PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY PHONÉTIQUE ET PHONOLOGIE

PHONETIC MOTIVATION FOR VARIATION IN SPANISH TRILLS

1. Introduction The vibrant, or trilled, [r] is a rather uncommon sound found in few contemporary languages (LADEFOGED et al. 1977: 49). It represents a highly salient pronunciation feature of Spanish which non-native speak- ers immediately recognize, but seldom master without great effort. The demanding production requirements of the vibrant make it the final speech gesture to be fully developed by native children (JIMÉNEZ 1987: 361). In the prestige dialect of Castile the trill consists of a series of brief occlusions made by the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge while the vibrating vocal cords sustain voicing (NAVARRO TOMAS 1967: 122). The acoustic impression of the trill is that of a vowel-like sound whose spectral characteristics approximate the vocalic segment it anticipates interrupted periodically by a non-aspirated stop element. In Spanish it is phonologi- cally distinct from the simple tap, also produced in the alveolar region, as illustrated below: (1) Spanish gloss Spanish gloss [koÍo] “choir” [koro] “I run” [paÍa] “for” [para] “vine” [qeÍo] “zero” [qero] “hill”

Outside of Northern Spain and other conservative Spanish speech communities, the vibrant has undergone a wide range of phonetic adjust- ments resulting in articulations quite different from the norm. Two main variant forms serve as key features in the classification of regional speech habits. The assibilated phone [r] occurs when the tongue-tip gesture does not give rise to multiple occlusions, but rather creates a narrowing at the alveolar ridge with accompanying audible frication, similar in nature to the Czech fricative trill (LADEFOGED et al. 1977: 49). Palatographic evidence of speakers of Puerto Rican Spanish shows extensive lingual alve- olar contact in the lateral regions for [r], which suggests that the frication is centrally released (NAVARRO TOMAS 1966: 89). Alternatively, the point 52 K. WIDDISON of articulation may shift to the extreme back of the vocal tract resulting in a uvular phone produced as a vibrant [R], fricative [x], or approxi- mant [™] sound, depending on the degree and type of constriction. Unlike the normative trill, both of these phonetic variants, the assibilated and uvular phones, tend to devoice (CARDENAS 1958: 407; NAVARRO TOMAS 1966: 89). The phonetic metamorphosis of the Spanish vibrant affects a wide cross- section of language users. Field research shows the assibilated variant to be quite common in highland dialects including Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, most of Argentina and Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Mexican plateau (cf. CARDENAS [1958] for a detailed discussion of the distribution of [r]). While a velarized pronunciation of the vibrant is most often associated with Puerto Rican Spanish (NAVARRO TOMAS 1966: 94), it has also been found in other Caribbean dialects such as Cuba, Panama, and coastal Colombia and Venezuela (CANFIELD 1962: 91-92; CUÉLLAR 1971: 19). Within these speech communities, variant forms of the vibrant are found among diverse segments of society to a degree, at times, approaching majority status (GORDON 1987: 722-723; MORENO DE ALBA 1972: 366-367; TERRELL 1982: 62-63). The variation observed in Spanish vibrants may be described in terms of phonological processes such as assibilation, , and devoic- ing. Yet these descriptive labels do not address the more interesting question regarding the root causes behind such shifts in pronunciation. There is wide agreement that the vagaries of the trill are the result of phonetic erosion occasioned by articulatory weakening, yet little more is known about the precise physical nature of the problem. Within many current linguistic theories, phonetic details are often considered irrelevant when conjecturing about the higher level forces that instantiate change. Moreover, research into the assibilation, velarization, and devoicing of the Spanish trill has been conducted as though these were separate, dis- connected issues. In this paper I set forth a phonetic basis for explaining the weakening of the Spanish vibrant by examining some of the key production aspects of trills and considering the interaction of these in the communicative process that requires language forms to be encoded and subsequently decoded. The working hypothesis is that changes occurring in place, manner, and voicing of the apical vibrant stem from natural physiologi- cal limitations in producing the aerodynamic event that characterizes the sound and that the resulting allophonic consequences are closely related. Before proceeding with this analysis, I will briefly review other accounts of the problem(s) and discuss the nature of general phonetic tendencies as they relate to the manifestation of in particular language systems. PHONETIC MOTIVATION FOR VARIATION IN SPANISH TRILLS 53

