Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 7. The social perception of intervocalic /k/ voicing in Chilean Spanish
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 7. The social perception of intervocalic /k/ voicing in Chilean Spanish

  • Mariška A. Bolyanatz Brown and Brandon M.A. Rogers
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
Search
Recent Advances in the Study of Spanish Sociophonetic Perception
This chapter is in the book Recent Advances in the Study of Spanish Sociophonetic Perception

Abstract

In this study, we investigate what social meaning is attributed to a nascent change in progress in Chilean Spanish, examining whether intervocalic voicing of the phonologically voiceless stop /k/ affects listener judgments along several perceptual scales. Eight brief excerpts of spontaneous speech were digitally manipulated to vary only in voicing in tokens of /k/, and thirty listeners responded via an online experiment. We find that listeners are not sensitive to voicing along three of the measured scales and are not sensitive to voicing at all in female speech. We also determined that listeners are only sensitive to intervocalic voicing when assigning values of Chilean identity to male speakers, and that this effect is mitigated by headphone use. Some of listeners’ insensitivity matches previous production data in this dialect, while we expected some sensitivity along other measures but found none. We posit that this mismatch is due to the salience of the variable: because listeners may be unfamiliar with intervocalic voicing of /k/, they have not yet indexed voicing of intervocalic /k/ with particular speaker features, aligning with Campbell-Kibler (2009).

Abstract

In this study, we investigate what social meaning is attributed to a nascent change in progress in Chilean Spanish, examining whether intervocalic voicing of the phonologically voiceless stop /k/ affects listener judgments along several perceptual scales. Eight brief excerpts of spontaneous speech were digitally manipulated to vary only in voicing in tokens of /k/, and thirty listeners responded via an online experiment. We find that listeners are not sensitive to voicing along three of the measured scales and are not sensitive to voicing at all in female speech. We also determined that listeners are only sensitive to intervocalic voicing when assigning values of Chilean identity to male speakers, and that this effect is mitigated by headphone use. Some of listeners’ insensitivity matches previous production data in this dialect, while we expected some sensitivity along other measures but found none. We posit that this mismatch is due to the salience of the variable: because listeners may be unfamiliar with intervocalic voicing of /k/, they have not yet indexed voicing of intervocalic /k/ with particular speaker features, aligning with Campbell-Kibler (2009).

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Spain
  5. Chapter 1. The role of social cues in the perception of final vowel contrasts in Asturian Spanish 15
  6. Chapter 2. Covert and overt attitudes towards Catalonian Spanish laterals and intervocalic fricatives 39
  7. Chapter 3. Dialectology meets sociophonetics 85
  8. South America
  9. Chapter 4. Regional identity in Highland Ecuador 125
  10. Chapter 5. Spanish and Palenquero 153
  11. Chapter 6. The role of social networks in cross-dialectal variation in the perception of the Rioplatense assibilated pre-palatal [ʃ] 187
  12. Chapter 7. The social perception of intervocalic /k/ voicing in Chilean Spanish 211
  13. North America
  14. Chapter 8. The sociophonetic perception of heritage Spanish speakers in the United States 239
  15. Chapter 9. Spoken word recognition and shesheo in Northwestern Mexico 265
  16. Chapter 10. The perception-production connection 287
  17. Future Directions
  18. Chapter 11. Of intersectionality, replicability, and holistic perspectives 315
  19. Chapter 12. Future directions for sociophonetic research in Spanish 327
  20. Index 341
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.21.08bol

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Spain
  5. Chapter 1. The role of social cues in the perception of final vowel contrasts in Asturian Spanish 15
  6. Chapter 2. Covert and overt attitudes towards Catalonian Spanish laterals and intervocalic fricatives 39
  7. Chapter 3. Dialectology meets sociophonetics 85
  8. South America
  9. Chapter 4. Regional identity in Highland Ecuador 125
  10. Chapter 5. Spanish and Palenquero 153
  11. Chapter 6. The role of social networks in cross-dialectal variation in the perception of the Rioplatense assibilated pre-palatal [ʃ] 187
  12. Chapter 7. The social perception of intervocalic /k/ voicing in Chilean Spanish 211
  13. North America
  14. Chapter 8. The sociophonetic perception of heritage Spanish speakers in the United States 239
  15. Chapter 9. Spoken word recognition and shesheo in Northwestern Mexico 265
  16. Chapter 10. The perception-production connection 287
  17. Future Directions
  18. Chapter 11. Of intersectionality, replicability, and holistic perspectives 315
  19. Chapter 12. Future directions for sociophonetic research in Spanish 327
  20. Index 341
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 19.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/ihll.21.08bol/html
Scroll to top button