Research:
Main Research Interests:
In general, I am passionate about the world of speech sounds—both phonetics and phonology—as well as their interface. The languages I work with include English as a second language and Spanish (mostly Costa Rican Spanish). I have also conducted fieldwork on Limon Creole (an English-based creole spoken in Costa Rica) and Beijing Mandarin (in NYC). Here is a more specific list of my research interests:
L2 phonological development. For example, categorical representations in L2 phonological development through the L1-L2 phonological interaction in the L2 speakers' interlanguage.
L2 phonetic development. In other words, the gradient development of phonetic structure in L2 speakers (e.g., VOT or vowels' acoustic space).
Phonetic variation across speakers and their possible explanation sources (e.g. bilingualism).
Consonant clusters from both a phonological perspective (e.g., the production of non-native consonant sequences and the emergence of epenthetic/deletion patterns) and a phonetic perspective (e.g., the influence of different contextual factors that influence one or both members of the cluster).
Additional Academic Interests:
I have additional interests in foreign/second language instruction and education in general. For example, I am interested in the effectiveness and the development of pronunciation instruction strategies that benefit L2 learners in acquiring and improving the phonetic/phonological patterns of the target language, both in perception and production.
Peer Reviewed Articles:
Fonseca Quesada, F. (to appear). Consonant clusters and rhotic variation in Costa Rican Spanish. Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics
Fonseca Quesada, F. (under review). The mirror case of the phones [d ð ɾ] in L1 Spanish learners of L2 English. Manuscript under review.
Fonseca Quesada, F. (2024). Insights into Spanish metrical structure through language games. Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 13(2), 329–347. https://doi.org/10.7557/1.13.2.7701
Fonseca Quesada, F. (2024). Substitution Patterns of the English Voiced Interdental Fricative by L1 Costa Rican Spanish Speakers. RLLT 21, eds. Grant Armstrong, Roberta D’Alessandro & M. Carmen Parafita Couto. Special Issue of Isogloss. Open Journal of Romance Linguistics 10 (2)/1, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/isogloss.284
Conference Talks and Posters:
Fonseca Quesada, F. (2025). Consonant clusters with rhotic sounds in two varieties of Costa Rican Spanish: Central Valley and Limon Creole speakers (Grupos consonánticos con sonidos róticos (/Cɾ/ y /ɾC/) en dos variedades del español costarricense: Valle Central y hablantes del criollo limonense). VII Congreso de la Asociación Centroamericana de Lingüística ACAling. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras UNAH. Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Agosto 20-22, 2025.
Fonseca Quesada, F. (2025). English Allophonic Tap [ɾ] by L1 Spanish Speakers: Allophonic Split vs Allophonic Union. The 11th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech (New Sounds). University of Toronto, Canada. April 23-25, 2025. [poster]
Fonseca Quesada, F. (2024). Alveolar Tap in Consonant Clusters ([Cɾ] and [ɾC]): A challenge to Lenition Scales. Stony Brook, Yale, NYU, CUNY Linguistics Conference - SYNC 2024. New York University; New York City, NY. December 7th, 2024. [abstract]
Fonseca Quesada, F. (2024). L1 Spanish Speakers Learners of English: The complexity of /d/. Current Approaches to Spanish and Portuguese Second Language Phonology - CASPSLaP 2024. North Carolina State University; Raleigh, NC. March 15-16, 2024. [abstract]
Fonseca Quesada, F. (2023). On the Metrical Structure of Spanish Language Games. 53rd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages - LSRL 53. INALCO, Paris. June 26-30, 2023. [abstract]
Fonseca Quesada, F. (2022). Substitution Patterns of the English Voiced Inter-Dental Fricative by L1 Costa Rican Spanish speakers. 52 Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages - LSRL 52. University of Wisconsin-Madison (Virtual Talk). April 21-23, 2022. . [abstract]