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Investigating the nature of aspirated stops in Western Andalusian Spanish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2012

Francisco Torreira
Francisco Torreira*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The NetherlandsFrancisco.Torreira@mpi.nl
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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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Phonetic Association , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , April 2012 , pp. 49 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © International Phonetic Association 2012

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