Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Awards/Availabilty

Open Access Presidential Scholars Thesis

First Advisor

Juan Carlos Castillo, Advisor

Abstract

This thesis studies the similarities and differences between native speakers of the Spanish and English languages in the pronunciation of diphthong sounds, both the speakers' perception of such sounds as well as the actual sound produced. Two methods were used in determining trends and dissimilarities. Participants were asked to identify how many distinct segments they perceived in each of four test words. The results were then calculated and compared to seek common trends between the languages. The second method of determining similarities and differences involved measuring voice samples from the participants with a spectrograph. The end results were that while there is no significant difference in the frequency or change of the actual sounds produced by the speakers, there is a difference in the way in which native Spanish and native English speakers perceive these sounds.

Date of Award

2004

Department

Department of Modern Languages

Presidential Scholar Designation

A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation Presidential Scholar

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this Presidential Scholars thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit an email request to scholarworks@uni.edu. Include your name and clearly identify the thesis by full title and author as shown on the work.

Date Original

2004

Object Description

1 PDF file (29 pages)

Date Digital

4-9-2018

Copyright

©2004 - Kelley Wilkinson

Type

document

Language

EN

File Format

application_pdf

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