RLA. Revista de lingüística teórica y aplicada, 2006
In several varieties of spoken Spanish, word-medial, labial stops are articulated as velar stops ... more In several varieties of spoken Spanish, word-medial, labial stops are articulated as velar stops (pepsi > pe [k]si). This work summarizes some previous attempts to explain this abrupt sound substitution. Then, building upon advances in phonotactic theory (e.g., ) and patterns emergent from lexical representations (Bybee, 2001), this work presents a new theoretical perspective from which to examine the p > k phenomenon. Syllable-final, word-medial, velar stops (/g, k/) have a significantly higher token and type frequency than syllable-final, word-medial labial stops (/b, p/) in Spanish. As a result, the schema [..C VELAR $C..], and not [..C LABIAL $C..], emerges as a stronger, more productive schema, promoting the abrupt sound substitution LABIAL > VELAR.
ABSTRACT Using a corpus of Medieval Spanish text, we examine factors affecting the Modern Standar... more ABSTRACT Using a corpus of Medieval Spanish text, we examine factors affecting the Modern Standard Spanish outcome of the initial /f/ in Latin FV- words. Regression analyses reveal that the frequency of a word's use in extra lexical phonetic reducing environments and lexical stress patterns significantly predict the modern distribution of f- ([f]) and h- (ø) in the Spanish lexicon of FV- words. Quantification of extra lexical phonetic context of use has not previously been incorporated in studies of diachronic phonology. We fined no effect of word frequency, lexical phonology, word class, or word transmission history. The results suggest that rather than frequency of use, it is more specifically a word's likelihood of use in context favoring reduction that promotes phonological change. The failure to find a significant effect of transmission history highlights the relative importance of language internal sources of change. Results are consistent with usage-based approaches; contextual variation creates differential articulatory pressures among words, yielding variable pronunciations that, when registered in memory, promote diachronic change.
We conduct a quantitative analysis of conversational speech from native speakers of Puerto Rican ... more We conduct a quantitative analysis of conversational speech from native speakers of Puerto Rican Spanish to test whether optional non-inversion of subjects in wh-questions (¿qué tú piensas?) is indicative of a movement in Spanish from flexible to rigid word order . We find high rates of subject expression (51%) and a strong preference for SV word order (47%) over VS (4%) in all sentence types, in line with assertions of fixed SVO word order. The usage-based examination of 882 wh-questions shows non-inversion occurs in 14% of the cases (25% of wh-questions containing an overt subject). Variable rule analysis reveals subject, verb and question type significantly constrain interrogative word order, but we find no evidence that word order is predicted by perseveration. SV word order is highest in rhetorical and quotative questions, revealing a pathway of change through which word order is becoming fixed in this variety.
We would like to acknowledge the helpful comments we received from three anonymous reviewers and ... more We would like to acknowledge the helpful comments we received from three anonymous reviewers and constructive feedback from the audience attending the Workshop on Caribbean Spanish at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium 2010.
Missing from the body of literature on contact induced phonological influence are studies that ex... more Missing from the body of literature on contact induced phonological influence are studies that examine language variation as it occurs in speech production among members of a speech community. This study uses a corpus of naturally occurring Spanish/English code-switched discourse to determine whether cross-language phonological effects are evident in the data. Specifically, 2,629 tokens of word-initial /d/ were analyzed in spontaneous interactions to identify the linguistic factors that condition the variable reduction (unreduced [d], reduced [ð]/Ø) of /d-/ in Spanish words. Cognate words (doctor) were found to reduce significantly less often than non-cognate words (después ‗after'). Additionally, a significant effect is found for a novel, contextually informed measure that estimates words' proportion of use in online contexts promoting reduction (FFC -Frequency in a Favorable Context). The greater a word's prior exposure to online contexts promoting reduction, the greater the likelihood of reduced articulations. Indeed, this work argues that the distinction between cognates and non-cognates in fact emerges through this cumulative effect of significantly different patterns of use in discourse. Cognate /d/ words are used overall (considering speakers' use of both English and Spanish) less often in contexts that promote reduction than non-cognate words. As a result of the diminished net exposure to reducing environments, per usage-based grammar, the lexical representations of cognate words have strengthened non-reduced exemplars ([d]). The distinct rates of variation for the word categories thus emerge from distinct usage patterns. This paper proposes such a focus on usage patterns within naturally occurring speech for phonological analyses within contact linguistics.
Using a corpus of Medieval Spanish text, we examine factors affecting the Modern Standard Spanish... more Using a corpus of Medieval Spanish text, we examine factors affecting the Modern Standard Spanish outcome of the initial /f/ in Latin FV-words. Regression analyses reveal that the frequency of a word's use in extralexical phonetic reducing environments and lexical stress patterns significantly predict the modern distribution of f-([f]) and h-(Ø) in the Spanish lexicon of FV-words. Quantification of extralexical phonetic context of use has not previously been incorporated in studies of diachronic phonology. We find no effect of word frequency, lexical phonology, word class, or word transmission history. The results suggest that rather than frequency of use, it is more specifically a word's likelihood of use in contexts favoring reduction that promotes phonological change. The failure to find a significant effect of transmission history highlights the relative importance of language internal sources of change. Results are consistent with usage-based approaches; contextual variation creates differential articulatory pressures among words, yielding variable pronunciations that, when registered in memory, promote diachronic change.
