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In:Bridging Boundaries: Interdisciplinary perspectives on Hispanic Linguistics
Edited by Gregory L. Thompson and Scott M. Alvord
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 46] 2026
► pp. 411–434

Chapter 16
Ongoing patterns of linguistic change in Eastern Andalusia

The case of final /s/ in Málaga

 | St. John Fisher University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Several sociolinguistic studies on the province of Málaga have focused primarily on the capital, often excluding adjacent areas that may exhibit different sociolinguistic behaviors. Taking final /s/ in coda position as the primary object of study, the present work aims to contribute to our understanding of how this variable is produced across this region of Spain. Furthermore, this project addresses the limitation of focusing solely on the capital to determine whether observed patterns are consistent across the province, or if significant differences exist in other municipalities. The data consist of 36 sociolinguistic interviews recorded by native speakers of Spanish (18 males and 18 females) from three areas of the province: Málaga capital, Rincón de la Victoria, and Vélez Málaga. In addition to interviews, the data include readings of a text and word list and a sociodemographic questionnaire. In total, 15,548 occurrences of syllable-final /s/ were extracted in word-internal and word-final position and were analyzed according to their realization (maintenance or aspiration). The overall results of this research show that /s/ aspiration clearly dominates in this region, but /s/ maintenance is likely increasing given how /s/ pronunciation was conditioned by region, gender, age, and level of education, especially in the capital of Málaga among middle-aged women with higher education. These results support the claim that realized /s/ is the prestige variant since it is used among groups that socially tend to show a preference for less stigmatized forms.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Objectives
  • 3.Language and change in Andalusia
    • 3.1Style
  • 4.The current study
    • 4.1Method
      • 4.1.1Participants
      • 4.1.2Procedure and tasks
    • 4.2Data analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Style
    • 5.2Gender
    • 5.3Age
    • 5.4Educational background
    • 5.5Following segment
    • 5.6Morphemic value
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Limitations and future directions
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
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