Sociolinguistic Approaches to Sibilant Variation in Spanish (Routledge Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics)

Description

Social processes and the nature of language variation have driven sibilant variation across the Spanish-speaking world. This book explores the current state of Spanish sibilants and their dialectal variations. Focusing on different processes undergone by sibilants in Spanish (e.g., voicing, devoicing, weakening, aspiration, elision) in various geographical areas and language contact situations, each chapter offers an analysis on a unique sociolinguistic case from different formal, experimental, and data-based approaches. The opening chapter orients the reader with an overview of sibilant system’s evolution, which serves as an anchor to the other chapters and facilitates understanding for readers new to the topic. The volume is organized around three thematic sections: part one, Spain; part two, United States; and part three, Central and South America. The collection includes research on dialects in both Peninsular and Trans-Atlantic Spanish such as Jerezano, Caribbean Spanish in Boston and New York City, Cuban Spanish in Miami, Colombia-Barranquilla Spanish, northern Buenos Aires Argentine Spanish, and USA heritage Spanish, among other case studies. This volume offers an original and concise approach to one of the most studied variables in Spanish phonetics, taking into account geographically-based phonetic variation, sociolinguistic factors, and various Spanish language contact situations. Written in English, this detailed synthesis of the wide-ranging geolinguistic features of Spanish sibilants provides a valuable resource for scholars in Hispanic studies, linguistics, Spanish dialectology and sociolinguistics. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Table of contents Figures and maps List of Tables List of Contributors Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Part I Spain 1 An overview of the sibilant merger and its development in Spanish 1.1 Retrospectives and perspectives: origins 1.1.1 Possible causes for the devoicing and the unstable sibilant patterns 1.1.2 Expansion of the merger: geographical implications 1.1.3 Spanish emigration to the New World: andalucismo in the precolonial period 1.2 Diachronic review and alternative accounts: phenomenon propagation and completion 1.2.1 Chronological accounts: grammarians and treatise writers 1.2.1.1 Alveolar pair /s/~/z/ 1.2.1.2 Dento-alveolar pair /ts/~/dz/ 1.2.1.3 Alveopalatal pair /ʃ/~/ ʒ/ 1.2.2 Chronological accounts: graphemes 1.2.3 Chronological accounts: rhymes 1.2.4 Chronological accounts: creation of new sounds 1.2.5 Updated modern chronological accounts 1.3 Tracking Old Spanish sibilants: Judeo-Spanish 1.4 Tracking sibilant development: overview of other Romance languages 1.5 Stabilizing the language: the RAE’s graphic standardization of sibilants 1.6 Conclusions Notes Glossary References Topics for discussion 2 Sibilants in western Andalusian Spanish: The lack of a Sevillian norm in the Jerezano speech community 2.1 Introduction: the Jerezano speech community 2.2 Sibilants in Andalusian Spanish: some data about geographical and social distributions 2.3 The Sevillian norm: historical and actual approaches 2.3.1 Descriptive linguistic norms 2.3.2 Sevillian norm 2.4 Analysis: descriptive data on sibilants in Jerezano Spanish 2.4.1 State of the art 2.4.2 Actual data from an oral corpus: global visions 2.4.3 Actual data from an oral corpus: sociolinguistic variation 2.5 Theoretical basis: perceptual variety linguistics 2.6 Methodology: corpus-construction for perceptual variety linguistics 2.7 Analysis of perceptual variety linguistics 2.7.1 Metalinguistic concepts of Jerezano speakers 2.7.2 Perceptions of Jerezano speakers 2.8 Conclusions: the lack of a Sevillian norm in Jerezano Spanish Glossary References Topics for discussion 3 Intervocalic /s/-voicing in Spanish in contact with Catalan 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Spanish and Catalan in Catalonia 3.3 Prior treatments of (intervocalic) fricative production 3.3.1 Prescriptive characterizations of alveolar fricative production in Spanish and Catalan 3.3.2 Empirical characterizations of alveolar fricative production 3.3.3 Intervocalic /s/-voicing in Barcelonan Spanish 3.4 Experimental methodology 3.4.1 Social factors and subject population 3.4.2 Linguistic factors 3.4.3 Test instruments 3.4.4 Data collection methods 3.5 Data analysis and results 3.5.1 Acoustic analysis 3.5.2 Statistical analysis 3.5.2.1 Social factors conditioning intervocalic /s/-voicing 3.5.2.2 Linguistic factors conditioning intervocalic /s/-voicing 3.6 Discussion 3.7 Conclusion Notes Glossary References Topics for discussion Part II United States 4 Describing and analyzing variability in Spanish /s/: A case study of Caribbeans in Boston and New York City 4.1 Introduction 4.2 /s/ variation as reduction 4.3 A descriptive protocol for Spanish /s/ variation 4.3.1 Perceptual coding of segmental alternations 4.3.2 