Atlantic Spanish variation: acoustic analysis of consonants across five coastal cities in Hispanic America, integrating sociolinguistic variables

In Brazilian Portuguese, the fricative /S/ characterizes linguistic communities (Hora, 2002; Lucchesi, 2009; Scherre; Macedo, 1991), with notable variation between the alveolar variants [s, z] and the alveopalatal variants [ʃ, ʒ]. In Pará, the alveopalatal variant [ʃ, ʒ] holds the status of a standard, marking Pará’s regional identity (Jesus; Mota, 2009a; Razky ; Santos, 2020). This article primarily investigates sociolinguistic variation involving the archiphoneme /S/ in medial coda position in Pará, focusing on a region that remains underexplored in sociolinguistic studies: the Araguaia region of Pará. We conducted a field study, based on Labovian sociolinguistics, in five municipalities (Conceição do Araguaia, Redenção, Santana do Araguaia, Santa Maria das Barreiras, and Xinguara), interviewing 79 participants. For data analysis, we used the R software (R Core Team, 2023) to perform a mixed-effects logistic regression analysis. The dependent variable was the realization of the alveolar variants [s, z] versus the alveopalatal variants [ʃ, ʒ]. Independent variables included social factors (gender, municipality, locality, and speech style) and linguistic factors (preceding and following phonetic contexts, stress, morphological class, and word length), which were controlled as fixed effects. Additionally, Participant and Item were included as random effects. Our results reveal that, unlike the northern region of Pará, in the Araguaia region, the alveolar variant [s, z] emerges as the standard (68.5%) compared to the alveopalatal variant [ʃ, ʒ] (31.5%) (N = 9,793). We found that the alveopalatal variant [ʃ, ʒ] is favored in stressed syllables and before /t/, being more frequent among male participants. Another observed aspect was stylistic monitoring, with a higher occurrence of the alveolar variant [s, z] in more monitored contexts (e.g., reading news articles and word lists), reinforcing its standard status. Thus, regarding /S/ in medial coda position, our findings indicate that the sociolinguistic reality among speakers in the Araguaia region of Pará aligns more closely with communities in the Northeast, such as São Luís-MA and Teresina-PI, and the Southeast, such as São Paulo-SP and Belo Horizonte-MG (Mota; Jesus; Evangelista, 2010). This diverges from the linguistic stereotype of Pará, where the alveopalatal variant [ʃ, ʒ] is considered the standard in both internal coda (e.g., pista [ˈpiʃtɐ]) and external coda (e.g., dois [ˈdoɪʃ]).

This article presents the results of a sociolinguistic study focusing on the expression of double object marking constructions (DbOM) in the contact variety of Spanish spoken in Pitt County, North Carolina. For the purposes of this article, DbOM constructions are defined as those utterances in which an accusative or dative clitic co-occurs with a coreferential overt nominal phrase. The data resulting from study participant interviews were analyzed to contrast the availability and variation of DbOM constructions with respect to sociolinguistic and linguistic factors. Confirming the initial hypothesis stemming from the absence of any type of argument doubling in English, the study’s results reveal that extent of daily English use in Pitt County is a significant factor in the expression of DbOM constructions. Moreover, and in agreement with the third proposed hypothesis, the case assigned to the doubled argument as well as the type of predicate, rather than the contrast between direct and indirect objects, are significant factors in the type of object doubling observed.

Perhaps due to the salient differences between English and Spanish rhotics, there has been a robust discussion regarding the acquisition of Spanish taps and trills by first language (L1) English speakers. Previous studies that have explored rhotic development have suggested that while there is a significant increase in accuracy of producing taps and trills as Spanish proficiency level increases ( Face 2006 ; Olsen 2012 ), even advanced learners or learners with intense exposure to the language still face difficulty in producing the trill ( Major 1986 ; Reeder 1998 ). Despite the contributions of previous studies, it remains unclear how learners develop the tap and trill in real time (as opposed to apparent time), to what extent the two rhotic sounds develop differently, and the role of additional linguistic and extralinguistic factors apart from phonological context and exposure. This study contributes to the discussion of Spanish rhotic development by tracking uninstructed L1 English learners in an Ecuadorian immersion setting for one year, providing an analysis of development in real time. By applying variationist methodology using the mixed-effects model Rbrul ( Johnson 2009 ), we explore the role of phonological context, lexical stress, word class, cognate status, target word syllables, proficiency, exposure, speech style, and individual differences in the development of native-like taps and trills. We find that phonological context, word class, exposure, and speech style significantly condition tap production, while there are no significant predictors found for trill production. Furthermore, we see that target tap production accuracy grows throughout the year-long stay abroad, but target trill production shows no improvement.

