A generational acoustic analysis of Mexican Spanish and English vowels

Abstract

Multiple studies have suggested that the Spanish vowel system is stable, with little to no variation (Delattre, 1996; Quillis and Esgueva, 1983), while others have also noted variation in monolingual Spanish (Boyd-Bowman, 1952; Canellada and Vicente, 1960; Delforge, 2008; Lipski, 1990; Lope-Blanch, 1964; Marin Galves, 1995; Matluck, 1952; Quilis, 1999; Quilis and Esgueva, 1983) and bilingual Spanish in the United States (Fought, 1999; Godinez and Maddieson, 1985; Konopka and Pierrehumbert, 2008; Konopka, 2011; Ronquest, 2013; Willis, 2005). This study analyzes the vowel quality and duration of Spanish and English vowels by Mexican and Mexican-American speakers across different sociolinguistic generations in the United States (Silva-Corvalan, 1994), which has been absent from previous literature. An examination of the different generations is needed to account for the differing levels of Spanish and English use in the United States, as well as to examine how production of speech may change across generations. Results indicate all generations exhibit significant unstressed vowel reduction, though there is variation across the different groups. The amount of centralization and reduction also increases for each subsequent generation. In addition, Spanish influence is evident in the production of both G1 and G3 groups, though there is also evidence for acquired English speech. Multiple studies have suggested that the Spanish vowel system is stable, with little to no variation (Delattre, 1996; Quillis and Esgueva, 1983), while others have also noted variation in monolingual Spanish (Boyd-Bowman, 1952; Canellada and Vicente, 1960; Delforge, 2008; Lipski, 1990; Lope-Blanch, 1964; Marin Galves, 1995; Matluck, 1952; Quilis, 1999; Quilis and Esgueva, 1983) and bilingual Spanish in the United States (Fought, 1999; Godinez and Maddieson, 1985; Konopka and Pierrehumbert, 2008; Konopka, 2011; Ronquest, 2013; Willis, 2005). This study analyzes the vowel quality and duration of Spanish and English vowels by Mexican and Mexican-American speakers across different sociolinguistic generations in the United States (Silva-Corvalan, 1994), which has been absent from previous literature. An examination of the different generations is needed to account for the differing levels of Spanish and English use in the United States, as well as to examine how production of speech may change across generatio...