John Benjamins Publishing Company
Sociophonetic analysis of young Peninsular Spanish women’s voice quality
-
Abstract
In the speech of certain female speakers of Peninsular Spanish (PS) one observes the use of hoarse voice, a salient non-modal phonation type. In this paper, we examined its phonetic correlates and social meaning. Among women who have hoarse voice, significantly lower H1-H2 values were found than those who have modal voice. These production data were then used as stimuli in a classification task where 50 native listeners of PS described the personal characteristics of speakers from each group. The hoarse group was judged as apathetic and strong significantly more than the modal group, which, in turn, was judged as feminine, intelligent, and urban significantly more than the hoarse group. hoarse voice speakers were also judged as smokers significantly more often than modal group speakers. Our results show that voice quality carries social meaning in PS for young Spanish women.
Abstract
In the speech of certain female speakers of Peninsular Spanish (PS) one observes the use of hoarse voice, a salient non-modal phonation type. In this paper, we examined its phonetic correlates and social meaning. Among women who have hoarse voice, significantly lower H1-H2 values were found than those who have modal voice. These production data were then used as stimuli in a classification task where 50 native listeners of PS described the personal characteristics of speakers from each group. The hoarse group was judged as apathetic and strong significantly more than the modal group, which, in turn, was judged as feminine, intelligent, and urban significantly more than the hoarse group. hoarse voice speakers were also judged as smokers significantly more often than modal group speakers. Our results show that voice quality carries social meaning in PS for young Spanish women.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction xi
-
Part I. Theoretical and descriptive approaches
- No superiority, no intervention effects 3
- Overt PRO in Romance 25
- The semantics and pragmatics of andar and venir + gerund 49
- Sequence of tenses in complementation structures 69
- Fue muerto 89
- Temporal and spectral dependencies in the processing of Spanish and English stop consonant voicing 113
- Segmental and prosodic conditionings on gradient voicing assimilation in Spanish 127
-
Part II. Language acquisition
- The sum is more than its parts 147
- Does agreement affect the syntax of bare nominal subjects in Russian–Spanish bilinguals? 169
- Perfecting the past 191
- The protracted acquisition of past tense aspectual values in child heritage Spanish 211
-
Part III. Language contact and language variation
- Morphological adjectival intensifier variation in Lima, Peru 233
- An experimental approach to hypercorrection in Dominican Spanish 251
- Dialect identification and listener attributes 269
- Sociophonetic analysis of young Peninsular Spanish women’s voice quality 293
- A sociophonetic analysis of trill production in Panamanian Spanish 313
- Index 337
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction xi
-
Part I. Theoretical and descriptive approaches
- No superiority, no intervention effects 3
- Overt PRO in Romance 25
- The semantics and pragmatics of andar and venir + gerund 49
- Sequence of tenses in complementation structures 69
- Fue muerto 89
- Temporal and spectral dependencies in the processing of Spanish and English stop consonant voicing 113
- Segmental and prosodic conditionings on gradient voicing assimilation in Spanish 127
-
Part II. Language acquisition
- The sum is more than its parts 147
- Does agreement affect the syntax of bare nominal subjects in Russian–Spanish bilinguals? 169
- Perfecting the past 191
- The protracted acquisition of past tense aspectual values in child heritage Spanish 211
-
Part III. Language contact and language variation
- Morphological adjectival intensifier variation in Lima, Peru 233
- An experimental approach to hypercorrection in Dominican Spanish 251
- Dialect identification and listener attributes 269
- Sociophonetic analysis of young Peninsular Spanish women’s voice quality 293
- A sociophonetic analysis of trill production in Panamanian Spanish 313
- Index 337
