Linguistic Analysis Project Directions
You have interviewed someone from a different culture for your Cultural Interview Assignment, for your Parent
Connection Research Paper you researched cultural practices in regards to schooling that may effect parental
involvement for that culture. Now, using the language that corresponds to the culture you chose for those two
projects, you are going investigate the differences between that language and English. This will give you a deep
picture of that particular culture and its language and allow you to plan culturally sensitive and linguistically
appropriate instruction for a student from that place of origin and L1.
For this assignment you will complete the “Linguistic Analysis” worksheet .doc. In order to complete it correctly
you must complete independent research on your language. Use the websites below to jumpstart your research.
http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/index.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/non-native-pronunciations-of-english
http://accent.gmu.edu/
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/profile.aspx?menu=004
Also use Google and keyword searches such as:
“Differences between English and ______”
“English vs. _______”
“Contrastive analysis of English and ______”
“Comparing English and _________ “
Once you have filled out the worksheet completely and correctly, upload it into LiveText by the deadline under
“Video Vignettes.”
Note: When you are a teacher and have your own classroom these are the first questions in regards to language
differences you have to ask yourself to begin instruction. Remember L1 literacy transfers to L2. We can facilitate
this process when we understand the similarities between the L1 and L2 and teach at the gaps. If we know what
stumbling blocks and difficult points will be, we can reach proactively. Save this worksheet in your "teacher
resources" file for future use.
Spanish:
Linguistic Analysis Project
Your Name : S.C. Murray.
Language of Investigation : Spanish
What places of origin (countries, regions, cities) is this language primarily spoken? Spain and its former colonies
mostly in the new world (Latin America and some Caribbean Islands), some also in Asia (Philippines), and Africa.
The closest/ most similar languages to this language are Portuguese and Italian.
How many speakers are there globally of this language? There are about 500 million speakers worldwide.
Spanish is the second most populous language after Mandarin Chinese.
Alphabet
This language has a Latin alphabet. There are 29 actual letters . There is the enya –n- with a ~ over it, the –ch- and
the - ll- . However, the last two were removed from the official list in 1994 due to some official pan-Spanish
agreement, but they are still used.
a, b, c, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z
This language reads left to right as does English.
The letters/ characters of this alphabet are of the Indo-European family, specifically the Ibero-Romance branch.
Does this language depend primarily on tone or pitch? No
Is this language syllable or stress timed? Spanish is syllable-timed , meaning that each syllable receives the
same length of time in articulation regardless of stress.
Does this language have strong sound/symbol correspondence? (English does not) Yes. Spanish is one of the
most phonetic languages, whose words are pronounced according to the way they are written. If you know how to
spell a word you will be able to say it (once you know the sound system). The only real exceptions to this are recent
imports or foreign words.
Complete this section ONLY if your language is Latin based (most languages you will encounter are).
Phonetics and phonology
There are 5 pure vowels and 5 diphthongs in Spanish. The pronunciation of Spanish vowels is very simple - each
vowel can be pronounced only one way.
Which vowels sound the same as English vowel sounds? (list L1 vowel and English vowel correspondence)
Vowel Sound Similar English sound Examples
A
[ah]
father, mama
adiós, ellas, cuando
E
[ay]
they, hey
que, tres, ella
I
[i]
machine
cinco, sí, repita
O
[o]
no, own
dos, cómo, ocho
rule, blue
uno, salud, usted
U
[u]
(Wikipedia)
Which vowel sounds do not exist in English?
There are 24 consonants in this language. They are shown in the chart below.
The symbols inside brackets [] represent the sound units; the un-bracketed symbols are regular alphabet letters:
[p] p
[t] t
[k] c,k,qu
[b] b,v
[d] d
[g] g,gu
[f] f
[m] m
([th] c,z)
[s] s,c,z
[ch] ch
[n] n
[ny] ñ
[l] l
([ly]) ll
[h] j,g
[r] r
[y] y,i,ll
[w] u,hu,w
There are two spellings for [b], three for [k], three for [s] (in Latin American Spanish), three for [y], three for [w],
and two for [h]. Remember, [h] represents a sound; the LETTER h represents NO sound, ever.
http://www.learnspanishhowto.com/reading-and-writing-spanish-221.php
Which consonant sounds do NOT exist in English?
There is no –ll-, ñ, trilled –r- (rr) or tripped r , (English -r- is a retroflex sound) English does not have the silent
Spanish –h- ( except in some usages of a couple of French words like (h)otel, (h)erb, but we do not say –ospital!).
Also the non- aspiration in certain consonants such as –c-,-p-, -b- are absent in English as is the Spanish –j- sound
What sounds do speakers of this language have difficulty pronouncing?
The length of vowel is important in English but not Spanish, so they have trouble with distinctions such as
sheep/ship cut/cat/cart, taught/tot. Other problems such as:
failure to pronounce the end consonant accurately or strongly enough ; e.g. cart for the English
word card or brish for bridge or thing for think

problems with the /v/ in words such as vowel or revive

difficulties in sufficiently distinguishing words such as see/she or jeep/sheep/cheap

the tendency to prefix words beginning with a consonant cluster on s- with an /ε/ sound; so, for
example, school becomes eschool and strip becomes estrip

the swallowing of sounds in other consonant clusters; examples: next becomes nes and

instead becomes istead.
http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/spanish.htm
Are there any sound placements that are different between English and this language? What are they?






