ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades, various researchers in Spanish phonology and phonetics have turned their attention to the acquisition of the language’s sound system by adult second language (L2) learners, as noted in the review articles of Elliott (2003), Simonet (2012), and Díaz-Campos (2014). While results from these studies have advanced our understanding of the L2 acquisition of Spanish phonology and phonetics, it remains difficult to articulate a broader understanding of the facts of Spanish and their implications, due in part to a need for further studies but also to confounding theoretical and methodological variation across studies that complicates their connection. Thus, the purpose of the present chapter is twofold: (1) to outline five interrelated guiding principles regarding future experimental research goals and methodologies, and (2) to review a selection of model studies that illustrate these principles, with an eye toward facilitating an explicit connection of findings as well as their practical application to L2 pronunciation instruction. The studies chosen focus on vowels and, to a lesser extent, prosody. It is hoped that by outlining these recommendations and reviewing a few solid models of experimental studies and results that illustrate them, this chapter will both contribute to our current understanding of the L2 acquisition of Spanish phonology and phonetics and have a positive impact on the ongoing development of the field.
