Second Language (L2) Perception of English Vowels by Spanish Speakers

Date of Submission

Spring 2025

Document Type

Closed Research Project

Degree Name

Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology

Department

Speech-Language Pathology

First Advisor

Ivonne Maldonado-De la Rosa, PhD, MLS, CCC-SLP

Abstract

Spanish-English bilingual adults may experience challenges perceiving English vowel contrasts due to differences between the English and Spanish phonological systems. The purpose of this study was to examine which English vowels are most difficult for adult Spanish-English bilinguals to perceive, whether stimulus type (real versus nonsense words) affects vowel identification, and how individual factors such as language history, use, and proficiency influence performance. A quantitative-experimental design was utilized. Sixteen adult Spanish-English bilinguals between the ages of 21 and 72 participated in the study. Participants completed the Bilingual Language Profile questionnaire and a vowel identification task developed using PsychoPy. The task included identification of English vowels presented in both real words and nonsense words using minimal pair contrasts. Results demonstrated that vowels not present in the Spanish vowel inventory, particularly /ɪ/ and /ʊ/, were the most difficult for participants to accurately identify. Participants generally performed better on real-word tasks than nonsense-word tasks, suggesting that lexical familiarity may support second-language vowel perception. Findings also indicated that age of English acquisition, language exposure, and frequency of English use influenced vowel perception accuracy. Participants who learned English earlier tended to perform better on real-word vowel identification tasks. Overall, the findings support the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM), highlighting the influence of native language phonological categories on second-language speech perception. This study contributes to understanding English vowel perception among Spanish-English bilingual adults and emphasizes the importance of culturally and linguistically informed approaches when working with bilingual populations in educational and clinical settings.

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