Resumen de Crosslinguistic influence and the pronunciation of Spanish as an additional language

Carmen González Gómez, Jesús Fernández González

• Crosslinguistic influence is a main culprit in nonnative speech production. The native tongue’s (L1) phonic space warps and usually distorts the phonic spaces of languages learned later in life (L2), causing not only a foreign accent, but also issues in intelligibility and comprehensibility. This chapter will address: (1) how crosslinguistic transfer fits into the causes of nonnative pronunciation; (2) to which extent language differences have an impact on perception and production of L2 speech patterns; (3) what are the consequences of a foreign accent in terms of intelligibility and comprehensibility; (4) how segmentals and suprasegmentals in L2 Spanish are subject to the phonic pull of L1; and (5) what strategies and activities can help to improve L2 pronunciation.