Linguistics Senior Research Projects
Document Type
Article
Submission Date
4-25-2022
Keywords
Portuguese, English, phoneme-grapheme relations, English language learner, phonetics, language acquisition, language instruction, interlanguage, markedness
Abstract
The English pronunciation of six Brazilian Portuguese language learners as well as their language experiences and attitudes are the focuses of this study. Participants provided information regarding demographics and experience with English, then completed the same reading exercise in Portuguese, then English. Interviewees answered the questions and completed the exercises remotely during a Zoom call. Findings include language attitudes and raw phonetic data. All nonstandard pronunciations were transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and prominent unintelligible articulations are highlighted in this study. The resulting pronunciations are derived from the learner’s interlanguage and their understanding of phoneme-grapheme relations between the L1 (Portuguese) and L2 (English). Even learners with higher proficiency levels stumbled over the same words, which demonstrates a common cognitive method for processing difficult L2 words. Nine unique words, with the respective pronunciations are emphasized. The findings of this project are beneficial to linguists, language educators, and language learners alike.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Castillo, Maria Salow, "Phonetic Speech Variations of L1 Portuguese English Learners" (2022). Linguistics Senior Research Projects. 26.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/linguistics_senior_projects/26
