A Comparative Analysis between Spanish and English Intonation

Maria Gabriela Venezuela Farías

Authors

Maria Gabriela Venezuela Farías Universidad Catolica de la Santisima Concepcion (UCSC) ##default.groups.name.author##

Keywords:

Spanish intonation, English intonation, pronunciation, pitch, intensity

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the differences and similarities in intonation when producing tag questions, wh-questions, inverted questions, and repetition questions among native English speakers and ESL Spanish speakers. These differences were measured and analyzed with a computer program called Praat, and the pitch, the intensity and the intonation contour were the focus of the study. The results have shown significant differences, as well as similarities between these two languages in some questions. The implication of this study is that the obtained data can help teachers and students to identify the problems that ESL Spanish speakers can have when learning English as a L2, especially with regards to intonation.

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