“ch” and “sh” are two different phonemes in English. However, in Spanish, these may be pronounced
interchangeably without changing word meaning. For example, chimenea as “chimenea” or “shimenea.”
“v” and “b” are two different phonemes in English. In Spanish, both letters appear in written words but the
typical pronounciation is “b” (depending on dialect). For example, vaca sounds like “baca” just as baja
sounds like “baja.”
s” and “z” in English are two different phonemes. In Spanish, both letters appear in written words but the
typical pronounciation is “s” (depending on dialect). For example, zapato sounds like “sapato” just as sopa
sounds like “sopa.”
• There are other allophonic variations of the “b,” “d,” and “g” sounds that exist in Spanish that we do
not produce in English. Also the trilled “rr” is a phoneme in Spanish and will carry a different meaning
than a word produced with an “r.” For example, perro means “dog” and pero is the conjunction “but.”
http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/82_commonArticulation.pdf
Do any double letter combinations exist in this language? The- ll- sounds like the English –y-, but the –rr-, is
not used in English.
Syntax and Grammar
How many tenses exist in this language?
The simple answer is that there are 14 verb tenses in Spanish: 7 simple tenses and 7 compound tenses (where a verb
is preceded by a helping” verb). http://www.spanishclassonline.com/Verbs/VerbConjugationBasics.html
However, verbs become quite complex in Spanish because it is an inflected language so that the form of the verb
can be altered depending on:

Tense: past, present, future.

Number: singular or plural.

Person: first, second or third.

Mood: indicative, subjunctive, or imperative.

Aspect: Perfective aspect or imperfective aspect (distinguished only in the past tense as preterite or imperfect).

Voice: active or passive.

All this can resulting in some fifty conjugated forms per verb!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_verbs
Word Order
The word order of this language is Noun/Verb/ (Object). The subject of word order in Spanish can be quite
complex, but in its basics Spanish is more flexible with its word order than English is. In both languages, a
typical statement consists of a noun followed by a verb followed by an object (if the verb has an object). In English,
variations are used mostly for literary effect. But in Spanish, changes in the word order can be found in everyday
conversation and writing such as in newspapers and magazines.
The chart below shows examples of some common ways of ordering words. Note that in many sentences the subject
can be omitted if it can be understood from the context.
Type
Statement
Order
Subject,verb
Example
Roberto
estudia.(Robert is
studying.)
Comment
This word order is extremely common and can be
considered the norm.
Statement
Subject,
verb, object
Roberto compró el
libro.(Robert bought
the book.)
This word order is extremely common and can be
considered the norm.
Statement
Subject,
objectpronoun,
verb
Roberto lo
compró.(Roberto
bought it.)
This word order is extremely common and can be
considered the norm. Object pronouns precede
conjugated verbs; they can be attached at the end
of infinitives and present participles.
Question
Question word,
verb, subject
¿Dónde está el
libro?(Where is the
book?)
This word order is extremely common and can be
considered the norm.
Exclamation Exclamatory
word, adjective,
verb, subject
¡Qué linda es
This word order is extremely common and can be
Roberta!(How
considered the norm. Many exclamations omit one or
beautiful Roberta is!) more of these sentence parts.
Statement
Verb, noun
Sufren los niños.(The Placing the verb ahead of the noun can have the effect
children are
of placing more emphasis on the verb. In the sample
suffering.)
sentence, the emphasis is more on the suffering than
who is suffering.
Statement
Object, verb, noun El libro lo escribió
Placing the object at the beginning of the sentence can
Juan.(John wrote the have the effect of placing more emphasis on the object.
book.)
In the sample sentence, the emphasis is on what was
written, not who wrote it. The pronoun lo, although
redundant, is customary in this sentence construction.
Statement
Adverb, verb,
noun
Siempre hablan los
niños.(The children
are always talking.)
Phrase
Noun,adjective
la casa azul y cara(the Descriptive adjectives, especially ones that describe
expensive blue house) something objectively, usually are placed after the
nouns they modify.
Phrase
Adjective, noun
Otras casas(other
houses);mi querida
amiga (my dear
friend)
Phrase
Preposition, noun en la caja(in the box) Note that Spanish sentences can never end in a
preposition, as is commonly done in English.
Command
Verb, subject
pronoun
Estudia tú.(Study.)
In general, Spanish adverbs are kept close to the verbs
they modify. If an adverb starts a sentence, the verb
frequently follows.
Adjectives of number and other nondescriptive
adjectives usually precede the noun. Often, so do
adjectives being used to describe something
subjectively, such as to impart an emotional quality to
it.
Pronouns are often unnecessary in commands; when
used, they nearly always immediately follow the verb.
http://spanish.about.com/od/sentencestructure/a/word-order-in-spanish.htm
Punctuation in Spanish is very much like in English . The major dfferences are: question marks and exclamation
points.
In Spanish, question marks are used at the beginning and the end of a question. If a sentence contains more than a
question, the question marks frame the question only.
 Si no te gusta la comida, ¿por qué la comes? If you don't like the food, why are you eating it?
Exclamation points are used in the same way that question marks except to indicate exclamations instead of
questions. Exclamation marks are also sometimes used for direct commands. If a sentence contains a
question and an exclamation, it is acceptable to use one of the marks at the beginning of the sentence and the other
at the end.
 Vi la película la noche pasada. ¡Qué susto! I saw the movie last night. What a fright!
 ¡ Qué lástima, estás bien ? What a pity, are you all right?
Some other slight usage differences are:
Period, which in regular text is used essentially the same as in English. However, in numerals a comma is often
used instead of a period and vice versa. In U.S. and Mexican Spanish, however, the same pattern as English is often
followed.

