An acoustic study of the ‘pre-aspirated trill’ in narrative Cibaeño Dominican Spanish

Abstract

This paper examines the acoustic characteristics of the Cibaeno Dominican Spanish ‘pre-aspirated’ trill. The data are based on narrative speech of ten native speakers from the Cibao region. The findings reveal that the segment is most often produced as a period of pre-breathy voice followed by a single tap, [hr]. The second most frequently occurring production involves pre-breathy voice and a trill. The term pre-breathy-voiced vibrant is proposed as a more appropriate characterization of the Cibaeno Dominican Spanish trill.