This study investigated classroom interaction through the framework of "stancetaking" (Du Bois, 2007) to understand how Spanish second language (L2) learners positioned themselves when participating in communicative language learning activities. Data came from transcribed audio and video recordings of three 90-minute lessons in one…

This study builds on prior research on second language (L2) Spanish psych verbs, which has centered on morphosyntactic properties, by examining their syntactic distribution, which relies on lexical semantic knowledge. The fact that certain forms are licensed for some verbs, but not others, is the result of an underlying lexical semantic difference…

Variability in the form of article (i.e., a and the) omissions and stressing has been attributed to a mismatch between first (L1) and second language (L2) prosodic and syntactic structures. An overlap between the L1 and L2 systems, on the other hand, is expected to contribute to native-like article productions. This case study aims to explore the…

This chapter explains part of a broader study. To be specific, it is based on the research the author has been conducting in the city of Barcelona from 2005 through to the present day on what it means to "be Latino" in a youth- and school-based context. The work was essentially inspired by the ethnography of communication and the…

Child speech is highly variable. The speech apparatus--the vocal tract, tongue, teeth, and vocal folds--develop at different rates for different children, which helps explain some of the variability in children's speech. For example, the ratio of the oral to pharyngeal cavities changes as children age, making it difficult to establish reliable…

This study examined the presence of internal linguistic discrimination--i.e., the negative reaction of Spanish speakers towards the varieties of Spanish spoken by heritage speakers--among bilingual teachers in a school district in Texas. To this end, we conducted a study that analyzed the responses of 84 bilingual teachers to audio utterances…

The purpose of this study is to validate the following hypothesis: First, spoken accents have a major influence and can affect listeners' personal attitudes and second, native Puerto Rican speakers will speak English as a second language without wanting to sound like a North American English speaker. This study will contribute to research on the…

Because language, as a method of communication, is a two-way channel involving both speakers and listeners, a methodical study of linguistic variation should involve an analysis of both, how it is expressed and how it is interpreted. Furthermore, because language is known to vary between individuals (inter-speaker variation) as well as at the…

Drawing on linguistic anthropological notions of language ideologies and sociolinguistic approaches to stance, this study examines the meaning-making resources through which Spanish heritage language (HL) learners orient toward ideological perspectives on language value and linguistic expertise in classroom interaction. Part of a larger…