2. Models of /r/ variation and change Formalist phonological theory maintains that the reasons for phonetic change transcend the mechanical operation of the speech and hearing appa- ratus. It is presumed that change occurs at a broader, systemic level of lin- guistic function independent of the day to day interaction of speaker-hearers. The stimulus for system-wide change may be internal, such as the exis- tence of structural imbalances or the development of cognitive processing inefficiencies, or external, as in the adoption of the language by new users with different linguistic backgrounds and communicative needs. A fairly common extralinguistic account ascribed both to /r/ velarization and assibilation centers on the influence of languages in contact with Spanish. The uvular [R] predominate in the Caribbean has been attrib- uted variously to French, African, and indigenous populations (CUÉLLAR 1971: 20). Likewise, the assibilated [r] is claimed to have arisen due to contact between Spanish and other systems such as Basque, English, and Native American languages (CARDENAS 1958: 412). Evidence for this assertion is rather tenuous due to the geographic spread of the phenom- ena when compared to the historical settlement patterns of these groups. For example, it has been found that in those areas where the adstrat influence was greatest, phonetic variation of the trill is minimal and vice-versa (NAVARRO TOMAS 1966: 94). One advantage of analyzing the data system-internally is that it pro- vides a more uniform account of phenomena that affect large groups of Spanish speakers. For example, DE GRANDA argues that the standing quantitative correlation between the tap and trilled alveolar phones, the latter viewed at least conceptually as a multiple occurrence of the for- mer, does not fit well with other contrasts in the adjoining phonological space (1969: 4). MALMBERG claims that the assibilation of the normative vibrant follows the historical pattern in Spanish to convert the Latin sim- ple-geminate distinction into one of quality, a change already realized on nasal and lateral sounds (1950: 142). With respect to [™], GUITART (1982) suggests that this articulatory backing conforms with a larger ten- dency affecting other phonemes in the system, such as commonly occurs in the case of s-aspiration (/s/ → [h]) and nasal velarization (/n/ → [∞]). Similar arguments appealing to general organizational principles that oversee the representation and retrieval of language forms may account for the same variation. For example, velarization of /r/ in Spanish may be analyzed as an adjustment in phonological rules and/or a simplifica- tion in the specification of features that introduce economies into the system. In either case, since the variation is motivated by factors which affect the entire language system it becomes easier to justify the wide- spread variation apparent in the data. 54 K. WIDDISON

However, nonphonetic models such as those outlined above fall short of adequately explaining the variation exhibited by the Spanish trill in two important ways. First, they fail to recognize parallel developments in vibrant sounds occurring in other language systems. For example, velarization of trills is not unique to dialectal Spanish but also occurs in many areas of contemporary Brazilian Portuguese. In Parisian French, a uvular1 phone of recent historical origin has acquired prestige status while the older alveolar trill persists in the provinces. In fact, the same directional shift has occurred in dialects of many other European lan- guages for which the primitive form of /r/ was undoubtedly the vibrant, including German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Northern Italian (MALMBERG 1963: 46). This cross-linguistic correspondence sug- gests that the causal forces motivating the pattern likely represent gen- eral phonetic tendencies constraining all language systems. A narrow, language-internal perspective runs the risk of missing this important generalization. It should be noted that a phonetic universal constraint that favors the velarization of alveolar trills does not imply that such a course of action must be realized in all relevant language systems. This is no more nec- essary than a claim that language-specific pressures must result categor- ically in a given variant throughout the entire speech community. A gen- eral phonetic tendency merely provides the impetus for eventual sound change to occur if the emerging habit gains societal acceptance. The fact that the change is carried out completely in some languages, incom- pletely in others, and not at all in others, is strictly a function of the usual sociolinguistic variables that moderate the transmission of novel forms (cf. ANDERSEN 1973; LABOV 1972: especially chapter 7). A second shortcoming of a nonphonetic approach in explaining the observed variation in Spanish trills is the failure to detect any relation- ship between the various phonological processes involved. This defi- ciency highlights the inherent weakness of elaborating a secondary solu- tion to a sound change phenomenon without first appraising the primary factors that overwhelmingly condition the on-line variance typical of speech. It is true that the variation in vibrants is so diverse that the resulting /r/ sounds span the acoustic space and seem dissimilar enough to defy classification within the same phonetic category (only orthogra- phy and the otherness quality of phonemes serve to link them together). Nevertheless, a careful examination of the production aspects of trills not only underscores the natural phonetic tendency toward these variant forms, it reveals a direct connection between them.

