Abstract
Basque has an apico-alveolar /s̺/, a lamino-alveolar /s̻/, and a prepalatal sibilant /ʃ/ that are represented by the letters <s>, <z>, and <x>, respectively. The apico-alveolar and the lamino-alveolar sibilants have merged in some areas of Biscay, Guipuzcoa, and the Basque-speaking territories of Alava (e.g., Hualde 2010), and Spanish has been hypothesized as a factor driving this merger (Jurado Noriega 2011). On the other hand, complex sibilant systems like the traditional Basque one tend to be neutralized independently of language contact (Bukmaier et al. 2014). In order to add to this debate and shed new light on the merger, this study explored Biscayan Basque, a variety at an advanced state of the merger (Hualde 2010). More precisely, the study tested how the degree of bilingualism affects the production of the sibilants under study and the resulting neutralization by performing an acoustic analysis of the data. The results show that Basque- and Spanish-dominant speakers behave differently with regard to the sibilant merger, and that they have different places of articulation for their sibilants. Only Basque-dominant speakers maintain a significant distinction in the place of articulation of <z> and <x> overall, whereas Spanish-dominant speakers do not make a distinction among sibilants. Furthermore, the resulting merged sibilant is less fronted for Spanish-dominant speakers than the sibilants of Basque-dominant speakers.
Highlights
Basque has an apico-alveolar /s„/, a lamino-alveolar /s«/ and a prepalatal /S/ sibilant that are represented by the letters as in hasi ‘begin’, as in hazi ‘to grow up’ and as in xake ‘chess’, respectively
The results of the present study show that the sibilant merger occurs in Basque, as expected, and that, at least among younger speakers, this merger depends on the speakers’ degree of dominance in Basque or Spanish
The present study explores the effect of the following independent variables on sibilant production: high-pass filter was used in order to avoid interference in the center of gravity (COG) value from any possible voicing during the sibilant following File-Muriel and Brown [32]
Summary
Basque has an apico-alveolar /s„/, a lamino-alveolar /s«/ and a prepalatal /S/ sibilant that are represented by the letters as in hasi ‘begin’, as in hazi ‘to grow up’ and as in xake ‘chess’, respectively. According to Hualde [2], the three sibilants are maintained in some varieties of Basque, such as the Basque spoken in Goizueta, Navarre, but the apico-alveolar and the lamino-alveolar sibilants have merged in Biscay, some areas of Guipuzcoa, and the Basque-speaking territories of Alava This merger of the apico-alveolar and lamino-alveolar sibilants is not a new phenomenon, as Michelena Elissalt claims that it was already present centuries ago in Biscay and it was completed by 1961 in Biscay (with the exception of Markina and Bolibar), and in some urban areas of Guipuzcoa [3]. Ulibarri Orueta finds that the sibilant merger was present in texts from Vitoria, a city in the southern Basque Country, in the 16th century and gives evidence for a possible southern origin of the merger [4]
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