Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.22210/strjez/52-1/1
Rhotics in Spanish as a foreign language: An intervention study with German–Turkish bilinguals
Christoph Gabriel
orcid.org/0000-0002-9967-1159
; Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
Jonas Grünke
orcid.org/0000-0001-8893-6484
; Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
Claudia Schlaak
orcid.org/0009-0008-9518-1962
; University of Kassel, Germany
Abstract
While German has one rhotic phoneme, the uvular fricative /ʁ/, which is vocalized to [ɐ]
in syllable-final position, Spanish possesses two alveolar rhotics, the tap /ɾ/ and the trill /r/,
which never undergo vocalization. Turkish patterns with German in having one rhotic but
is closer to Spanish in sharing the alveolar place of articulation and in lacking r-vocalization.
This article reports on an intervention study carried out with 12 German–Turkish heritage
bilinguals learning Spanish in Germany. Reading data were collected before, during, and after
the completion of a digital learning module. The phonetic cues considered were (1) consonantal
production of the target segment; (2) target-like place of articulation, and (3) target-like
distribution of the tap–trill contrast. Results show that high correctness rates regarding the
production of alveolar rhotics are achieved from the outset and that the target-likeness of the
tap–trill distribution and the avoidance of r-vocalization generally improves across the three
measurement points. The case of a single learner who had primarily transferred the German
uvular rhotic and showed a considerably increased correctness rate after the intervention
indicates that the learners’ awareness of similarities and differences between their heritage
language and Spanish has a positive effect on rhotic acquisition.
Keywords
German; heritage bilingualism; Rhotics; Spanish as a foreign language; Turkish
Hrčak ID:
309128
URI
Publication date:
23.10.2023.
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