The document discusses research into whether native Spanish speakers de-accent given information in discourse like native English speakers. It describes studies that found native English speakers lower the pitch on words mentioned again in a sentence, while non-native speakers did not. The document then outlines a study where native and non-native Spanish speakers will read a passage and their speech will be analyzed to see if Spanish speakers de-accent given words. Results of the study showed Spanish speakers accented or did not de-accent given words at a higher rate than native English speakers.

1. Don’t Stress the Stress Do Native Spanish Speakers De-accent Given Information? Christy Marscheider

2. Spring “Break”

3. Non-Native English Speakers do not de-accent given information in discourse. Hypothesis:

4. W.H.G. Wells and J.K. Local prove this in their paper titled Deaccenting and The Structure of English Intonation. How do we know native speakers de-accent?

5. They state that numerous investigators of intonation and information structure have noted that a lexical item which the speaker is presenting to the hearer as given, old, shared knowledge, etc., will not be phonologically prominent, even though this item may be in the normal position for sentence accent,viz. the last lexical item in the sentence. Ladd (1980) call this phenomenon deaccenting (703).

6. How do Spanish speakers accent when speaking Spanish? Julia Tevis McGory, from Ohio University’s Linguistic Department, found that Spanish speakers continue to accent content words when speaking, however, they do exhibit a downstepping pattern.

7. Dr. Ann Wennerstrom University of Washington Techniques for Teachers , textbook for nonnative English speakers

8. Ann Wennerstrom She found that in the oral reading category, native English speakers had a higher pitch and intensity on the words that contained new information in the sentence, while the other language groups did not show much distinction at all to the new information She also found that, in reference to nouns and adjectives, English speakers would lower their pitch on the second mention in a sentence, because they were considered “redundant”

9. Wennerstrom’s findings indicated that L2 speakers did not seem to accent new information in discourse. She also found that L2 speakers did not seem to de-accent given, or “redundant” information

10. Do native Spanish speakers de-accent given information in discourse? Native and non-native speakers will be interviewed to determine if this hypothesis is correct. Participants will read a sample paragraph and their dialogue will be recorded and analyzed. The Study

11. Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

12. Sandos Riviera Resort

13. Sample Paragraph If you like the sun, then you would love Virginia Beach in the summer. In the summer Virginia Beach is usually sunny and warm. If you move here you should probably buy sunscreen- you will need some. You will see sunshine and blue skies almost every day, so it can really help protect your skin. The sun can give you a bad burn if you aren’t careful! On a cloudy day, you won’t get too much sun , but on a clear day, you need to watch out and be prepared!

14. Results Targeted Words Accented or Not De-Accented Non-Native Speakers Native Speakers Summer 71% 47% Virginia Beach 23% 0% Sunny 64% 50% Here 79% 47% Sunshine 75% 75% It 42% 8% Sun 56% 13%

15. Word Evaluated in Sample Paragraph % Increase of Spanish Speakers Accenting or Not De-accenting Given Information Summer 24% Virginia Beach 23% Sunny 14% Here 32% Sunshine 0% It 34% Sun 43%

16. Conclusions and Suggestions Further Study Free Discourse Evaluating Procedure