronunciation is native-like has meant that this aspect of language learning is assigned a very low priority in the classroom (Rao and Kuder 2016). Rao and Kuder (2016) explain that, in a 2011 survey of the Center for Applied Linguistics, only 2 of 137 textbooks used specifically for heritage learners of Spanish included a section on phonetics and phonology, and that only 10 mentioned pronunciation as a learning objective. Consequently, either heritage learner-specific explicit instruction methods are nonexistent, or current explicit instruction methods have not been applied to heritage learners.…”

“…Early exposure to the language causes heritage learners to be described as sounding native-like or as having a better phonology when compared to L2 learners at a similar morphosyntactic level of proficiency, regardless of their proficiency level or experience with the language (Montrul 2010;Polinsky and Kagan 2007). In spite of how varied these speakers are, from having almost complete competency in the language to being "overhearers" (Au et al 2002;Montrul 2010Montrul , 2015Polinsky 2015;Polinsky and Kagan 2007;Rao and Kuder 2016;Van Deusen-Scholl 2003), this assumption has affected the focus on heritage learner research and pedagogy: the acquisition of pronunciation is largely overlooked.…”