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Article published In:
Language Ecology
Vol. 3:1 (2019) ► pp.3–27

On the relevance of voice quality in contact varieties

Non-modal phonation type in Afro-Yungueño Spanish

| University of Zurich
| University of Zurich

This paper focuses on the role of voice quality variation in the system of a contact language, Afro-Yungueño Spanish, a restructured variety of Spanish spoken in the Bolivian Yungas valleys. Based on case studies of naturally occurring conversation between multiple speakers, we show that certain non-modal phonation types, in this case falsetto and breathy voice, are used to index expressiveness, intensification, or emphasis. We argue that these practices have discursive meaning that could otherwise also be encoded by means of grammatical and lexical resources, and that they are an integral part of the linguistic system of this variety. We claim that these practices may have resulted from the specific socio-historical context in which this variety evolved. This suggests that voice quality and ecological factors should not be underestimated in order to reach a more complete picture of how meaning is conveyed in apparently simplified contact languages.

Keywords: Afro-Yungueño Spanish, Afro-Bolivians, falsetto, breathy voice quality, language ecology, simplicity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Voice quality and prosody in language contact
  • 3.Afro-Yungueño Spanish
  • 4.Terminology and data
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Falsetto
    • 5.2Breathy voice
  • 6.Discussion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/le.18010.per
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