In Equatorial Guinea, the only sub-Saharan African nation in which Spanish is widely spoken, prevocalic /d/ frequently receives a short occlusive articulation that approximates [ɾ]. A similar pronunciation occurs in some contemporary Afro-descendant populations in Latin America, and Afro-Hispanic literary stereotypes also include the /d/ > [ɾ] shift. Based on an acoustic analysis of naturalistic speech, this study proposes that non-continuant realizations of /d/ are part of a cluster of traits that include an alveolar realization of /t/ and /d/, partial neutralization of /ɾ/-/r/, and prominent svarabhakti vowels. A combination of incomplete L2 acquisition, L1 carryovers, and structural re-alignment emerges as the most likely account of Equatorial Guinean /d/ > [ɾ], which may partially extend to other Afro-Hispanic speech communities.
This is a real time sociolinguistic analysis of the changing rhythm of Yucatan Spanish (YS), measured by four rhythm metrics: %V, ΔC, Vnpvi and Crpvi. We compare apparent time data, previously collected in 2005, with real time data collected 11 years later, in 2016, analyzing the prosodic rhythm of YS across three age groups (2005 older vs. younger; 2016 younger) and two language groups (Maya-Spanish bilinguals vs. Spanish monolinguals). Results indicate that younger speakers are moving away from the Maya-influenced rhythm of traditional YS, and are instead adopting a rhythm similar to Mexico City Spanish. These changes are explained as a process of new dialect formation/koineization, as the dialect stabilizes after a period of intense dialect and language contact.
The point vowels /i, a, u/ serve to mark the extremes of the acoustic vowel space; however, previous experimental research on K’ichee’ has shown that the acoustic location of point vowels varies according to the vowel inventory of the specific dialect of K’ichee’. The present study analyzes the acoustic vowel spaces of Guatemalan Spanish monolinguals and of Spanish-K’ichee’ bilinguals from two K’ichee’ dialects with different vowel inventories. The results of a production task reveal that the bilingual Spanish vowel spaces differ from those of monolinguals. Furthermore, although these bilinguals maintain cross-language differences in their mid vowels, their Spanish point vowels correspond in acoustic location to their K’ichee’ point vowels, meaning they have similar acoustic vowel spaces in both languages.
The Spanish spoken along Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast has been described as a dialect divergent from Western Nicaraguan Spanish, and one commonly cited difference is the realization of intervocalic /b, d, ɡ/. The present study uses intervocalic /d/ as a litmus test to determine whether young Miskitu-Spanish bilinguals in Bilwi are maintaining a distinct coastal dialect of Spanish or converging on national norms as contact increases with monolingual speakers from the West. The results of a mixed-effects linear regression model using relative intensity to measure /d/ constriction show no significant differences between the young bilinguals in Bilwi and the monolinguals from Managua, suggesting that the unique coastal dialect is receding among younger speakers, whose Spanish phonological system is increasingly monolingual-like.
This chapter examines acoustic data from six speech communities in the northern Andean region of Ecuador to describe variation in the Spanish rhotics /r, ɾ/ and approximants /ʎ, j/, as well as their relationship to the Quichua fricatives /ʐ, ʒ/. Data were collected from four dialects of Spanish, Imbabura Quichua, and Media Lengua, a mixed language containing Spanish lexicon and Quichua morphosyntax. Results from this preliminary, descriptive survey support claims that speakers of both urban and rural dialects of Spanish make extensive use of [ʐ] for /r/ and [ʒ] for /ʎ/, in addition to a wealth of phonetic variation. Similarly, /r/ and /ʎ/ from Spanish borrowings in Media Lengua and Quichua assimilate to [ʐ] and [ʒ], respectively, with little exception.
This study explores intervocalic phonemic stop realization in Spanish by monolingual and bilingual speakers in the Peruvian Amazon. We performed an acoustic analysis of sociolinguistic interviews conducted in Spanish with Spanish monolinguals and Yagua-Spanish bilinguals. We focus on Yagua-Spanish bilinguals since the substrate language, Yagua, does not contrast voiceless and voiced stops. Our results, derived from phonetic measurements of relative intensity and consonant duration, show that there is greater lenition of stops by Spanish monolinguals than by Yagua-Spanish bilinguals. They further suggest that ethnic Yagua communities are converging toward Spanish-like patterns of lenition of /p t k b d ɡ/. Altogether, this study contributes to the literature on Spanish contact phonology through an investigation of Spanish-Yagua bilingualism in Amazonian Peru.
