Demystifying Salvadoran [s θ ]
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Franny D. Brogan
Abstract
In the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, /s/ not only weakens to [h] and [Ø] but is variably produced as a voiceless approximant that is perceptually similar to interdental [θ]. While this sound, which I refer to as [sθ], has become a defining characteristic of these dialects, little is known about its acoustic nature or what drives its use linguistically. This paper aims to forge a more complete understanding of this sound in Central America via an exploration of these components in the Spanish of El Salvador. Acoustic and sociophonetic analyses of [sθ] in the speech of 72 Salvadorans reveal that this sound can be situated on an articulatory continuum between [s] and [h] and may be the result of gestural undershoot within a framework of gradient consonant lenition.
Abstract
In the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, /s/ not only weakens to [h] and [Ø] but is variably produced as a voiceless approximant that is perceptually similar to interdental [θ]. While this sound, which I refer to as [sθ], has become a defining characteristic of these dialects, little is known about its acoustic nature or what drives its use linguistically. This paper aims to forge a more complete understanding of this sound in Central America via an exploration of these components in the Spanish of El Salvador. Acoustic and sociophonetic analyses of [sθ] in the speech of 72 Salvadorans reveal that this sound can be situated on an articulatory continuum between [s] and [h] and may be the result of gestural undershoot within a framework of gradient consonant lenition.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Language acquisition
- The development of intonation in L2 Spanish 11
- Insights into the cognition of mood selection in L2 learners of Spanish 33
- The licensing of wh-in-situ questions 53
- What derivational suffixes should we teach in Spanish as a Second Language courses? 75
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Part II. Theoretical and descriptive approaches
- The seem-class verb paradigm and restructuring in Romance 97
- The Progressive-to-Imperfective shift 119
- The aspectual structure of the adjective 137
- Mood in future-framed adverbials 161
- Syntactic and prosodic marking of subject focus in American English and Peninsular Spanish 183
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Part III. Language contact and variation
- Demystifying Salvadoran [s θ ] 207
- Afro-Peruvian Spanish declarative intonation 229
- Subject-predicate code-switching 249
- The differing behavior of loanwords in the Spanish of technology and of fashion and beauty 265
- Futurity and probability in Spanish as a heritage language 285
- Examining the (mini-) variable swarm in the Spanish of the Southeast 303
- Casting light on the Spanish creole debate 327
- Index 343
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Language acquisition
- The development of intonation in L2 Spanish 11
- Insights into the cognition of mood selection in L2 learners of Spanish 33
- The licensing of wh-in-situ questions 53
- What derivational suffixes should we teach in Spanish as a Second Language courses? 75
-
Part II. Theoretical and descriptive approaches
- The seem-class verb paradigm and restructuring in Romance 97
- The Progressive-to-Imperfective shift 119
- The aspectual structure of the adjective 137
- Mood in future-framed adverbials 161
- Syntactic and prosodic marking of subject focus in American English and Peninsular Spanish 183
-
Part III. Language contact and variation
- Demystifying Salvadoran [s θ ] 207
- Afro-Peruvian Spanish declarative intonation 229
- Subject-predicate code-switching 249
- The differing behavior of loanwords in the Spanish of technology and of fashion and beauty 265
- Futurity and probability in Spanish as a heritage language 285
- Examining the (mini-) variable swarm in the Spanish of the Southeast 303
- Casting light on the Spanish creole debate 327
- Index 343