Spectrographic and waveform assessment of frication presence 4.3.3 Acoustic measures 4.3.4 Linguistic and social conditioning factors 4.3.4.1 Linguistic factors 4.3.4.2 Social factors 4.4 Case study: Caribbeans in Boston and New York City 4.4.1 Speakers, data and predictors 4.5 Results 4.5.1 Reduction and syllable-position 4.5.2 Reduction and regional origin 4.5.3 Coda /s/ among Caribbeans only 4.5.3.1 Multivariate analysis 4.5.4 Summary of results 4.6 Conclusions Notes Glossary References Topics for discussion 5 Variable realization of final /s/ in Miami Cuban Spanish: The reversal of diachronic language change 5.1 The sociolinguistic situation of Cuban Miami 5.2 Final /s/ in Cuban Spanish 5.3 The present study: research questions 5.3.1 Participants and materials 5.3.2 Data analysis 5.4 Findings 5.4.1 Linguistic factors 5.4.2 Extralinguistic factors 5.5 Discussion and conclusions Notes Glossary References Topics for discussion 6 Variable /s/-voicing by heritage Spanish speakers in the United States 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Heritage speakers of Spanish 6.2.1 Defining Spanish speakers in the United States 6.2.2 Demographics 6.2.3 Heritage vowels 6.2.4 Heritage consonants 6.2.5 Heritage /s/ realization 6.3 Spanish /s/ voicing 6.3.1 Acoustics of voicing assimilation 6.3.2 Previous studies on variable /s/ voicing 6.3.3 Voicing assimilation by L2 speakers 6.3.4 Evolution of /s/ voicing 6.4 Heritage /s/ realization in North Carolina 6.4.1 Research questions 6.4.2 Methodology and participants 6.4.3 Acoustic analysis 6.4.4 Statistical analysis 6.4.5 Results 6.4.5.1 Frequency of voicing 6.4.5.2 Degree and location of voicing 6.5 Discussion: voicing assimilation in heritage Spanish 6.5.1 Factors affecting voicing 6.5.2 Variable voicing 6.6 Conclusions Notes Glossary References Topics for discussion Part III Central and South America 7 /s/ weakening in Nicaragua 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The origin and spread of /s/ weakening 7.3 /s/ reduction and reanalysis in Nicaraguan Spanish 7.3.1 Rates of /s/ reduction in Western Nicaragua in the early 1980s and today 7.3.2 Qualitative [s]. hypercorrections and sibilant lengthening 7.3.3 Innovative coda /s/ variants 7.3.4 The effect of age, education and formality on coda /s/ variants 7.3.5 Hybrid oral and glottal variants 7.4 Discussion and broader implications 7.5 Conclusions and future directions Notes Glossary References Topics for discussion 8 A sociophonetic approach to /s/-realization in the Colombian Spanish of Barranquilla 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Methods 8.2.1 Data collection and corpus 8.2.2 Dependent variables 8.2.3 Independent variables 8.3 Results of data analysis 8.4 Discussion and conclusion Glossary References Topics for discussion 9 Sibilants in Ecuadoran Spanish 9.1 Overview: coda /s/ in coastal and highland dialects 9.2 “Partial” plural marking 9.3 Voicing of intervocalic /s/ 9.3.1 Is /s/-voicing an innovation or an archaic remnant? 9.4 Ecuadoran rhotics and palatals as an additional source of sibilants 9.5 Summary and conclusions Glossary References Topics for discussion 10 Syllable-final /s/-variation in a Uruguayan Spanish-Portuguese contact variety 10.1 Spanish and Portuguese contact in Uruguay 10.1.1 Phonological results of Spanish-Portuguese contact 10.1.2 Portuguese influence on sibilants in Border Uruguayan Spanish 10.2 A comparative diachrony of Spanish and Portuguese sibilant development 10.2.1 The diachronic development of intervocalic /s/ in Latin American Spanish 10.2.2 Phonetic strengthening and maintenance: the case of Portuguese sibilants 10.3 Syllable-final /s/ variation in modern Spanish 10.3.1 The social conditioning of /s/ reduction in Spanish 10.3.2 Syllable-final /s/ reduction in border Uruguayan Spanish 10.4 The linguistic conditioning of /s/ variation in the Spanish of Rivera 10.4.1 Pre-consonantal /s/ reduction in the Spanish of Rivera 10.4.2 Portuguese influence on word-final /s/ deletion in the Spanish of Rivera 10.5 The social conditioning of /s/ variation in the Spanish of Rivera 10.5.1 /s/ aspiration in the Spanish of Rivera 10.5.2 /s/ deletion in the Spanish of Rivera 10.5.3 The intersection of occupation and sex in the deletion of /s/ in Rivera 10.6 /s/ Aspiration and deletion as a result of language use and attitudes 10.7 Conclusion Notes Glossary References Topics for discussion 11 Variable voicing in Argentine Spanish /ʒ/ 11.1 The social context of /ʒ/ devoicing 11.1.1 Recent developments in production 11.1.2 Language attitudes toward the devoicing 11.2 Theoretical issues in the devoicing of /ʒ/ 11.2.1 Generative perspectives 11.2.2 Usage-based perspectives 11.3 /ʒ/ devoicing from an acoustic perspective 11.3.1 Voicing as a gradient phenomenon 11.3.2 Acoustic correlates of fricative voicing 11.4 Voicers and devoicers 11.4.1 Methodology 11.4.2 Diagnosis of a speaker 11.4.3 Word-initial contexts 11.4.4 Word-medial contexts 11.5 Future directions 11.6 Conclusions Glossary References Topics for discussion Index