This chapter presents a phonetic study of the trill /r/ and the tap /ɾ/ in Shipibo-Konibo Spanish, examines their characteristics, and compares them to those found in monolingual Peruvian Amazonian Spanish. The study shows that L2 Shipibo-Konibo Spanish is not a uniform phenomenon, but rather is comprised of different varieties defined by speakers’ levels of proficiency and type of Spanish with which they are in contact. It identifies speakers of Type-I, who do not have a high level of proficiency in Spanish; speakers of Type-II, who show an advanced level as a result of their contact with rural Amazonian Spanish; and speakers of Type-III, who also have a high level of proficiency in Spanish that results from contact with urban monolingual Spanish.
This paper provides an analysis of Afro-Peruvian Spanish (APS) declarative intonation. APS is an Afro-Hispanic vernacular spoken across some rural villages in the Province of Chincha, coastal Peru. Results indicate that APS does not follow declarative intonation patterns found in most normative varieties of Spanish. In particular, it shows lower rates of downstepping; it presents systematic peak alignment at the word level (both in nuclear and prenuclear positions); and it is characterized by L- boundary tones at the intermediate phrase edges (rather than H- configurations). We analyze these results as the byproduct of contact-induced change, which led to the reduction of Spanish phonological targets in the APS grammar and to a subsequent reconfiguration of its prosodic system.
This study documents the use of [ʔ] in Paraguay, analyzing its distribution among four phonetic contexts: word-internal (Guaraní), phrase-initial (Guaraní and Spanish), synalepha (Guaraní and Spanish), and linking (Spanish). In each context, [ʔ]’s distribution is analyzed by following stress and vowel. Stress favors retention of word-internal [ʔ] in Guaraní, phrase-initial [ʔ] in Spanish and epenthetic [ʔ] in Guaraní, while it disfavors use of [ʔ] in Spanish synalepha. The vowels [e] and [i] suppress word-internal and prothetic [ʔ] in Guaraní, and Spanish synalepha with [ʔ], whereas [o] and [u] suppress Spanish prothesis and epenthesis of [ʔ] for synalepha. The results suggest that, in this study of fluent bilinguals, [ʔ] in Spanish is the result of convergence rather than second language transfer.
Along the Uruguayan-Brazilian border, Spanish exhibits phonological influence from Portuguese, including the realization of intervocalic /d/ as a stop. Using conversational data from 40 bilinguals, we analyze tokens of intervocalic /d/ acoustically using a consonant-vowel intensity ratio according to multiple social factors and their interactions. The results suggest that, while interactions are present (with stops being favored by Portuguese-preferring professional females), the main effects of social factors predominate. Younger speakers are moving away from the use of stop-like productions and toward the pan-Hispanic norm of variation between approximants and deletion. Portuguese-preferring speakers make greater use of stop-like variants, as do females, which is explained by the linguistic behaviors of the four women who produced /d/ with the highest intensity ratios.
Notions that Mapudungun, a polysynthetic agglutinating isolate spoken in modern-day Chile, has had any linguistic influence on Chilean Spanish outside of lexical loanwords have met stiff resistance (e.g., Alonso, 1953); however, recent studies (e.g., Sadowsky, 2013) suggest that Mapudungun’s influence on Chilean Spanish may be more profound than previously asserted. The current study examines a unique intonational “plateau” pattern documented in Rogers (2013). Similar patterns occur in Mapudungun and the data demonstrate that Mapudungun intonational plateaus and Chilean Spanish intonational plateaus behave very similarly at different prosodic, syntactic, and pragmatic levels. This study proposes that the plateau patterns in both languages are a mechanism of focus extension, and that Mapudungun introduced this unique pragmatic device into Chilean Spanish intonational phonology.
This exploratory study presents an approach to the phonetic models of Galician Spanish (GS) by means of a small sample of six female speakers with different linguistic profiles. We analyze the production of stressed vowels, final unstressed vowels, and some intonation contours. Unlike earlier descriptions, we do not find direct transfer from Galician to the GS phonetic system. Our results show: (1) The disappearance of the Galician seven vowel system and some examples of hybridization in wh-question intonation, both of which could be seen as signs of change in GS; and (2) The reduction of the final vowels and direct transfer from Galician to GS in yes-no questions, both of which could suggest preservation of the covert prestige of Galician.
Influenced by the minority language of the region, speakers of Asturian Spanish vary in their production of final back vowels in the masculine singular morpheme, with realizations that range from Spanish [-o] (e.g., perro) to Asturian [-u] (e.g., perru). In this study, I compare the acoustic properties of [o] and [u] in unstressed final and non-final position using the Pillai-Barlett Statistic in R. The results show that young speakers and women have significantly lower pillai scores word-finally, indicating a higher degree of merger between the two vowels in that position. I propose that these speakers are producing a “neutral” variant that allows them to minimize the social risk of using a stigmatized form, while being able to index regional identity.
This study investigates sociophonetic variation in the production of the alveolar lateral /l/ in Catalan and Spanish, the velarization of which is considered the hallmark feature of Catalonian Spanish (Arnal, 2011; Casanovas Català, 1995; Hickey, 2012). Using an innovative combination of both gradient and categorical analyses to evaluate lateral production in Spanish and Catalan elicited from Catalan-Spanish bilinguals and Madrid monolinguals stratified by gender and exposure/usage of Catalan, we assess the degree to which lateral velarization pervades this contact setting. In so doing, we demonstrate that lateral velarization and the inventory of lateral categories in these languages are best approached using gradient and relative hierarchies of lateral darkness rather than discrete applications of intrinsically light [l] or dark [ɫ].
Olivenza Spanish (OS), spoken in the border zone between Extremadura and Alentejo, is characterized by salient phonological features that can plausibly be interpreted as long-term effects of Portuguese-Spanish bilingualism. We present the results of a formant analysis of unstressed /o/, which is raised to [u] in a quarter of OS cases, and discuss selected outcomes of recent (supra)segmental studies on the variety in question. It is argued that the respective findings speak in favor of interpreting OS as the result, first, of L1 transfer that occurred during the processes of L2 acquisition by the inhabitants of Olivenza after its incorporation into Spain in 1801, and second, of the local dialect’s subsequent convergence with the dominant variety, Castilian Spanish.
In Equatorial Guinea, the only sub-Saharan African nation in which Spanish is widely spoken, prevocalic /d/ frequently receives a short occlusive articulation that approximates [ɾ]. A similar pronunciation occurs in some contemporary Afro-descendant populations in Latin America, and Afro-Hispanic literary stereotypes also include the /d/ > [ɾ] shift. Based on an acoustic analysis of naturalistic speech, this study proposes that non-continuant realizations of /d/ are part of a cluster of traits that include an alveolar realization of /t/ and /d/, partial neutralization of /ɾ/-/r/, and prominent svarabhakti vowels. A combination of incomplete L2 acquisition, L1 carryovers, and structural re-alignment emerges as the most likely account of Equatorial Guinean /d/ > [ɾ], which may partially extend to other Afro-Hispanic speech communities.
This is a real time sociolinguistic analysis of the changing rhythm of Yucatan Spanish (YS), measured by four rhythm metrics: %V, ΔC, Vnpvi and Crpvi. We compare apparent time data, previously collected in 2005, with real time data collected 11 years later, in 2016, analyzing the prosodic rhythm of YS across three age groups (2005 older vs. younger; 2016 younger) and two language groups (Maya-Spanish bilinguals vs. Spanish monolinguals). Results indicate that younger speakers are moving away from the Maya-influenced rhythm of traditional YS, and are instead adopting a rhythm similar to Mexico City Spanish. These changes are explained as a process of new dialect formation/koineization, as the dialect stabilizes after a period of intense dialect and language contact.
The point vowels /i, a, u/ serve to mark the extremes of the acoustic vowel space; however, previous experimental research on K’ichee’ has shown that the acoustic location of point vowels varies according to the vowel inventory of the specific dialect of K’ichee’. The present study analyzes the acoustic vowel spaces of Guatemalan Spanish monolinguals and of Spanish-K’ichee’ bilinguals from two K’ichee’ dialects with different vowel inventories. The results of a production task reveal that the bilingual Spanish vowel spaces differ from those of monolinguals. Furthermore, although these bilinguals maintain cross-language differences in their mid vowels, their Spanish point vowels correspond in acoustic location to their K’ichee’ point vowels, meaning they have similar acoustic vowel spaces in both languages.
The Spanish spoken along Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast has been described as a dialect divergent from Western Nicaraguan Spanish, and one commonly cited difference is the realization of intervocalic /b, d, ɡ/. The present study uses intervocalic /d/ as a litmus test to determine whether young Miskitu-Spanish bilinguals in Bilwi are maintaining a distinct coastal dialect of Spanish or converging on national norms as contact increases with monolingual speakers from the West. The results of a mixed-effects linear regression model using relative intensity to measure /d/ constriction show no significant differences between the young bilinguals in Bilwi and the monolinguals from Managua, suggesting that the unique coastal dialect is receding among younger speakers, whose Spanish phonological system is increasingly monolingual-like.
This chapter examines acoustic data from six speech communities in the northern Andean region of Ecuador to describe variation in the Spanish rhotics /r, ɾ/ and approximants /ʎ, j/, as well as their relationship to the Quichua fricatives /ʐ, ʒ/. Data were collected from four dialects of Spanish, Imbabura Quichua, and Media Lengua, a mixed language containing Spanish lexicon and Quichua morphosyntax. Results from this preliminary, descriptive survey support claims that speakers of both urban and rural dialects of Spanish make extensive use of [ʐ] for /r/ and [ʒ] for /ʎ/, in addition to a wealth of phonetic variation. Similarly, /r/ and /ʎ/ from Spanish borrowings in Media Lengua and Quichua assimilate to [ʐ] and [ʒ], respectively, with little exception.
This study explores intervocalic phonemic stop realization in Spanish by monolingual and bilingual speakers in the Peruvian Amazon. We performed an acoustic analysis of sociolinguistic interviews conducted in Spanish with Spanish monolinguals and Yagua-Spanish bilinguals. We focus on Yagua-Spanish bilinguals since the substrate language, Yagua, does not contrast voiceless and voiced stops. Our results, derived from phonetic measurements of relative intensity and consonant duration, show that there is greater lenition of stops by Spanish monolinguals than by Yagua-Spanish bilinguals. They further suggest that ethnic Yagua communities are converging toward Spanish-like patterns of lenition of /p t k b d ɡ/. Altogether, this study contributes to the literature on Spanish contact phonology through an investigation of Spanish-Yagua bilingualism in Amazonian Peru.
This chapter presents a phonetic study of the trill /r/ and the tap /ɾ/ in Shipibo-Konibo Spanish, examines their characteristics, and compares them to those found in monolingual Peruvian Amazonian Spanish. The study shows that L2 Shipibo-Konibo Spanish is not a uniform phenomenon, but rather is comprised of different varieties defined by speakers’ levels of proficiency and type of Spanish with which they are in contact. It identifies speakers of Type-I, who do not have a high level of proficiency in Spanish; speakers of Type-II, who show an advanced level as a result of their contact with rural Amazonian Spanish; and speakers of Type-III, who also have a high level of proficiency in Spanish that results from contact with urban monolingual Spanish.
This paper provides an analysis of Afro-Peruvian Spanish (APS) declarative intonation. APS is an Afro-Hispanic vernacular spoken across some rural villages in the Province of Chincha, coastal Peru. Results indicate that APS does not follow declarative intonation patterns found in most normative varieties of Spanish. In particular, it shows lower rates of downstepping; it presents systematic peak alignment at the word level (both in nuclear and prenuclear positions); and it is characterized by L- boundary tones at the intermediate phrase edges (rather than H- configurations). We analyze these results as the byproduct of contact-induced change, which led to the reduction of Spanish phonological targets in the APS grammar and to a subsequent reconfiguration of its prosodic system.
This study documents the use of [ʔ] in Paraguay, analyzing its distribution among four phonetic contexts: word-internal (Guaraní), phrase-initial (Guaraní and Spanish), synalepha (Guaraní and Spanish), and linking (Spanish). In each context, [ʔ]’s distribution is analyzed by following stress and vowel. Stress favors retention of word-internal [ʔ] in Guaraní, phrase-initial [ʔ] in Spanish and epenthetic [ʔ] in Guaraní, while it disfavors use of [ʔ] in Spanish synalepha. The vowels [e] and [i] suppress word-internal and prothetic [ʔ] in Guaraní, and Spanish synalepha with [ʔ], whereas [o] and [u] suppress Spanish prothesis and epenthesis of [ʔ] for synalepha. The results suggest that, in this study of fluent bilinguals, [ʔ] in Spanish is the result of convergence rather than second language transfer.
Along the Uruguayan-Brazilian border, Spanish exhibits phonological influence from Portuguese, including the realization of intervocalic /d/ as a stop. Using conversational data from 40 bilinguals, we analyze tokens of intervocalic /d/ acoustically using a consonant-vowel intensity ratio according to multiple social factors and their interactions. The results suggest that, while interactions are present (with stops being favored by Portuguese-preferring professional females), the main effects of social factors predominate. Younger speakers are moving away from the use of stop-like productions and toward the pan-Hispanic norm of variation between approximants and deletion. Portuguese-preferring speakers make greater use of stop-like variants, as do females, which is explained by the linguistic behaviors of the four women who produced /d/ with the highest intensity ratios.
Notions that Mapudungun, a polysynthetic agglutinating isolate spoken in modern-day Chile, has had any linguistic influence on Chilean Spanish outside of lexical loanwords have met stiff resistance (e.g., Alonso, 1953); however, recent studies (e.g., Sadowsky, 2013) suggest that Mapudungun’s influence on Chilean Spanish may be more profound than previously asserted. The current study examines a unique intonational “plateau” pattern documented in Rogers (2013). Similar patterns occur in Mapudungun and the data demonstrate that Mapudungun intonational plateaus and Chilean Spanish intonational plateaus behave very similarly at different prosodic, syntactic, and pragmatic levels. This study proposes that the plateau patterns in both languages are a mechanism of focus extension, and that Mapudungun introduced this unique pragmatic device into Chilean Spanish intonational phonology.
This exploratory study presents an approach to the phonetic models of Galician Spanish (GS) by means of a small sample of six female speakers with different linguistic profiles. We analyze the production of stressed vowels, final unstressed vowels, and some intonation contours. Unlike earlier descriptions, we do not find direct transfer from Galician to the GS phonetic system. Our results show: (1) The disappearance of the Galician seven vowel system and some examples of hybridization in wh-question intonation, both of which could be seen as signs of change in GS; and (2) The reduction of the final vowels and direct transfer from Galician to GS in yes-no questions, both of which could suggest preservation of the covert prestige of Galician.
Influenced by the minority language of the region, speakers of Asturian Spanish vary in their production of final back vowels in the masculine singular morpheme, with realizations that range from Spanish [-o] (e.g., perro) to Asturian [-u] (e.g., perru). In this study, I compare the acoustic properties of [o] and [u] in unstressed final and non-final position using the Pillai-Barlett Statistic in R. The results show that young speakers and women have significantly lower pillai scores word-finally, indicating a higher degree of merger between the two vowels in that position. I propose that these speakers are producing a “neutral” variant that allows them to minimize the social risk of using a stigmatized form, while being able to index regional identity.
This study investigates sociophonetic variation in the production of the alveolar lateral /l/ in Catalan and Spanish, the velarization of which is considered the hallmark feature of Catalonian Spanish (Arnal, 2011; Casanovas Català, 1995; Hickey, 2012). Using an innovative combination of both gradient and categorical analyses to evaluate lateral production in Spanish and Catalan elicited from Catalan-Spanish bilinguals and Madrid monolinguals stratified by gender and exposure/usage of Catalan, we assess the degree to which lateral velarization pervades this contact setting. In so doing, we demonstrate that lateral velarization and the inventory of lateral categories in these languages are best approached using gradient and relative hierarchies of lateral darkness rather than discrete applications of intrinsically light [l] or dark [ɫ].
Olivenza Spanish (OS), spoken in the border zone between Extremadura and Alentejo, is characterized by salient phonological features that can plausibly be interpreted as long-term effects of Portuguese-Spanish bilingualism. We present the results of a formant analysis of unstressed /o/, which is raised to [u] in a quarter of OS cases, and discuss selected outcomes of recent (supra)segmental studies on the variety in question. It is argued that the respective findings speak in favor of interpreting OS as the result, first, of L1 transfer that occurred during the processes of L2 acquisition by the inhabitants of Olivenza after its incorporation into Spain in 1801, and second, of the local dialect’s subsequent convergence with the dominant variety, Castilian Spanish.