Claire Byrd
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Lorenzo Garcia-Amaya
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Romance Languages and Literatures / LSA
Program:
Authors: Claire Byrd, Lorenzo GarcÃa-Amaya, Nicholas Henriksen
Session: Session 5: 2:40 pm – 3:30 pm
Poster: 52
Abstract
This study explores the linguistic dynamics of the Spanish-Afrikaans bilingual community in Patagonia, Argentina, where the population’s second language, Spanish, has become its primary language. We aim to understand the impact of bilingualism on phonetic production and language processing, which could offer insights into how the brain handles multiple languages. Using Praat software for acoustic analysis, we examined recorded interviews of both Spanish-Afrikaans bilinguals and Spanish monolingual speakers to analyze ‘r trill’ occlusions, a significant phonetic feature in both languages. We hypothesize that Spanish-Afrikaans bilingual speakers in Patagonia exhibit unique occlusion patterns in ‘r trill’ production compared to Spanish monolingual speakers from the same area, suggesting that bilingualism influences phonetic feature production. Preliminary findings align with the hypothesis, revealing differences in ‘r trill’ occlusion patterns between bilingual and monolingual speakers which indicates that bilingualism may influence the production of specific phonetic features. The distinct phonetic production of ‘r trills’ by Spanish-Afrikaans bilinguals may reflect broader cognitive adaptations for managing two linguistic systems, affecting language processing and phonetic realization. These findings not only have implications for the Spanish-Afrikaans community in Patagonia but also offer broader insights into bilingual language processing and production. This research will contribute to the theoretical understanding of bilingualism and it has practical applications in education, linguistic integration, and the preservation of linguistic diversity, including language revitalization efforts.
