The influence of linguistic and social variables in the spirantization of intervocalic /b,d,g/ in Concepción, Chile

Brandon M. A. Rogers

doi:10.1515/shll-2016-0008

Article

The influence of linguistic and social variables in the spirantization of intervocalic /b,d,g/ in Concepción, Chile

Brandon M. A. Rogers

Published/Copyright: May 20, 2016

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From the journal Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics Volume 9 Issue 1

Abstract

One of the more characteristic features of Spanish is the process of articulatory reduction, known as spirantization, which affects the voiced stops /b,d,g/ resulting in the voiced approximants [β̞, ð̞, ɣ̞]. While studies have shown variation with respect to the phonetic environments in which /b,d,g/ undergo spirantization, the general consensus has been that they are always realized as approximants between vowels in most varieties of Spanish. Likewise, several studies have found that spirantization relates to different social factors in different varieties of Spanish. However, these studies have been impressionistic and/or qualitative in their analyses of the voiced obstruents and have not examined the varying degrees to which intervocalic /b,d,g/ spirantize. The current study analyzes more than 4,500 tokens of intervocalic /b,d,g/ from the spontaneous speech of 31 speakers from the province of Concepción, Chile. Likewise, the present paper examines and compares the phonetic behavior of traditional intervocalic /b,d,g/ with that of /b,d,g/ in non-traditional intervocalic contexts created by /s/ elision. Results indicated that both linguistic and social factors had an influence on the degree to which speakers realized [β̞, ð̞, ɣ̞], and that while speakers still lenite and delete /b,d,g/ in non-traditional intervocalic environments created by /s/ elision, generally they do so at a much lower rate than when in traditional intervocalic contexts.

Keywords: spirantization; Chilean Spanish; gender; /s/ weakening; intensity

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Published Online: 2016-5-20

Published in Print: 2016-5-1

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2016-0008

Keywords for this article

spirantization; Chilean Spanish; gender; /s/ weakening; intensity