BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//pretalx//conference-hub.linguistic-society.com//athens-2026//talk //WCT7GK BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-athens-2026-WCT7GK@conference-hub.linguistic-society.com DTSTART:20260423T124500Z DTEND:20260423T130000Z DESCRIPTION:Abstract\nThis study investigates the impact of prosodic-acoust ic differences in speech production between English\nas a native language (L1) and Portuguese as a foreign language (L2) among native Irish speakers \, with a\nfocus on the proficiency level in the target language. It addre sses a significant gap in the literature\nconcerning the acquisition of pr osody in L2 Portuguese\, particularly among speakers whose L1 is English\n —a stress-timed language with distinct rhythmic\, intonational\, and int ensity-related features. The central\nresearch question is: To what extent can proficient L2 Portuguese speakers manage prosodic-acoustic\nfeatures such as duration\, fundamental frequency (f0)\, and intensity when produci ng the target L2\, and\nhow do these realizations deviate from their nativ e patterns?\nThe theoretical framework draws prior research into prosodic- acoustic parameters in L2 speech\nproduction and acquisition (Silva Jr. & Barbosa\, 2023\, 2024)\, as well on the revised Speech Learning\nModel (Fl ege & Bohn\, 2021)\, which predicts differential acquisition trajectories for acoustic parameters\nbased on cross-linguistic phonetic similarity and perceptual salience in the L1. Recent research\ndemonstrates that the tra nsition from stress-timed English to syllable- timed Brazilian Portuguese presents\npersistent challenges across proficiency levels (Gut\, 2022\; Pa ssion & Ordin\, 2021). L1 English speakers\nsystematically transfer stress -timing strategies\, producing over-reduced unstressed vowels and maintain ing\nL1-based durational patterns even at advanced stages (Ulbrich & Ordin \, 2020). Intonational challenges\ninclude tonal space mapping difficultie s\, as Brazilian Portuguese nuclear contours employ distinct pitch\naccent types that do not correspond to English inventory (Barbosa & Madureira\, 2021\; Gordon & Darcy\,\n2022).\nAs for the Methods\, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with seven native English\nspeakers fro m Northern Ireland\, all of whom are C1–C2 proficient in L2 Portuguese. Acoustic analysis\nwas conducted using Praat (Boersma & Weenink\, 2024)\, and statistical procedures included a Kruskal-Wallis \ntest to assess the effect of language level on prosodic- acoustic parameters. Preliminary res ults\nindicate that f0-based acoustic parameters—such as coefficient of variation\, slope\, median\, maximum\,\nminimum\, skewness\, and peak and valley rates—exhibited significant differences between L1 English and\nL 2 Portuguese productions suggesting that advanced proficiency facilitates convergence toward target\nmelodic-acoustic features consistent with recen t findings on pitch range acquisition in L2 speech (Mennen\net al.\, 2020\ ; Leemann et al.\, 2023). Similar effects were not observed for durational and intensity- related\nfeatures even at C1-C2 proficiency levels\, align ing with research showing these parameters are particularly\nresistant to change in L2 acquisition (Kolly & Dellwo\, 2021\; Raiscot et al.\, 2022). The persistence of L1-\nlike durational and intensity patterns suggests th ese parameters require specialized intervention\, potentially\nthrough hig h-variability perceptual training and articulatory training methods that h ave shown\neffectiveness in recent research (Olson\, 2023).\nThis study is ongoing\, with current efforts focused on analyzing global and pairwise e ffects between\nL1 English–L2 Portuguese speakers (experimental group) a nd native Brazilian Portuguese speakers\n(control group). DTSTAMP:20260419T082253Z LOCATION:Online Session SUMMARY:Prosodic-Acoustic Features in L2 Brazilian Portuguese Speech Produc tion by Native Irish English Speakers - Ana Margarida Belém Nunes URL:https://conference-hub.linguistic-society.com/athens-2026/talk/WCT7GK/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR