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This paper presents the investigation and analysis of speech accommodation effects in data obtained from Spanish learners of German with varying proficiency levels. The production data were recorded during a collaborative map task of the Spanish learners of German among each other and with a native speaker of German. The map task was designed to target words and phrases with specific segmental and suprasegmental characteristics. These characteristics were derived from contrastive analyses of Spanish and German. The main objectives of the paper were to investigate whether segmental and suprasegmental characteristics of the target language German are affected by phonetic accommodation to varying degrees and whether these differences depend on the proficiency level of the speaker or the interlocutor. The statistical analysis, using regression analyses, revealed inconsistent accommodation effects across learners of different proficiency levels as well as different linguistic phenomena. In line with previous findings the results can best be accounted for by an adaptation of a dynamic system approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilingualism and multiculturalism are verbally and visually recurrent in the sitcom Family Guy (1999-in production) through a combination of a main language of communication (L1) and other languages (L3) in the source language (SL) or source text (ST). The use of L3 is tantamount to tokenism and stereotyping characters, especially those whose recurrence is incidental and part of jokes. This paper compares two versions of the episode "Road to Rhode Island" (American and Spanish DVDs) and addresses a scene to analyze the linguistic challenges and lexical choices in dubbing and subtitling L1 and L3 in two geographical varieties of Spanish: Latin American Spanish and Peninsular Spanish. In this regard, this study focuses on the role and function of L3 in translation, the techniques to represent L3 in translation, L1 and L3 translation techniques, and which techniques are used in translation. Overall, this paper explores how the Spanish DVD adds a new L3 in the target text (TT) to maintain its original function in subtitling and dubbing, and the differences in the American DVD: L3TT omission in subtitling and L3TT change of function and meaning in dubbing, which ultimately accentuates linguistic and cultural misrepresentation and stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the nuclear configurations of declarative broad focus utterances in Yucatecan Spanish, a Mexican variety spoken in southeast Mexico in contact with Yucatec Maya, from a sociolinguistic perspective. We draw on a corpus of 276 utterances elicited from 16 speakers, eight Maya–Spanish bilinguals (four female/four male) and eight Spanish monolinguals (four female/four male). We particularly concentrate on the roles of bilingualism, gender, and their relationship to local (Hispanic) identity. Although the intonation of Yucatecan Spanish is known to be very different from Central Mexican Spanish, we find in our data a considerable number of contours that Martín Butragueño (2017) refers to as typical "Central Mexican circumflex intonation" (p. 153). What is more, this feature is distributed unevenly among speaker groups in our data. First of all, it is much more frequent in the bilingual than in the monolingual group. We suggest that this is due to the monolinguals' higher degree of identification with the local Spanish language and culture (whereas the bilingual speakers are more oriented toward the Mayan language and culture and less toward the local Spanish ones; see Uth, 2018b). Secondly, as regards gender, there are many sociolinguistic works that suggest that women tend to be less oriented toward local vernaculars than men. Building on that, we argue that a greater decrease of the supraregional circumflex configuration within the monolingual male group than within the monolingual female is to be expected. However, this hypothesis is not confirmed by our data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this case series was to demonstrate a communitybased sociolinguistic approach to language sample analysis (LSA) for the evaluation of Spanish–English bilingual preschoolers acquiring Black language (BL). As part of a comprehensive bilingual speech-language evaluation, we examined sociolinguistic variables in the context of the children’s English language samples. Specific emphasis is placed on sociolinguistic information to account for all language(s) and dialect(s) in each child’s environment, BL feature patterns, and appropriate scoring procedures for characterizing language use. Method: This case series includes four monolingual English-speaking and four bilingual Spanish-English–speaking 4-year-olds in a linguistically diverse preschool program. Play samples were collected from each child and coded for morphosyntactic features across three categories: BL, Spanish-Influenced English, and shared. Measures derived from the language samples include percent grammatical utterances, mean length of utterance in words, and number of different words. The children’s language is characterized within a communitybased sociolinguistic approach that combines three culturally responsive methods for assessment found in the speech-language pathology literature in addition to a novel sociolinguistic questionnaire. Results: We explain how conducting LSA using a community-based sociolinguistic approach yields diagnostically relevant information that is pertinent to conducting a comprehensive and accurate evaluation of preschoolers in linguistically diverse settings without the use of standardized assessments. Conclusion: A community-based sociolinguistic approach to LSA is a useful procedure for mitigating misdiagnosis in preschoolers reared in linguistically diverse environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistic diversity is present in many audiovisual productions and has given rise to fruitful research on translation of multilingualism and language variation. Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair, 2001) is a prototypical film for translation analysis, since multilingualism is a recurrent feature, as the film dialogue combines English (L1) with Hindi and Punjabi (L3), which creates an effect of code-switching. This article analyses how the multilingualism and the cultural elements present in the source text (ST) have been transferred to the Spanish translated text (TT) La boda del monzón. The results show that in the Spanish dubbed and subtitled versions, few Indian cultural elements are left, and little language variation is preserved. Thus, L3 does not play a central role as it does in the source text. In the translation, only a few loan words from Hindi or Punjabi are kept, mainly from the domains of food and cooking, as well as terms of address and greetings, or words related to the wedding ceremony. The results also show that when L3 is not fully rendered in translation, otherness is still conveyed through image and music, thus (re)creating a different atmosphere for Spanish audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, professional healthcare schools have invested considerable time and resources into the development and implementation of medical Spanish courses. However, most (if not all) of these courses and programs were developed without significant input from experts in the fields of applied linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA). This resulted in programs and courses which differ in every conceivable way, most notably in course objectives, course content, and assessment measures. Despite multiple calls by applied linguists over the years, there has never been a systematic evaluation of medical Spanish programs through the lens of applied linguistics. The literature to date also demonstrates a near-complete absence of collaboration between medical school faculty, applied linguists, and language teachers, furthering the divide between what is now well-documented in the applied linguistics and SLA literature and the reported classroom practices in the medical Spanish context. This article begins by contextualizing the development of medical Spanish courses under a backdrop of a critical need for multilingual medical professionals to better address documented healthcare disparities for Low English Proficiency (LEP) Spanish speakers, a steadily growing population in the United States. Then, the article introduces Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as an opportunity for unprecedented collaboration between healthcare practitioners, medical Spanish course instructors, and applied linguists to improve medical Spanish curricular offerings. It goes on to identify specific opportunities for collaboration between medical Spanish professionals (instructors, course designers, program administrators) and applied linguists by highlighting three major areas for further development in the medical Spanish context. This collaboration would result in a pedagogical framework strongly rooted in applied linguistics research findings with direct, measurable impacts on both L2 Spanish learners in medical Spanish courses and the patients they will serve. Based on identified opportunities for curricular and programmatic improvement in published medical Spanish course reports, this article provides a rationale for TBLT as well as an overview of the process of TBLT course development. This detailed overview of TBLT course development with specific reference to the medical Spanish context presents an argument for the adoption of TBLT as an evidence-based and pedagogically viable alternative to current course offerings in medical Spanish programs. This article aims to identify a clear path forward to enable medical school program administrators and course and curriculum designers to take concrete steps to align courses with current best practices in second language pedagogy in order to optimize Spanish learning outcomes for their programs' specific students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Our proof-of-concept study tested the feasibility of virtual testing using child assessments that were originally validated for in-person testing only. Method: Ten adult-child dyads were assigned to complete both in-person and virtual tests of language, cognition, and narratives. Child participants fell between the ages of 4 and 8 years; adult participants were speech-language clinicians or researchers with experience in administering child assessments. Half of child participants were Spanish-English bilinguals, and half were monolingual English speakers. Results: Results showed similar performance across in-person and virtual modalities on all assessments. Recommendations for adapting, administering, and scoring virtual measures with linguistically diverse children are discussed. Conclusions: Although additional research on virtual assessment is needed, our results open opportunities for appropriate remote assessment, particularly for bilingual children, who may not have in-person access to speech-language pathology services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports an oral production experiment investigating the expression of existentiality in the Catalan of adult Catalan–Spanish early bilinguals (N = 58) with comparable proficiencies but different language dominance. The results show qualitative differences among the bilinguals in existential predicate selection and in their supply of partitive pronouns, modulated by language dominance. Balanced Bilinguals as well as Spanish-dominant bilinguals significantly produced more estar (in detriment of ser-hi and haver-hi) not only in locative contexts, where Catalan already presents optionality regulated by semantic differences, but also in existential constructions, where this optionality does not exist. We argue for indirect crosslinguistic influence (CLI), when the bilingual perceives certain structural overlap within constructions, mediating the influence from one structure to another one and expanding the limits of CLI. The qualitative differences found among bilinguals challenge the idea of a bilingualism continuum in Catalan–Spanish bilingualism with an identical mental representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]