The Main Causes of Phonic Interference of the Slovak Language in Spanish

Abstract

The article analyses the causes of the interference of the Slovak articulation base in phonic production in Spanish. Although Slovak students are able to achieve a surprising phonic imitation of Spanish speakers, there are acoustic nuances that can be eliminated only by studying the phonemes and the changes they suffer in the flow of speech. In fact, it is necessary to get rid of the first language articulation base and replace it with the Spanish one. This must start as a controlled process to then become an automated process. That is why it is not sufficient to rely exclusively on auditory correction while training pronunciation. We try to focus on the phenomena that are the main cause of the interference of Slovak in the Spanish pronunciation. These specifically include systemic differences (such as the different place of articulation and differences in the duration of sound) on the one hand and phenomena linked to the neutralization of phonemic characteristics in the flow of speech (such as the change of the articulatory mode, accommodation, and sound reinforcement) on the other. Taking into account the results of this contrastive study between Spanish and Slovak, we are able to eliminate the influence of Slovak articulatory habits during the phonic exercises in order to achieve an acceptable phonic level of Slovak students in Spanish.