Comparison of English Intonation Produced by EFL Spanish Speakers

Abstract

This study presents an analysis of the intonation regarding pitch, intensity and pitch contour produced by Spanish native speakers who have studied for at least five years in an English teaching programme in Chile. This study was conducted in order to determine and analyse if participants transferred the Spanish intonation into the English one. The literary review mainly exposed important terms related to Intonation according to several authors such as Roach (2002), Valenzuela (2013), among others. For the purpose of this study, 24 participants were asked to collaborate, they were divided into two groups, participants who have spent a semester abroad, and students who have not travelled abroad. For the purpose of the study female and male gender were also considered. The instrument used to conduct this study (taken from Celce-Murcia (1996) provided declarative statements, wh- questions and yes/no Questions. The results of these recordings were obtained through the use of the computer software called Praat, which provided the intensity (Db), pitch (Hz) and pitch contour (figures). The results of this research showed that there was a transfer of Spanish intonation into English intonation from Spanish native speakers, but it happens at different extents depending on the experience and exposure to the target language of the participants. The transfer of intonation is more noticeable in the production of wh-questions; however, this cannot be defined as a characteristic of mainly students who did not travelled (NT), because it has been found that both groups did transfer Spanish intonation.