The pitch contour is often considered to be an important signal, if not the principal acoustic signal, of linguistic stress. While it has been recognized that pitch dips as well as pitch rises can indicate stressed syllables, stress detectors for automatic speech recognition systems have often been based on the detection of pitch rises. The present experiment measured pitch contours on stressed syllables for speakers of several dialects. Both formal and informal styles of speech were used. It was found that the use of pitch contours to signal stress is a function of dialect. In particular, there exist dialects for which duration or amplitude rather than pitch is usually the cue for stressed syllables. The results of this experiment are further evidence that dialect variation and speech style must be considered in studies of the acoustics of speech.

Medals, Rings, and Olympic Dreams: A Review Essay of Antonio Sotomayor and Cesar R. Torres, eds., <i>Olimpismo</i>

Compared to more familiar varieties of Swedish, the dialects spoken in Finland have rather diverse syllable structures. The distribution of distinctive syllable weight is determined by grammatical factors, and by varying effects of final consonant weightlessness. In turn it constrains several gemination processes which create derived superheavy syllables, in an unexpected way which provides evidence for an anti-neutralization constraint. Stratal OT, which integrates OT with Lexical Phonology, sheds light on these complex quantity systems. 1 The weight of stressed syllables 1.1 Light stressed syllables1 The bimoraic minimum: Sweden vs. Finland. In most Swedish dialects of Sweden (here referred to as West Swedish for short), stressed syllables are minimally bimoraic: they must contain at least a long vowel (-VV-) or a closed syllable (-VC-).2 Words like (1a) are therefore impossible. Because word-final consonants are weightless (“extrametrical”) in Swedish, the two-mora minimum also excludes monosyllabic words with -VC rhymes (see (1b)): (1) a. *[ro], *[ro.da], *[ro.a], *[no.gra] b. *[ro(d)] The Swedish dialects of Finland present a more varied picture. Only parts of Aland have the two-mora minimum (e.g. Brando and Kumlinge in the northeastern part of the island, Sundberg 1993:131 ff.). All other Fenno-Swedish dialects allow light (i.e. monomoraic) stressed syllables as a distinctive syllable type: (2) [daga], [dagar] ‘days’, [viku] ‘week’, [veliN] ‘gruel’, [suvel] ‘food eaten with bread, sowl’, [somar] ‘summer’, [stygu] ‘hut’, [paron] ‘potato(es)’, [hakon] ‘the chin’, [hole] ‘the hole’, [segla] ‘to sail’, [tala] ‘to talk’, [sita] ‘to sit’, [myky]3 ‘much’, [stad0gari] ‘steadier’, [snidit] ‘askew’, [Uyvu] ‘twenty’ Fenno-Swedish, then, has a lexical contrast between stressed CV, CVC, and CVV syllables:4 (3) a. [baka] ‘bake’ (99), [baaket] ‘after’ (adv.) (114), [bakkan] ‘the hill’ (114) b. [vaten] ‘water’ (102), [maaten] ‘the food’, [natten] ‘the night’ (70) c. [betar] ‘better’ (51), [fleetor] ‘braids’ (43), [tvettar] ‘washes’ (51) Even though stressed CV syllables are allowed, words of the form CV are categorically excluded in all the dialects (except for function words, on which see below).5 As for words of the form CVC, the dialects are divided. Most allow them:6 1The information on Fenno-Swedish dialects given here is based primarily on the 29 transcribed dialect texts in Harling-Kranck 1998, with accompanying tapes, as well as on the brief grammatical sketches of the dialects provided there. Page references below are to that work, unless otherwise specified. For supplementary information on particular points I have consulted the additional dialect monographs cited below. Special thanks are due to Mikael Reuter, for valuable discussion of Helsinki Swedish, and for generously providing me with a copy of his unpublished thesis (Reuter 1982). 2Except where otherwise stated, the generalizations stated here hold for phonological words. Each member of a compound constitutes a separate phonological word. 3Here and throughout I ignore dialectal variation in pronunciation where it is not relevant to the analysis of syllable weight. For instance, dialects with palatalization before front vowels have [myUy] or [myUi] instead of [myky]. 4In phonetic transcriptions of Fenno-Swedish, I adhere to IPA standards except that I mark vowel and consonant length by gemination, so as to conform with the phonological (lexical) representations, and to allow convenient marking of syllable boundaries (by “.”). Italics are reserved for citing word in Swedish spelling, which will be done for standard West Swedish and standard Helsinki Swedish only. 5The single contrary example is ga [ga] ‘go’ in Vora (central Ostrobothnia, Harling-Kranck 1998:121), apparently a fast speech variant of that dialect’s normal [gaa]. 6The contrast between /CVC/ and /CVCC/ is clearest before a vowel in close contact, e.g. [hol i mitten] ‘hole in the middle’, [r0nn o] ‘round too’ (H.-K. 22). The /CVC/ words are partly retentions of Proto-Nordic /CVC/, partly analogical reintroductions (Hulden 1957:122), and partly apocopated from CVCV at different periods.

