Similarities and differences in perception and production of diphthong sounds among native speakers of Spanish and English

This thesis studies the similarities and differences between native speakers of the Spanish and English languages in the pronunciation of diphthong sounds, both the speakers\u27 perception of such sounds as well as the actual sound produced. Two methods were used in determining trends and dissimilarities. Participants were asked to identify how many distinct segments they perceived in each of four test words. The results were then calculated and compared to seek common trends between the languages. The second method of determining similarities and differences involved measuring voice samples from the participants with a spectrograph. The end results were that while there is no significant difference in the frequency or change of the actual sounds produced by the speakers, there is a difference in the way in which native Spanish and native English speakers perceive these sounds