Contact situations between Spanish and English have motivated the study of transfer and variation processes at different levels of the grammar in multiple occasions. Nevertheless, these phenomena have not been studied in detail at the intonational level. This research analyzes the productions of twenty-four bilinguals divided into four groups with different levels of exposure to English and Spanish with the objective of looking for asymmetries and similarities between speakers and languages. The analysis of 488 tonal movements in statements, imperatives and vocatives show that Spanish and English may share multiple melodies. At the same time, bilingual speakers may present modifications due to transfer or attrition processes in their tonal inventories regardless of their affinity and identification with one of the languages. These modifications are the result of different kinds of exposure to each language.
Keywords:
intonation, bilingualism, Spanish, English, transfer
Robles-Puente, S. (2019). Transfer and erosion of melodic patterns in spanish-english bilinguals in California. Boletín De Filología, 54(1), pp. 283–306. Retrieved from https://pedagogiaderecho.uchile.cl/index.php/BDF/article/view/53550
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