Academic Paper |
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| Title: | Investigating the nature of aspirated stops in Western Andalusian Spanish |
| Author: | Francisco Torreira |
| Institution: | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Linguistic Field: | Phonetics; Phonology |
| Subject Language: |
Spanish
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| Abstract: | In Western Andalusian Spanish (WAS), [h + voiceless stop] clusters are realized as long pre- and postaspirated stops. This study investigates if a new class of stops (realized as geminates with variable degrees of pre- and postaspiration) has emerged in this dialect, or if postaspiration in these clusters results from articulatory overlap. An experiment was carried out in which WAS speakers produced [h + voiceless stop] clusters under changes in speech rate and stress location. The duration of postaspiration, measured as voice onset, did not show systematic effects of any of the experimental variables. Moreover, trade-offs were observed between voice onset and preaspiration plus closure durations. These results indicate that postaspiration in WAS [h + voiceless stop] clusters is the consequence of extensive articulatory overlap. It is further hypothesized that the lengthening of closures in WAS stops preceded by [h] results from a different gestural mechanism affecting all [hC] clusters in this dialect. From a broader perspective, since extensive overlap and consonantal lengthening do not occur in the [hC] clusters of other Spanish varieties, these findings lend support to the idea that intergestural coordination patterns can be dialect-specific. |
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This article appears in Journal of the International Phonetic Association Vol. 42, Issue 1, which you can read on Cambridge's site . |
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