The teaching of the Spanish noun gender system to students is based on a set of generalizations that the last phoneme, or sound, of a noun is an excellent predictor of the gender of that noun (Bull 1965). These generalized norms have been refined over the years and can be found in most textbooks. The norms are taught to students who then apply…

The interrogative intonation of Cubans and Cuban Americans living in Miami is investigated. Two different intonation patterns are used in this variety of Spanish to convey absolute interrogative meaning: one with a falling final contour, as has been observed in Cuban Spanish, and one with a rising final contour, as is used in American English and…