1 An anonymous referee pointed out that the Parisian phone is actually realized as a complex articulation of simultaneous alveolar and uvular constrictions. PHONETIC MOTIVATION FOR VARIATION IN SPANISH TRILLS 55

3. Phonetic basis of variation in trills The alveolar trill is a complex sound which requires precise muscular control over the articulating organs and a critical velocity of airflow in order to initiate the appropriate vibratory movement (LADEFOGED 1982: 154). The mechanism that produces a trill is an aerodynamic event sim- ilar to that of laryngeal voicing in that successive openings and closings in the vocal tract are achieved by a single gesture that positions the tongue tip such that changes in air pressure excite the body and cause it to move. From an articulatory point of view the trill is quite different from a sequence of taps, although there is experimental evidence that the acoustic effect on perception is roughly equivalent when a trill is abbre- viated or a tap iterated (MARTINEZ CELDRAN - RALLO 1995: 185-190). In order for the tongue to vibrate under the influence of a given airstream the tip must be held with little tension. Greater tension would increase the stiffness of the tongue tip and present greater resistance to airflow and tongue displacement2. An effective strategy in reducing ten- sion in the tongue tip is by simultaneously elevating and retracting the postdorsum towards the soft palate while maintaining the alveolar con- striction, thus creating a slight hollowing in the tongue body (RECASENS 1991: 278). With the back part of the tongue held tensely towards the velum, less muscular constraint is needed to raise the tip, which is then free to modulate much like a flag attached to a pole in a strong wind (NAVARRO TOMAS 1967: 122). An articulatory strategy that requires precise movements and diametric specifications in different sectors of a single organ represents a complex and highly constrained gesture. Children must learn and adult learners must make a conscious effort to relax the front part of the tongue while and tensing the back part, all while expelling a sufficient amount of air. theory predicts that neighboring sounds will exert little influence on a sound the greater the production constraints it entails (FOWLER - SALTZMAN 1993: 179). Electropalatographic studies confirm that speakers show minimal variability in the articulation of trills across a wide range of phonetic contexts (RECASENS 1991: 279). Paradoxically, the same factors that make the vibrant highly resistant to coarticulatory effects in the speech chain create inherent instability in the trill itself. Three key elements in the aerodynamic equation for sus- taining tongue-tip vibration are airflow, resistance, and body tension and

2 Laboratory measurements of [r] and [R] by LADEFOGED and colleagues find insignif- icant differences in the mean rate of vibration of the tongue tip and uvula. They conclude that speakers must introduce compensatory laxing of the muscles controlling the tongue to aid vibration given the large disparities in size between the tiny uvula and the much heavier tongue (1977: 52). 56 K. WIDDISON position (MCGOWAN 1992: 2903). A slight change in any of these para- meters will lead to significant alterations in the quality of the sound pro- duced, a fact that is largely responsible for the wide range of variation observed in the Spanish trill.

3.1. Velarization The secondary articulation made by retracting and elevating the tongue back in order to decrease apical tension creates a potential for velarization to occur. If the constriction in the velar region exceeds that occurring at the alveolar ridge the primary acoustic effect will emanate from the for- mer. A uvular trill [R] represents the curious case in which the tongue participates as a passive articulator against which the tiny appendage vibrates as illustrated in Figure 1. The diminutive mass and intrinsic lax- ness of the uvula facilitate its excitation; yet, the same aerodynamic complexity that governs all free-vibrating bodies explains why the uvu- lar trill, like its apical counterpart, remains a fairly rare speech sound.

Fig. 1. Articulatory configuration of the uvular trill of Montreal French (from TOUSIGNANT et al. 1989). PHONETIC MOTIVATION FOR VARIATION IN SPANISH TRILLS 57

Often the postdorsal constriction gives rise to one type or another of obstruent sound illustrated below3: (2) Brazilian Portuguese gloss [xiu] “river” [kaxu] “car” [exadu] “mistaken” (3) Standard German gloss [™i:ze] “giant” [by™o:] “office” [ma™s] “march” A narrowing of the articulatory channel will cause the airstream to become turbulent producing uvular frication [x] as reflected by the data in (2). If the air passes over a similar constriction in which the tongue back is held flat, the wider cross-sectional areal distribution results in an approximant [™] sound as shown in (3) (CATFORD 1988: 98-99).

3.2. Assibilation Whether the secondary, velar constriction supplants the primary alve- olar one or not, the obstruction itself significantly impedes the flow of air through the vocal tract. This resistance could decrease the airflow below the critical value needed to instantiate apical vibration. Similarly, greater tension in the tongue tip might increase its stiffness such as to proscribe any vibratory movement. Minor changes in these parameters governing vibrating bodies will result in turbulent noise produced at the articulatory narrowing characteristic of the assibilated variant [r] of the trill. These inhibitory effects are not only consistent with the physical model described, they also coincide with the general, albeit imprecise, notion that highland Spanish is spoken with heightened articulatory ten- sion (cf. NAVARRO TOMAS 1967: 124).

