Spanish Phonology and Pronunciation Flashcards
7 cards from real BTLPT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Spanish Phonology and Pronunciation flashcards as text
The Spanish letters 'b' and 'v' are described phonologically as having which allophones?
Answer: [b] after a nasal or at word start; [β] fricative elsewhere
Both 'b' and 'v' represent the phoneme /b/: pronounced as the stop [b] after nasals or at the start of an utterance, and as the fricative [β] in other positions.
Which feature distinguishes Spanish syllable structure from English most significantly for bilingual learners?
Answer: Spanish favors open syllables (CV) while English tolerates complex codas
Spanish strongly prefers open CV syllables and has stricter coda constraints than English, which permits complex clusters like /ksts/ in words like 'texts'.
In the BTLPT context, why is understanding Spanish phonological rules important for bilingual teachers?
Answer: To identify and address phonological interference errors in students' Spanish production
Bilingual teachers need phonological knowledge to recognize transfer errors from English to Spanish and provide targeted corrective feedback to students developing Spanish proficiency.
The Spanish word 'guía' (guide) has a written accent mark primarily to:
Answer: Indicate the 'i' forms its own syllable (hiato) rather than a diphthong with 'a'
The accent on 'guía' breaks what would otherwise be a diphthong, indicating that 'i' and 'a' form separate syllables (hiato: gu-í-a), with stress on the 'i'.
Which of the following describes the Spanish diphthong correctly?
Answer: A diphthong is formed by a weak vowel (i, u) combining with any other vowel in one syllable
Spanish diphthongs form when a weak vowel (i or u) combines with any other vowel, or when two weak vowels combine, all within a single syllable.
A student writes 'el' (the) and 'él' (he) differently. This accent mark serves which function?
Answer: It is a diacritical accent distinguishing two words that would otherwise be homographs
The accent on 'él' is a diacritical (orthographic) accent used not to mark phonological stress but to distinguish the pronoun from the article 'el' in writing.
When teaching Spanish pronunciation to bilingual students, a teacher focuses on the contrast between 'pero' and 'perro'. This activity targets which phonological feature?
Answer: The phonemic contrast between the tap [ɾ] and trill [r]
'Pero' uses the single tap [ɾ] while 'perro' uses the multiple trill [r]; since these sounds create meaning differences, mastering them is essential for Spanish proficiency.