Chapter 4. Acquiring dialect-specific yes-no question intonation during study abroad in Venezuela

Abstract

This study explores the L2 acquisition of regionally-indexed intonation during study abroad by investigating changes in L2 intonation over the course of a semester abroad in the Venezuelan Andes. Results indicated that even after a short period abroad (i.e., 14 weeks) learners not only increased frequency of a familiar pattern (i.e., falling contours for declaratives), but some also adopted new patterns (i.e., a regional circumflex contour for absolute interrogatives) to varying degrees. Five of nine learners adopted the regional circumflex absolute interrogative and the frequency of this feature showed variation across two stylistically-different tasks. The chapter concludes by discussing possible reasons for high levels of variation across individuals and then suggests areas for future research.