Perceptions of the apicoalveolar variant [s̺] in Spanish Exploring second language sociophonetic competence
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Abstract
While /s/ has been widely researched in Spanish as it relates to weakening, less attention has been given to the apicoalveolar variant [s̺], which is associated with north-central Spain or Castilian Spanish (Hualde, 2005). Speaker perceptions of [s̺] have yet to be investigated, and there is a dearth of studies that focus on second language (L2) attitudes towards this sound. Using a matched guise task, this study investigates L2 speakers’ perceptions of the sociophonetic variant [s̺]. The results of mixed effects models were used to interpret L2 perceptions of [s̺] according to status, solidarity, age, and masculinity, and a multinomial regression was used to investigate L2 speakers’ selection of perceived origin of the speakers (Schmidt and Geeslin, 2022). Independent variables that were included for all models were participant as a random effect, previous study abroad experience, course level, gender of the speaker (male or female), and variant produced ([s] or [s̺]).
Results showed that the selected independent variables often had little to no effect on perceptions according to age, status, solidarity, and masculinity. Overall, participants were unlikely to select ‘Mexico’ as the speaker’s country of origin regardless of other variables involved, but this was especially true when the [s̺] variant was present (p < 0.001). Additionally, participant course level was shown to be positively related to participant selection as ‘Spain’ as the origin of the speaker when [s̺] was present (p < 0.05).
Analysis of the perception task results suggests L2 speakers are able to hear the [s̺] variant, but they do not possess strong attitudes about how it indexes status, solidarity, age, or masculinity. This may be due to a lack of sociolinguistic knowledge; however, the results for perceived speaker origin may demonstrate the development of L2 sociolinguistic competence. Perhaps the participants noticed a difference in the guises but were only able to differentiate it from the dialect they hear the most frequently (Lipski, 2008; Ringer-Hilfinger, 2012). Thus, as the results showed, participants at higher levels begin to associate this sound with Spain. By investigating L2 perceptions of a sociophonetic variant, these results provide further insight into the L2 development of sociolinguistic competence.
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