Rhotic Assibilation in Mexican Spanish in Chihuahua
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languages Article Men Finally Got It! Rhotic Assibilation in Mexican Spanish in Chihuahua Natalia Mazzaro * and Raquel González de Anda Department of Languages and Linguistics, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 17 August 2020; Accepted: 3 October 2020; Published: 14 October 2020 Abstract: Rhotic assibilation is a common sociolinguistic variable observed in different Spanish speaking countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, and México. Previous studies reported that rhotic assibilation alternates with the flap and/or with the trill. In this study,we explore three aspects of rhotic assibilation in the Spanish of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico/El Paso, TX, United States: (1) Its diachronic development; (2) the linguistic and social factors that affect this variation and; (3) the possible effect of contact with English in this variable. Fifty-eight participants, including Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual subjects, performed one formal and two semi-informal speech production tasks. Acoustic and perceptual analysis of the tokens showed that the variation is not binary (standard vs. non-standard variant), but that it includes other rhotic variants with varying degrees of frication. Variation is restricted to phrase-final position and heavily favored by preceding front vowels (/e/ and /i/). These effects have a clear aerodynamic and articulatory motivation. Rhotic assibilation is not receding, as previously reported. It continues to be a prestigious variable prevalent amongst females, but also present in male speakers. The comparison between bilingual and monolingual speakers shows that contact with English does not significantly affect the occurrence of assibilation. Keywords: rhotic assibilation; sociolinguistics; sociophonetics; Mexican Spanish; variation 1. Introduction Rhotic assibilation is a pervasive feature of most varieties of Spanish. It has been reported in Argentina (Colantoni 2006); Bolivia (Morgan and Sessarego 2016); Costa Rica (Vásquez Carranza 2006); Ecuador (Bradley 2004); Spain (Henriksen and Willis 2010); Dominican Republic (Willis 2007); and Mexico (Amastae et al. 1998; Bradley and Willis 2012; Eller 2013; Lope Blanch 1967; Perissinotto 1972; Rissel 1989). Although assibilation is a common feature in all these dialects, social and linguistic factors seem to influence the phonological feature in unique ways. In this study, we focus on rhotic assibilation in the Spanish of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico/El Paso, TX, United States. We explore three aspects of rhotic assibilation: (i) The development of this feature more than two decades after the first (and only) study was conducted in this same dialect (Amastae et al. 1998); (ii) the linguistic and social factors that affect this variation; and (iii) whether contact with English affects the variable in bilinguals. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section1 reviews the phonetic and phonological characteristics of rhotics, the sociolinguistic literature on rhotic assibilation in Mexico City and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Section2 details the methodology for the study. Section3 introduces the results, and Section4 answers the research questions and relates the findings of the present study with the literature reviewed. Finally, we conclude and discuss the future directions of this research. Languages 2020, 5, 38; doi:10.3390/languages5040038 www.mdpi.com/journal/languages Languages 2020Languages, 5, x FOR2020, 5PEER, 38 REVIEW 2 of 21 2 of 21 1.1. Phonological, Articulatory, and Acoustic Characteristics of Spanish Rhotics 1.1. Phonological, Articulatory, and Acoustic Characteristics of Spanish Rhotics With regardWith to regard rhotic to rhoticdistribution, distribution, there there is isa acl clearear distinction distinction between between the the syllabic syllabic positions positions that that can be occupiedcan be occupied by taps by and taps andtrills. trills. Taps Taps / /ɾ /,/, as as in in caro caro/ká o/ká/ ‘expensive’,ɾo/ ‘expensive’, and trills and/r¯/, as trills in carro /r/,̄ / kasár¯ oin/ carro /káro/̄ ‘car’,‘car’, contrast contrast in in word-internal word-internal intervocalic intervocalic position position (Hualde (Hualde 2005). In 2005). word-initial In word-initial position and position after and after a consonanta consonant in ina different a different syllable, only only the the trill trill occurs: occurs: Rosa Rosa/r¯ósa/ /r‘rose’ósa/̄ and ‘rose’ Israel and/is r¯Israelaél/. The /isr tapaél/.