3.3. Devoicing The alveolar trill is robustly voiced such that its defining feature is that of a vocalic sound interrupted by a rapid sequence of abbreviated stops. However, these occlusions of the vocal tract endanger voicing by

3 The data from Brazilian Portuguese reflect the fricative pronunciation predominant in the carioca dialect of Rio de Janeiro, while some varieties of European Portuguese have adopted the uvular trill instead (PARKINSON 1988: 138). In a phonetic study of Stan- dard German, ULBRICH finds the approximant allophone to be much more frequent than the trill (cited in HALL [1993: 89]). 58 K. WIDDISON increasing oral air pressure to the point of obliterating the conditions needed for efficient vocal cord vibration. Mechanical modeling of apical trills has demonstrated that voicing is largely sustained through compli- ance of the soft cheek tissues that effectively enlarge the oral cavity in order to insure a sufficient value for the transglottal differential in air pressure required by the Bernoulli effect4 (MCGOWAN 1992: 2903). The uvular variants of the trill tend to devoice since the oral chamber behind the constriction has a much smaller volume, which causes air pressure to build up more rapidly and extinguish voicing (CATFORD 1988: 98). Moreover, the surface of the vocal tract in the back part of the mouth is more rigid and does not expand to accommodate voicing as easily as the cheeks. This observation is consistent with a cross-linguis- tic tendency for back obstruents to devoice (OHALA 1983: 195). Assibilation of the trill also favors devoicing since the high oral airflow requirements of are in direct conflict with the aerodynamics of efficient glottal vibration which require that oral air pressure remain low. Noisy frication is the predominate perceptual cue for sibilants, which explains why there is a clear pattern of devoicing these sounds such as occurred historically in Spanish (WIDDISON 1995). The loss of voice on sibilants during the Golden Age marked a pivotal phase in the evolution of the and a similar development is evident today. The palatal approximant /y/, like the alveolar trill, remains richly voiced except in those cases where it has become assibilated. For example, the variant [z] found generally throughout South American Spanish has become devoiced for many Argentine speakers (GUITARTE 1955).

4. Conclusion I have reviewed the physical properties of alveolar trills and described the phonetic weakening that likely triggers the extensive variation observed in the Spanish vibrant. I have argued that velarization, assibilation, and devoicing of the trill are all responses to overarching aerodynamic constraints that impose an exacting production routine on the speaker. The complexity of the alveolar trill accounts for its relative obscurity in language systems much like other exotic sounds such as clicks: while neither type of phone is difficult to produce in isolation, both present formidable challenges when integrated into the suboptimal conditions under which running speech operates. The objective of this analysis has been to illustrate the utility of con- sidering the parameters of speech mechanics in explaining the behavior

4 Simultaneous vibration of the tongue tip and glottis for [r] embody conflicting aero- dynamic requirements that necessitate such compensatory articulatory adjustments. PHONETIC MOTIVATION FOR VARIATION IN SPANISH TRILLS 59 of the Spanish trill. By considering the phonetic substance of phonolog- ical patterns it becomes clear that “on-line” variability represents a fun- damental catalyst in the initiation of sound change5. Such human articu- latory and auditory constraints form the basis for postulating principles of Universal Grammar that help explain the facts of individual language systems (MOHANAN 1993: 110). It may well be that adstrat groups affect the spread, and psychological factors the generalization, of the variant forms of the trill. Nevertheless, neither approach seems as compelling in addressing the motivation of change as the account I am proposing here. Ultimately, experimentation and other empirical tests6 may prove the best methods for determining whether in fact the vagaries of the Spanish vibrant may be attributable to the outward workings of the mechanism by which language is encoded and processed.

REFERENCES

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5 BYBEE distinguishes between these “on-line” considerations and the more usual phonological rules created “off-line” that largely reflect the residue of change (1994: 302). 6 The studies already cited on the aerodynamics (MCGOWAN 1992) and physiology (RECASENS 1991) of alveolar trills provide initial support for the proposed arguments. Although they were not designed to examine the issues raised here, they clearly demon- strate the inherent production constraints that favor velarization, assibilation, and devoic- ing of lingual vibrants. Further investigation of these claims will provide the crucial test of the stated conclusions. 60 K. WIDDISON

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Provo, Brigham Young University. Kirk A. WIDDISON.