A new species from the Argentine Sea, Metharpinia iado (Phoxocephalidae), is described. It is distinguished by many morphological character states from Metharpinia longirostris Schellenberg, 1931, found in South America for Argentina and Chile; primarily, they differ in numbers of spines and setae on mouthparts and appendages, and shape of epimeron plate 3. The new species is recorded in Buenos Aires and Chubut provinces. Two other Phoxocephalidae, Microphoxus cornutus (Schellenberg, 1931) and Fuegiphoxus fuegiensis (Schellenberg, 1931), partially illustrated, are compared in different populations, and some variations in number of spines and setae on mouthparts and appendages are noted. Microphoxus cornutus, known in Chile (Punta Arenas) and Argentina (Ushuaia), extends its geographical distribution towards the north of Argentina, in Buenos Aires and Chubut. Fuegiphoxus fuegiensis, known in the austral part of South America (Punta Arenas and Ushuaia) and in Chubut (Puerto Madryn), expands its geographical distribution in Chubut. The Ipanemidae Ipanema talpa Barnard and Thomas, 1988 is figured in part, both males and females are compared with the male specimen described from Brazil; it constitutes a new record in Argentina. All taxa were collected from sandy substrata in the intertidal and subtidal regions, in Buenos Aires and Chubut provinces.

This study is an exploration of the consonant cluster simplification in Nigerian English (NE), elucidating the complex interplay between acoustic cues and sociolinguistic factors. In contrast to previous research that overlooked the role of social variables in shaping NE cluster patterns, this study employs a corpus-based approach to analyse NE (varied) clusters. The study draws on a sample of speakers from the International Corpus of English (ICE). The corpus has 1010 382 spoken and written words for linguistic, social and acoustic analyses. The sampling for the study was based on social variables and ethnicity criteria. The analysis is based on a dataset of 855 tokens, distributed across various sociodemographic factors. The analysis was modelled in R to address the research questions. The findings are significant, revealing a strong positive correlation between the NE clusters and sociolinguistic variables. Age, ethnicity and speech style were found to be significant contributors (p < 0.05), while gender did not show any influence. The results underscore a consistent positive relationship between NE clusters and sociolinguistic and acoustic variables (duration and intensity) (p < 0.05). These features characterise NE speakers as northerners and southerners, rather than categorising them based on regional ethnicities of south, east and north.

The article examines the morphology and syntax of English in India, which deserves special study from a linguistic and literary point of view. The development of literary English in India is caused by certain linguistic, social and cultural phenomena which can be attributed to extra-linguistic factors. The authors of the article, based on the study of factual and theoretical material, come to the conclusion that for a certain time the functioning of the English language as the language of interethnic communication in India, a new version of the English language is emerging against the background of the interaction of the native and English. Thus one can observe the overall process shaped by both intra- and extra-linguistic factors that caused the formation of the particular national variant of the English language. Sociolinguistic factors, though important, are so-called because they represent an interaction between linguistic and social factors. Such an interaction of social and linguistic factors in India may also lead to the formation of the norm of English in India, the obvious signs of which, at least in morphology and syntax, have already been noted. Keywords: British English, Indian English, morphology, norm, Standard English, syntax.

Aims and objectives: This study examines the extent to which new speakers use the Basque ergative case marking ( –k) in the nominal inflection. I specifically ask whether frequency-based factors (language use and lexical frequency) play a role in its use by also considering speakers’ self-claimed Basque identities. Design/methodology/approach: The spontaneous speech of 39 Basque–Spanish bilinguals was collected by means of sociolinguistic interviews. Participants were self-stratified according to categories of Basque speakerhood ( euskaldunberri “new speaker”; euskaldun “Basque speaker”; euskaldunzahar “native speaker”). We also considered their proficiency, language use, and sex. Data and analysis: In total, 2,755 tokens were extracted for the presence/absence of ergative –k and coded for the following four linguistic factors: verb type, animacy person and number, phonological context, and type of NP. Lexical frequency was operationalized in terms of overall token frequency of lexical verb. Data were analyzed using mixed-effects models in R. Findings and conclusions: Results indicate that despite higher incidence of ergative omissions among new speakers, they show (1) consistent mastery of core internal constraints (verb type, phonological context) and (2) gradual structuring based on lexical frequency effects. These omissions occur in pragmatically structured conditions (topic shift, emphasis, and introducing self in narrative) alongside extensions of –k to unaccusative contexts (focus and topicalization). No independent effects of language use were found. Originality: This study is the first to examine of Basque ergativity among adult Basque speakers, taking also into account discourse factors, lexical frequency, and speakers’ social identities and proficiencies. Significance and implications: First, the mediating effects of lexical frequency are indicative that that sociolinguistic variation is acquired in a piece-meal fashion and that such patterns emerge from discourse as they are used in context. Second, it is argued that the new speakers’ kind of social practices hold key in explaining the reallocation of linguistic constraints in their variable production.