̄ The occurs in onset clusters: Prosa /p ósa/ ‘prose’ and in word-final position before a vowel: Ser amigos tap occurs in onset clusters: Prosa /pɾósa/ ‘prose’ and in word-final position before a vowel: Ser /sé amígos/ ‘to be friends’. A variable rhotic appears in coda position (within a word or across word amigos /séboundaries)ɾ amíɡos/ followed‘to be friends’. by a consonant A variable or a pause, rhotic i.e., appears when resyllabification in coda position is not possible.(within Whilea word a tap or across word boundaries)is more frequently followed found by in a these consonant contexts, or an a emphatic pause, trilli.e., can when also occurresyllabification1 e.g., arte a[r¯]te is ornotá[ ]tepossible. While a tap‘art’, is amor more amo[ frequently] or amo[r¯] ‘love’.found Following in these Hualde contexts,(2005 ),an we emphatic will use the trill symbol can/ ralso/ to represent occur1 thee.g., arte a[r]tē or á[non-distinctɾ]te ‘art’, rhoticamor found amo[ inɾ] final or amo[r position]̄ ‘love’. where there Following is no possible Hualde resyllabification. (2005), we Wewill will use also the use symbol the neutral term ‘rhotic’ rather than ‘tap’ and ‘trill’ to refer to it. /r/ to represent the non-distinct rhotic found in final position where there is no possible Articulatorily, standard taps and trills2 share the same place and manner of articulation; they are resyllabification.both usually We realized will also asvoiced use the and neutral alveolar term3. The ‘r mainhotic’ difference rather betweenthan ‘tap’ taps and and ‘trill’ trills is to that refer taps to it. Articulatorily,are produced standard with a single taps contact and between trills2 theshare tip ofthe the same tongue place towards and the manner alveolarridge, of articulation; while trills they are both usuallyare produced realized with severalas voiced (usually and two alveolar or three)3. The such main rapid contactsdifference (Hualde between 2005). taps Navarro and Tom trillsás is that taps are produced(Tomás 1970 ,with pp. 1, a 116) single gave contact a more detailed between description the tip of of the the Spanish tongue trill thattowards specifies the the alveolar position ridge, while trillsof theare tongue produced tip, dorsum, with andseveral root. He(usually stated thattwo the or tip three) of the tonguesuch bendsrapid upwardscontacts to (Hualde touch the 2005). upper-most part of the alveolar ridge, the tongue root retracts towards the back of the oral cavity, and Navarro theTomás tongue ([1918] body adopts 1970, app. hollow 1, 116) or concave gave shape.a more detailed description of the Spanish trill that specifies the positionThe realization of the of trillstongue requires tip, a dorsum, complex combination and root. ofHe articulatory stated that movements the tip ofof the the tongue-tip tongue bends upwards andto touch aerodynamic the upper-most forces (Solé 2002 part). of Due the to theiralveolar articulatory ridge, complexity, the tongue trills root are masteredretracts latetowards in theL1 the back of the oralacquisition cavity, and and arethe not tongue present body in the adopts babbling a stage. hollow Not onlyor concave do native shape. speakers find trills challenging, The realizationbut L2 learners of maytrills also requires find them a complex difficult tocomb acquireination and someof articulatory may never succeedmovements in rolling of the their tongue- [r]s (Solé 2002). Because the production mechanism of trills is quite complex and requires precise tip and aerodynamic forces (Solé 2002). Due to their articulatory complexity, trills are mastered late articulatory and aerodynamic conditions, small changes in their production can lead to perceptible in the L1 acousticacquisition differences. and are These not small present changes in the in the babbling production stage. of trills, Not which only coulddo native be due speakers to contextual find trills challenging,or prosodic but L2 features, learners create may a favorablealso find environment them difficult for the to instability acquire of and this soundsome andmay the never creation succeed of in rolling theirnew [r]s variants. (Solé In2002). fact, theBecause rich literature the production on rhotic variationmechanism in different of trills dialects is quite of Spanishcomplex provides and requires precise articulatoryevidence for theand instability aerodynamic of trills and, conditions, most importantly, small thechanges methodological in their challenges production they present can lead to in their analysis (see Method section). perceptible acoustic differences. These small changes in the production of trills, which could be due Acoustically, the tap and the trill share the same characteristics: A lowered third formant (Colantoni to contextual2001) or and prosodic brief periods features, of occlusion, create one a favora occlusionble for environment the tap and more for than the oneinst forability the trill. of However,this sound and the creationtaps of and new trills variants. differ in the In duration