Development of vowel sounds in English as an L2 by Brazilians in an immersion context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2176-9419.v26i2p349-374Keywords:
Vowels, L2 Immersion, Language attrition, English as a second language, Brazilian PortugueseAbstract
This study is based on the theory of language as a Dynamic and Complex System, discussing language attrition in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and the reorganization of the vowel system in English as a second language. We analyzed the effect of the second language (L2) immersion context on the development of the vowel system in BP and English through a longitudinal study with data from four collection points before, during, and after over approximately nine months of the stay of 10 Brazilian students in the United States. F1 and F2 values and vowel duration were collected in both languages to descriptively analyze the vowel system of the speakers. We question: what is the effect of L2 immersion on the vowel system of Brazilian speakers? As a hypothesis, we believe that greater immersion in the L2 will result in greater development of the English vowel system, which may influence BP vowels and cause reorganization of the L1 system. The results indicate that there was a reorganization of the L2-English vowels, but there were no significant changes in the BP vowels.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Anderson Romário Souza Silva, Ronaldo Mangueira Lima Junior, Lucas Heitor Ananias Oliveira, Dominyk Santos Dias Simões
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