Uma visão dinâmica sobre a inteligibilidade de fala: um estudo longitudinal com haitianos e brasileiros

Abstract

Developmental studies on Additional Languages (ALs), grounded on Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (VERSPOOR; DE BOT; LOWIE, 2011; LOWIE; VERSPOOR, 2015; LOWIE; VERSPOOR, 2019, among others), view variability as an inherent process in language learning. Moreover, language variability may be connected to an improvement in learners’ proficiency (LOWIE; VERSPOOR, 2019). Based on this Complex Dynamic System view of language and taking into account Derwing and Munro (2015)’s definition of intelligibility (revisited in a dynamic paradigm in Albuquerque (2019), this article presents the results of a longitudinal study on intelligibility. The 12-point longitudinal data collection included two Haitian speakers (with different lengths of residence in Brazil and showing different proficiency levels in Portuguese) and two Brazilian listeners (showing different levels of experience in ALs and exhibiting different degrees of experience with foreigners in interactions). Listeners took part in an intelligibility task, which aimed to obtain the listeners’ oral comprehension of the speakers’ oral productions. Learning peak analyses and Monte Carlo simulations (VERSPOOR; DE BOT; LOWIE, 2011) revealed significant learning peaks to two out of four listener-speaker pair combinations. The findings shed light on a dynamic view of intelligibility, having important implications for the studies on language development in the field of ALs.