The study compares the tonal structures of stressed penultimate syllables in Quebec French and emphatic stress in the same spoken variety. Two main experiments have been conducted: the first was designed to highlight the tonal characteristics of emphatic stress in read and spontaneous speech. The second was concerned with the phonetic and tonal description of stressed, penultimate syllables as a result of a possible stress shift. Our results do not confirm the common assumption that penultimate, stressed syllables in Quebec French are the result of emphatic prominence. Emphatic stress is characterized by a LH tone on the target syllable followed by a more or less abrupt fall covering a particular domain depending on the speech style. By contrast, penultimate stressed syllables are characterized by a falling F0 modulation covering the lengthened syllable. The hypothesis that the tonal anchoring happens on the penultimate syllable could explain the variety of tonal patterns observed on the final syllables in those precise cases.

/s/ debuccalization, or “pre-aspiration,” is well-known in Buenos Aires (Porteño) Spanish. Recent research on Porteño /st/ suggests its most common variant for some young speakers contains both pre- and post-aspiration. Using sociolinguistic interview data from 20 speakers, I explore (i) the prevalence of lengthy VOT in /sC/; (ii) whether variants differ in HNR, intensity, or spectral moments; (iii) whether, accounting for coarticulation, frication in /st/ is different from /sp sk/; and (iv) the role of social factors. A clearer picture of Porteño /sC/ will inform our understanding of why developments in one variety (i.e., Andalusian) may or may not follow suit in another (i.e., Porteño). Intervocalic /sC/, either word-medial or cross-word, were analyzed (n = 4084). With 29ms as lengthy VOT, tokens were codedas: /s/-retention (n = 355); retention with lengthy VOT (n = 59); pre-aspiration (n = 2941); pre-aspiration with lengthy VOT (n = 672); or post-aspiration (n = 33). Note that pre-aspiration is dominant. Preliminary LMER modeling suggests fricative duration plus the interaction of fricative location (pre- versus post-closure) and place of articulation, as linguistic factors, and age, gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, place of origin, and socioeconomic background, as social factors, are significant predictors of the acoustic variation.

Despite Finland being one of the few countries financing the teaching of minority mother tongues at school, the study of heritage languages in the Finnish context is still incipient. The present paper is part of a PhD dissertation focusing on the use of articles in narratives written by children aged from 7 to 14 years old, speaking either European Portuguese (EP) or Brazilian Portuguese (BP) as a Heritage Language (HL), and attending classes of Portuguese offered weekly by municipal schools or educational institutes. In this article, I focus on part of my data (from 20 participants) collected in Finland and concerning certain linguistic and sociolinguistic factors - namely age, the variety of the HL, the most spoken language at home, and the HL use to access media - possibly impacting the acquisition of articles in Portuguese in a context where this heritage language is developing in contact with Finnish – an article-less language. The preliminary results suggest that HL speakers having access to formal classes of the language can use articles properly when writing a narrative, no matter the variety of the HL spoken (BP or EP). Among the other variables investigated, speaking the HL the most at home ( i.e., plenty of HL input from home) seems to be the most influential on article acquisition in this study. Conversely, speaking mostly the environmental language at home seems to have a negative influence on article acquisition.

Variability is perhaps the most notable characteristic of speech, and it is particularly noticeable in spontaneous conversational speech. The current research examines how speakers realize the American English stops /p, k, b, g/ and flaps (ɾ from /t, d/), in casual conversation and in careful speech. Target consonants appear after stressed syllables (e.g., "lobby") or between unstressed syllables (e.g., "humanity"), in one of six segmental/word-boundary environments. This work documents the degree and types of variability listeners encounter and must parse. Findings show greater reduction in connected and spontaneous speech, greater reduction in high frequency phrases (but not within high frequency words), and greater reduction between unstressed syllables than after a stress. Although highly reduced productions of stops and flaps occur often, with approximant-like tokens even in careful speech, reduction does not lead to a large amount of overlap between phonological categories. Approximant-like realizations of expected stops and flaps in some conditions constitute the majority of tokens. This shows that reduced speech is something that listeners encounter, and must perceive, in a large proportion of the speech they hear.

Sravnitel´noe stikhovedenie: metrika i ritmika by E. V. Kazartsev (review)