Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish
-
Bethany MacLeod
Abstract
The literature makes contradictory predictions about the role of perceptual salience in phonetic accommodation. This paper presents the preliminary results of a study investigating the effect of the perceptual salience of four dialectal differences between two dialects of Spanish on the pattern of phonetic accommodation after exposure to another dialect in conversation. Accommodation is considered in two ways: the magnitude of the change and the direction of the change (convergence or divergence). Mixed effects models determine that there was a significant positive effect of perceptual salience on the magnitude of the change in that as perceptual salience increases, the magnitude of the change increases. In addition, there was a significant negative effect of perceptual salience on the direction of the change, in that as perceptual salience increases, the likelihood of converging decreases. These findings suggest that perceptual salience mediates the process of accommodation alongside other social, linguistic, and situational factors.
Abstract
The literature makes contradictory predictions about the role of perceptual salience in phonetic accommodation. This paper presents the preliminary results of a study investigating the effect of the perceptual salience of four dialectal differences between two dialects of Spanish on the pattern of phonetic accommodation after exposure to another dialect in conversation. Accommodation is considered in two ways: the magnitude of the change and the direction of the change (convergence or divergence). Mixed effects models determine that there was a significant positive effect of perceptual salience on the magnitude of the change in that as perceptual salience increases, the magnitude of the change increases. In addition, there was a significant negative effect of perceptual salience on the direction of the change, in that as perceptual salience increases, the likelihood of converging decreases. These findings suggest that perceptual salience mediates the process of accommodation alongside other social, linguistic, and situational factors.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Sound patterns
- Sibilant voicing assimilation in peninsular Spanish as gestural blending 17
- Phonology-morphology opacity in Harmonic Serialism 39
- Morphologically conditioned intervocalic rhotacism in Algherese Catalan 63
- Muta cum liquida in the light of Tertenia Sardinian metathesis and compensatory lengthening Latin tr > Old French Vrr 77
- Schwa at the phonology/syntax interface 101
- Weight effects across verbal domains 119
-
Part II. Syntax and semantics
- On truth persistence 135
- Pick some but not all alternatives! 155
- Polarity fronting in Romanian and Sardinian 173
- Degree quantification and scope in Puerto Rican Spanish 199
- ‘Minimal link constraint’ violations 213
- On subjunctives and islandhood 233
- When control can’t be a fact 255
-
Part III. Historical aspects
- Prevocalic velar advancement in Chilean Spanish and Proto-Romance 277
- The role of the copula in the diachronic development of focus constructions in Portuguese 297
- The French wh interrogative system 315
- On the relation between functional architecture and patterns of change in Romance object clitic syntax 331
-
Part IV. Interactions across dialects and languages
- Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish 351
- English questions, Spanish structure 379
- French oral proficiency assessment 401
- Name index 417
- Subject index 423
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Sound patterns
- Sibilant voicing assimilation in peninsular Spanish as gestural blending 17
- Phonology-morphology opacity in Harmonic Serialism 39
- Morphologically conditioned intervocalic rhotacism in Algherese Catalan 63
- Muta cum liquida in the light of Tertenia Sardinian metathesis and compensatory lengthening Latin tr > Old French Vrr 77
- Schwa at the phonology/syntax interface 101
- Weight effects across verbal domains 119
-
Part II. Syntax and semantics
- On truth persistence 135
- Pick some but not all alternatives! 155
- Polarity fronting in Romanian and Sardinian 173
- Degree quantification and scope in Puerto Rican Spanish 199
- ‘Minimal link constraint’ violations 213
- On subjunctives and islandhood 233
- When control can’t be a fact 255
-
Part III. Historical aspects
- Prevocalic velar advancement in Chilean Spanish and Proto-Romance 277
- The role of the copula in the diachronic development of focus constructions in Portuguese 297
- The French wh interrogative system 315
- On the relation between functional architecture and patterns of change in Romance object clitic syntax 331
-
Part IV. Interactions across dialects and languages
- Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish 351
- English questions, Spanish structure 379
- French oral proficiency assessment 401
- Name index 417
- Subject index 423
