Acoustic analysis of syllable-final /k/ in Northern Peninsular Spanish

One of the realizations of coda /k/ in Northern and Central Spain is the interdental voiceless fricative [θ]. Although this variant has been investigated from a sociolinguistic and phonological point of view, acoustic investigation is non-existent. This paper presents preliminary findings of an acoustic study focusing on clusters with syllable-final /k/ in speakers of the Basque Country in Northern Spain. Results from four female speakers show that, although interdental fricative realizations are attested, glottal fricatives and deletion are more pervasive. Significant effects are found for place and manner of articulation depending on the preceding vowel, following consonant, number of syllables in the word and word position of /k/. In particular, more frication is found before /t/ than before /s/, /θ/ or /n/, offering partial support for a phonological analysis based on manner dissimilation.