Gana $30.000 por año. He earns $30, 000 per year.
The dash is used most frequently in Spanish to indicate a change in speakers during a dialogue, thus replacing
quotation marks. In English, it is customary to separate each speaker's remarks into a separate paragraph, but that
typically isn't done in Spanish.

— ¿ Cómo estás? — Muy bien ¿ y tú ? — Muy bien también. "How are you?" ¶"I'm fine. And you?" ¶"I'm fine
too."

http://spanish.about.com/od/writtenspanish/a/punctuation.htm
How does this language mark gender?
The nouns form a two-gender system and are marked for number. Pronouns can be inflected
for person, number, gender (including a residual neuter), and case,
Morphology
What are some shared cognates between English and this language?
English
Spanish
To abandon
abandoner
benevolent
benevolo
courteous
cortes
defect/fault
defecto
to find/encounter
encontrar
fierce/ferocious
feroz
general/usual
general
hour/time
hora
important
importante
What are some FALSE cognates between English and this language?
English
Spanish
To be present/attend
asistir
Brave
bizarre
Field/countryside
campo
Table cover/file folder/briefcase
carpeta
Success
exito
Daily wage/pay
jornal
Current/now
actual
Obliging/attentive
obsequiso
Language
idioma
Café (not self-service eating place)
cafeteria
To wander
errar
Unpredictable
lunatic
Duty/responsibility
cargo
Through your research what have you found are the biggest difficulties of speakers of this
language learning English? Please provide specific examples.
Spanish speakers find it easy to get a good ear for English and to be quite fluent and good at getting their meaning
across. Because of this one can have the impression that they have more command over English structure,
vocabulary and pronunciation, than in fact they actually do have. Perhaps this is because when they are incorrectly
using Spanish constructions it is not too difficult for an English speaker to understand, because frequently the
constructions is only a little different from English. However, when you are carefully going over some English
lesson you tend to see that the ELL is not really pronouncing the English sound combinations that do not exist in
Spanish correctly---such as for “special” s /he will add an /e/in front to say “especial”. Another example is the
English /kt/ consonant cluster as in the word ”structure”, the ELL would want to drop the /kt/ sound and say
/estrutor/ or at word ending position as or the word “act” the ELL would add an /o/ to say /acto/, as in their
sentence: el drama tiene tres actos. The English voiced and unvoiced /th/ is also difficult for Latin American
ELLs (less so for Peninsular Iberian ELLS who have the unvoiced /th/).
Of course, just as for English speakers learning Spanish, there is the same problem in reverse of the false cognates!
If you have an early production ELL, for whom this language is their L1, what would be the
most important thing you will teach them in regards to the difference between their language
and English?
I would focus on the similarities between the two languages, because this is like a ”Get out of jail” card—a huge
bonus for building a confident approach to learning English. This information and evidence to support it (vocabulary
charts) would serve to lessen an ELL’s initial sense of trepidation. The similarities would be presented, and then the
tips and tricks to see how to make the adjustments; such as with “acto” , in English there is a pattern “drop the
/o/.” With word- initial /sp/ placement , practice making that sound without the /e/ in front. Practice making the /h/
audible for English. This can be done with sound games --making the sounds of animals, the wind, waves, steam
coming out of a kettle etc. Instead of miming in the guessing game, have the ELLs make sounds. Another difficulty
is with the soft /g/ in Spanish as in “imaginar”, game-drills could be devised to overcome L1 habits.
In the beginning it is important to emphasize the similarities, and show how many of the difference are systematic,
so getting control of these is like finding a key to go from the castle of Spanish to the fort of English,. A good one is
to show how many infinitives in Spanish end with /ar/ and that by dropping the ending, you get a perfectly good
English word. If a good foundation is laid with these similarities, the ELL can feel more confident to be able to gain
some mastery. Furthermore in teaching this way, the expansion of vocabulary occurs with both L1 and L2 which
cognitively serves the student even better.