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Highland Ecuadorian Spanish has a unique process of /s/ voicing that differs from other dialects of Spanish in that word-final /s/ is realized as [z] intervocalically (Lipski 1989, 1994, Robinson 1979). Ecuadorian /s/ voicing is problematic for serial models of phonology as well as for some output-to-output analyses within Optimality Theory. It is argued that the data can be accounted for by an optimalitytheoretic analysis that incorporates phonetic underspecification as a strategy to satisfy coda-licensing restrictions. Sibilants without a voicing target remain unspecified until the phonetic component, where they adopt the laryngeal configuration of neighboring sounds and can thus be expected to exhibit gradient and variable voicing. Contrary to existing non-derivational proposals (Bradley 2007, Colina 2006), it is shown that it is not necessary to resort to two levels of representation (lexical and postlexical) to explain the behavior of Ecuadorian Spanish. The analysis proposed also accounts for cross-dialectal variation affecting word-final prevocalic /s/.

Recent literature on Spanish intonation assumes that deaccenting occurs when a lexical item fails to cue stress via an F0 rise or some other pitch movement through its stressed syllable. Inspired by the findings and suggestions for future research by Face (2003), the present study fills in research gaps by examining seven potential influences on deaccenting, working with spontaneous speech, and addressing the understudied Barcelona dialect of Spanish. The analysis of 160-170 minutes of spontaneous speech data collected at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona reveals that the odds of deaccenting increase in words that are high frequency in Spanish, have fewer syllables, are verbs or adverbs, are uttered multiple times within a recent timeframe, or are in initial or medial positions of the phonological phrase. Finally, high frequency verbs and adverbs, as well as adverbs, nouns, and verbs with fewer syllables are all especially prone to deaccenting.

The present paper reports on the findings of an acoustic study of nuclear pitch accents in Majorcan Catalan. A total of 10 speakers participated in a production experiment. Nuclear pitch accents were investigated by measuring relative pitch changes between several sequential temporal landmarks in and around nuclear stressed syllables in read-aloud declaratives. The results provide evidence for the presence of a low (L) tone associated with the nuclear stressed syllable for 9 of the 10 participants, and that of a high (H) trailing tone for only 4 of the participants. The implications of these results for a phonological analysis of Majorcan Catalan nuclear pitch accents, as well as the diachrony of nuclear pitch accents in Iberian Romance, are discussed.

This paper reviews the development of speech technologies for Iberian Romance languages (Catalan, Galician, Spanish and Portuguese) with a special emphasis on the phonetic knowledge involved in the three core areas in the field: text-to-speech synthesis, automatic speech recognition and spoken language systems. Several important technological advances have taken place during the last decades and there is a substantial base of active researchers in the areas of engineering and computer science. However, the trend towards the use of automatic learning techniques and corpus-based models has seriously reduced the role of linguistics, favoring a reduction in time in the development of applications over basic research into the nature of the speech code.

In this piece I adopt the standard textbook definition of abstractness in generative phonological theory, “the degree to which a UR [= underlying representation] of a morpheme may deviate from its associated PRs [= phonetic representations]” (Kenstowicz & Kisseberth 1979, p.179). I also adopt the perspective that a phonological analysis, independently of its degree of abstractness, is (only) as adequate as the motivation and evidence that can be produced in favor of it and against substantive alternatives. This is the focus of my remarks in this piece, featuring a thorough critique of the motivation and evidence for the abstract geminate rhotic representation of the intervocalic trill in Spanish (Harris 1969, 1983, 2001, 2002).

I argue that abstraction is a critical feature of SLA research, although it is not relevant to every domain of that research. For those interested in the underlying mental representation of L2 learners, abstraction in the form of linguistic features (e.g. subject, Infl, ±strong agreement) is part and parcel of the tools needed to describe acquisition. For those interested in something like skill theory, such abstraction is not necessary to talk about the development of concepts such as fluency and accuracy. In the end, the importance of abstraction in SLA research is dependent on what aspect of SLA one focuses on.

This viewpoint offers an opinion on the role of abstraction in phonology from a Laboratory Approaches perspective. The paper begins with a definition of abstraction and then provides examples of how a Laboratory Approach can clarify and contribute to our understanding of proposed abstract categories. Claims and findings on Dominican Spanish rhotics and current topics in Spanish intonation (pitch accents and boundary tones) are reviewed to illustrate the value of quantitative data. The value and importance of increased empirical data in phonological analysis is argued, regardless of theoretical bent, to better understand sound systems.

In the area of syntax, the notion of abstraction has been employed differently in the two major theoretical approaches of functionalist and formalist models. From the functional perspective, a typologically adequate linguistic model needs to look at universals without imposing too much abstraction on principles or representation. In contrast, the formalist model has been characterized by its tendency towards stating language universals in terms of abstract structures and principles. This paper argues that while these two traditionally opposing tendencies remain true, the difference between the functionalist and formalist models is the degree of abstraction, not a dichotomy of presence and absence of such a property. Functionalists also rely on a certain degree of abstraction in describing language depending on various functional-cognitive models within this approach. This paper also shows that the direction of Spanish functional syntax has been diverse and rich, employing a varying degree of abstraction of representation of language. The prediction for the future of the functionalist and formalist models is their eventual realignment, a process that may compromise their respective meaning-centered and the formcentered positions.

In the field of generative syntax, abstractness has a crucial role in how the field is defined and in how it is practiced. This article discusses four ways in which abstractness is essential to progress in the field. First, abstractness is crucial to the formulation of grammars of individual languages. Second, abstractness is intrinsic to one of the goals of the theory, to provide a general theory of language in addition to particular grammars. Third, abstractness plays a role in observations about language, and is therefore an essential part of the empirical validation of the theory. Finally, the paradigm of generative grammar, with its interest in accounting for the linguistic capacity of humans, has increasingly shaped the questions that are investigated and the types of solutions that are considered.