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This study aims to describe and analyze prosodic differences in prominence realization in both spontaneous and read speech produced by Swedish second language speakers (L2 speakers) in comparison with native speakers (L1 speakers) of Spanish. A further aim of the study is to provide concrete descriptions of the differences between L2 and L1 prominence realization that may serve as tools for language teachers. Phonetic, phonological and to some extent pragmatic aspects will be considered. Results show that the F0 (fundamental frequency) rises in prominent words are steeper and faster in native speech than in L2 speech. Results also show that stressed vowels have longer duration in prominent words in L2 than in L1 Spanish. The number of boundary rises used by both groups differed significantly according to task and group. Pragmatic aspects, such as the use of different intersubjectivity seeking strategies, might explain differences found exclusively in the spontaneous task.

The pragmatic functions of pitch at tone unit boundaries are studied in L2 Spanish spoken by Swedish learners, as compared to L1 Swedish and L1 Spanish. The data are recordings of a task in which the subjects - 10 learners of Spanish and 13 native controls - make a restaurant booking on the phone in Spanish, and the Swedish subjects also perform this task in their L1. The tone unit boundary rises and falls produced have been analyzed with special focus on rises and their accompanying vowel duration patterns. The turn-regulating functions of signaling turn-continuation vs. transition-relevance are contrasted with intersubjectivity-regulating signals, namely (non-) prompts for information and ( non-) prompts for interpersonal acceptance. Since open-ended yes/no-questions are signaled by rises in Spanish, though not in Swedish, and since declaratives carrying a positive politeness value tend to end in rises (the "tail flick") in Swedish, though not in Spanish, various types of potential negative transfer could be predicted for Swedish learners' L2 Spanish. It is shown that L1 Spanish speakers consistently use moderate rises for turn-keeping and high rises for information-seeking, and that this pattern has no equivalence in the L2 Spanish data. Conversely, rises in L2 Spanish frequently occur where L1 Spanish speakers prefer falls. These rises, interpreted as "tail flicks,"also occur in L1 Swedish, but they are far more frequent in the L2 Spanish data. Thus, clear transfer patterns are found, which are further reinforced by - insecurity effects due to L2 speaking.

The paper investigates possible communicative effects caused by transfer from Swedish into L2 Spanish of prosodic patterns manifested in rising boundary tones, as occurring in the speech act of "requests". More specifically it studies whether there is any difference between transactional (+/-request for information) and interpersonal values (+/-value of friendliness) perceived in boundary tones produced in EL1, EL2 and SL1, depending on whether the evaluator is Spanish, Chilean or Swedish respectively. It also discusses whether these differences affect the valuation of the utterance in a way that may interfere with communication. The results show that the realisation of the rising boundary tones is the feature that mostly contributes to the foreign accent of Spanish spoken by Swedes. The results also show that the intersubjective value associated with a rising boundary tone is negatively affected when the intonational features of L2 Spanish do not match those of Spanish L1. Different discursive preferences in the Spanish and Swedish L1 are proposed as explanations to these results. The study finally suggests that teachers of Spanish as L2 pay attention to suprasegmental features that carry important pragmatic values, since the acquisition of these patterns can be of relevance for successful interaction with native speakers.

El trabajo investiga posibles efectos comunicativos debidos a una transferencia del sueco al español L2 de patrones prosódicos manifestados en los tonos de frontera ascendentes, tal como ocurren en el acto de habla “petición”. Más específicamente, se estudia si hay alguna diferencia entre los valores transaccionales (+/-solicitud de información) e interpersonales (+/-valor de amabilidad) percibidos en los ascensos producidos en los tonos de frontera del español nativo (EL1), del español lengua extranjera (EL2) y del sueco nativo (SL1), dependiendo de si el evaluador es español, chileno o sueco, respectivamente. También discutimos si tales diferencias afectan la valoración del enunciado de una manera que pueda interferir en la comunicación. Los resultados demuestran que el valor intersubjetivo asociado al ascenso del tono de frontera difiere entre el español chileno y peninsular. Demuestran además que el valor asociado al ascenso es negativamente afectado cuando las características prosódicas del español L2 no coinciden con las del español L1, tanto en el español chileno como en el peninsular. Diferentes preferencias discursivas en el español y sueco L1 son propuestas como explicación a los resultados. Se propone finalmente que los profesores de ELE en su enseñanza presten atención a las características suprasegmentales que sean portadores de importantes valores pragmáticos, ya que estos pueden ser de relevancia para una interacción exitosa con el hablante nativo.

The aim of the present paper is to highlight the central role that prosody plays for communication and to motivate the attention that arguably should be given to prosody within the foreign language classroom. The paper presents an overview of research addressing the communicative aspects of prosody, particularly focussing on L2 prosody and how classroom practice could be informed by current research. It also addresses bias from written language as one of the main explanations to the lack of attention paid to prosody in the language classroom and aims to highlight prosodic aspects of oral language that are not so much found in writing and that, due to our strong tradition of teaching languages through writing, run the risk of being forgotten. Spanish as a foreign language in a Swedish educational setting is focused upon, and the frameworks used to guide teachers’ practice, the CEFR and the curriculum, together with textbooks currently used in this setting, are analysed.

El objetivo de este trabajo es poner de relieve el papel central que desempeña la prosodia para la comunicación y motivar la atención que sin duda merecen los rasgos prosódicos en la clase de lenguas extranjeras. El artículo presenta un resumen de la investigación que aborde los aspectos comunicativos de la prosodia, sobre todo centrándose en la prosodia L2 y cómo podría ser informada la práctica en el aula por la investigación actual. También aborda el sesgo de lengua escrita como una de las principales explicaciones a la falta de atención prestada a la prosodia en la clase de lengua y pone de relieve los aspectos prosódicos de la lengua oral que no se encuentran tanto en la escritura y que, debido a nuestra fuerte tradición de enseñar idiomas a través de la escritura, corren el riesgo de ser olvidados. Se presta atención especial al español como lengua extranjera en un entorno educativo sueco, y se analizan los marcos utilizados para guiar la práctica docente, el CEFR y el currículo junto con los libros de texto utilizados en la actualidad en este entorno.

Based on previous research, this paper aims to provide thefirst stepstowards a model for the teaching of Spanish prosody to Swedishlearners by identifying main prosodic characteristics, referred to asCoreProsodic Features(CPFs), for the teaching of Spanish in a Swedish setting.The study addresses salient prosodic features of L1 Spanish in comparisonto L1 Swedish, and discusses whether the Swedish L1 features are likely tobe transferred into L2 Spanish. Another central issue of the paper iswhether such transfer is likely to interfere with communication. ThreeProsodic Core Features are identified: (1) focal-accent location, (2) vowelduration patterns, and (3) prosodic patterns in rising boundary tones.

El presente trabajo propone establecer una primera etapa en el desarrollo deun modelo para la enseñanza de la prosodia del español a estudiantessuecos, y su principal objetivo es el de identificar una serie decaracterísticas prosódicas fundamentales—Core Prosodic Features(CPFs)—relevantes para la enseñanza del español en un contexto suecohablante.Debido a su transcendencia comunicativa, es necesario prestar especialatención a todos estos rasgos en la enseñanza del español como lenguaextranjera. Se identifican tres características: (1) la colocación del acentofocal a nivel sintagmático, (2) los patrones de duración vocálica y (3) lospatrones prosódicos relativos a los tonos de frontera.