This document compares and contrasts features of the Spanish and English languages. It discusses the origins of the languages, with Spanish being a Romance language and English being Germanic. Key differences discussed include vowels, additional letters in the Spanish alphabet, formal vs informal address, adjective placement, pronoun elimination in Spanish verbs, and typical word order. The document also provides a case study of an English language learner named Lola, analyzing errors that could be due to developmental factors or interference from her native Spanish language.

1. Language Comparison Kathryn Gaugler ESL 502

2. Spanish vs. English Language Origins and Features Variances Case Study

3. Language Origins Spanish is a Romance language but English is a Germanic language Spanish migrated across the Atlantic with the exploration and conquering of the “New World” Spanish is currently 2nd most spoken language in US

4. Alphabet Vowels are super easy in Spanish – no long or short vowels! A (sounds like what you say to the Dr. when you stick out your tongue!) E (sounds like a way to clarify something in Canadian English…eh?) I (Say the English letter “E”, that’s all there is to it!) O (not any different than the way we say the letter) U (sounds like the double “o” sound you make when impressed. Oo!) Spanish vowels never change their sound. English “E” and Spanish “I” are phonetically the same, and create a lot of confusion.

5. Alphabet Both languages use the Latin alphabet BUT…. There are a few additional letters in Spanish: CH LL RR Ñ Dictionaries published after 1994 do not recognize them as distinct letters, but they do have a different sound than their counterparts: C, L, R and N respectively.

6. Variation Formal vs. Informal In Spanish, there exists a formal form to address some one you do not know well or someone of higher importance or of age. The informal is used to address a friend. This distinction requires different pronouns (tú/usted, vosotros/ustedes) and verb forms For example: How are you? Could be translated: ¿Cómoestástú? Or ¿Cómoestáusted? (friendly) (formal)

7. Adjectives In English, adjectives go before the noun they descirbe I live in a redhouse. Adjectives in Spanish go after the noun Vivo en la casa roja. Many adjectives will modify in gender and number to agree with the noun they describe.

8. Pronoun Elimination Spanish verb conjugation is similar to one particular English verb: I am You are He is Each of these verbs looks different….

9. Pronoun Elimination Sample Spanish verb conjugation Yo soy Túeres Éles Each of these verb forms also looks different…. Almost EVERY verb form (in most tenses) will look different than any other form. Because of this, the subject can be inferred from just the verb. While not appropriate to say just “Are tall.” with out a subject in English, Spanish speaker would drop the subject and simply say “Eres alto.” The subject ‘you’ is inferred from eres.

10. Word Order Both languages follow SVO order.

11. Case Study Lola 1st year ELL Going into 2nd grade Speaks Spanish fluently for age, does not have home English exposure Analysis done through written work

13. Case Study errors are a combination of developmental (like the omission of verbs) interference of L1 like putting adjectives after nouns. (Some of her errors made sense knowing Spanish and the word arrangement and acceptable writing policies of that language.) Spelling is developmental mastery of L1 and knowledge base to apply rules and strategies to her English acquisition is not there.

14. Spelling in English can be difficult since there are so many ways to change vowels that do not exist in Spanish Lola will need to work on English spelling, but doesn’t have a strong base in Spanish spelling Verb tense errors – overgeneralization of the –ed rule Subject omission – Who has yellow hair? homophone errors – to vs. too Error samples were limited to writing examples. When asked to write words she knew in English, she wrote “sop” including the Spanish vowel /o/ but not the correct English spelling with “o” and “a”.