Lunfardo, a popular way of expression used by Rioplatense Spanish speakers of all ages, genders, and socioeconomic classes across Argentina, was historically classified as a criminal jargon used...Show moreLunfardo, a popular way of expression used by Rioplatense Spanish speakers of all ages, genders, and socioeconomic classes across Argentina, was historically classified as a criminal jargon used solely by criminals and the working class in the region of Rio de la Plata. Little sociolinguistic research has been carried out to ascertain the current status of Lunfardo and even less has been undertaken on regions beyond the capital of Argentina. The present study evaluated the extent to which young adults, aged 18-29 from San Luis, Argentina, could recognise Lunfardo and analysed their linguistic attitudes towards its use and those who use it. This was achieved by gathering quantitative and qualitative data using Lunfardo comprehension tests, rating tasks and interviews with 21 participants. The quantitative findings revealed that young people from San Luis understand a significant amount of Lunfardo terms, with age and gender influencing levels of comprehension. The qualitative findings demonstrated that Lunfardo is no longer considered a criminal jargon, nor is it only characteristic of the working class. Instead, Argentine Spanish speakers across the country, regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic class, and education level, employ Lunfardo daily to converse and form genuine connections with others. This study concludes that there has been a drastic change in how Lunfardo is perceived. It is now overwhelmingly regarded as an essential component of Argentine culture and identity. Overall, the young people of San Luis show little bias towards the use of Lunfardo and those who use it.Show less
The teaching of pronunciation is slowly receiving more attention in TESL, yet the teaching of the suprasegmental features of language (stress and intonation) it still scarce. Due to its important...Show moreThe teaching of pronunciation is slowly receiving more attention in TESL, yet the teaching of the suprasegmental features of language (stress and intonation) it still scarce. Due to its important role in communication, this project description paper presents an analysis of the effects Castilian Spanish stress and intonation have on English Questions when uttered by Castilian Spanish speakers. Additionally, it suggests Age, Age of Onset of Acquisition and Proficiency to be possible factors influencing successful pronunciation. This proposal is a replica of Valenzuela Farías’ study (2013): “A comparative Analysis of Intonation between Spanish and English speakers in Tag Questions, Wh-Questions, Inverted Questions, and Repetition Questions”. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, this study does not have empirical results. The results shown are predictions drawn from existing research applied to the focus of this research. Hypotheses indicate a possible connection between learner’s first and second language (language transfer), in addition to Age, Age of Onset of Acquisition and Proficiency as factors influencing the successfulness of the acquisition of English pronunciation.Show less