A B S T R A C T It has been argued speakers' knowledge of the probabilities of certain phones, wo... more A B S T R A C T It has been argued speakers' knowledge of the probabilities of certain phones, words, and syntactic structures affects language production ). This study provides evidence for effects of grammatical relation probabilities by identifying significant effects on verb morphology in the Spanish presentative [haber 'there (be)'þ NP] construction stemming from nouns with varying proportion of use in subject function. In addition to this novel type of probability (grammatical relation), we present calculations that are not context-dependent but cumulative, reflecting speakers' overall experience with these nouns in the grammar. We conduct variationist analyses on corpora of spoken Puerto Rican Spanish. Our results reveal that nouns with a high probability of subject function promote the analogical leveling of haber by increasing the likelihood of reanalysis of the object as subject of the construction. We interpret these results as suggesting speakers possess lexicalized knowledge of grammatical relation usage patterns.
Los trabajos anteriores sobre las construcciones interrogativas del español, centrados en estudia... more Los trabajos anteriores sobre las construcciones interrogativas del español, centrados en estudiar la diversidad de patrones sintácticos y su multifuncionalidad comunicativa, rompen con la relación isomórfica entre forma (interrogativa) y función (buscar información) que se estableció en la gramática tradicional. En este artículo, a través de un análisis basado en la frecuencia de todas las preguntas parciales directas en 27 horas de conversación natural puerto rrique ña (N = 1210), establecemos la existencia de correlaciones significativas entre la función pragmática de la pregunta y la forma sintáctica que adquiere la construcción interrogativa. Las formas canónicas (interrogativas Verbo-Sujeto y sin sujeto expreso) se corresponden con la función de buscar información, mientras que las formas no canónicas (interrogativas hendidas e interrogativas Sujeto-Verbo) típicamente cumplen otras funciones discursivas. Los resultados de los análisis de la regla variable (Varbrul) exponen con detalle los factores lingüísticos que restringen de manera significativa el uso de estas formas no canónicas.
En español, la construcción impersonal-existencial con haber (hubo fiestas) está en variación sin... more En español, la construcción impersonal-existencial con haber (hubo fiestas) está en variación sintáctica con la construcción intransitivaexistencial, en la que haber concuerda en número y persona con su único argumento (hubieron fiestas). En este estudio, utilizamos un análisis de regresión múltiple para determinar cuáles son los factores lingüísticos que condicionan la variación de haber en el habla de Puerto Rico, teniendo en cuenta todos los ejemplos con una frase nominal en plural encontrados en un corpus de español puertorriqueño de 370.000 palabras. Los resultados muestran que los ejemplos de pluralización de haber son más frecuentes que los de haber impersonal, y que los factores lingüísticos que favorecen este uso son: la presencia de un referente humano en el presentatum, ya que presenta características de los sujetos prototípicos, y el uso de haber en imperfecto de indicativo, porque es el tiempo pasado que tiene una frecuencia textual mayor y porque había posee un equivalente plural usado en el sistema verbal del español.
RLA. Revista de lingüística teórica y aplicada, 2006
In several varieties of spoken Spanish, word-medial, labial stops are articulated as velar stops ... more In several varieties of spoken Spanish, word-medial, labial stops are articulated as velar stops (pepsi > pe [k]si). This work summarizes some previous attempts to explain this abrupt sound substitution. Then, building upon advances in phonotactic theory (e.g., ) and patterns emergent from lexical representations (Bybee, 2001), this work presents a new theoretical perspective from which to examine the p > k phenomenon. Syllable-final, word-medial, velar stops (/g, k/) have a significantly higher token and type frequency than syllable-final, word-medial labial stops (/b, p/) in Spanish. As a result, the schema [..C VELAR $C..], and not [..C LABIAL $C..], emerges as a stronger, more productive schema, promoting the abrupt sound substitution LABIAL > VELAR.
ABSTRACT Using a corpus of Medieval Spanish text, we examine factors affecting the Modern Standar... more ABSTRACT Using a corpus of Medieval Spanish text, we examine factors affecting the Modern Standard Spanish outcome of the initial /f/ in Latin FV- words. Regression analyses reveal that the frequency of a word's use in extra lexical phonetic reducing environments and lexical stress patterns significantly predict the modern distribution of f- ([f]) and h- (ø) in the Spanish lexicon of FV- words. Quantification of extra lexical phonetic context of use has not previously been incorporated in studies of diachronic phonology. We fined no effect of word frequency, lexical phonology, word class, or word transmission history. The results suggest that rather than frequency of use, it is more specifically a word's likelihood of use in context favoring reduction that promotes phonological change. The failure to find a significant effect of transmission history highlights the relative importance of language internal sources of change. Results are consistent with usage-based approaches; contextual variation creates differential articulatory pressures among words, yielding variable pronunciations that, when registered in memory, promote diachronic change.
We conduct a quantitative analysis of conversational speech from native speakers of Puerto Rican ... more We conduct a quantitative analysis of conversational speech from native speakers of Puerto Rican Spanish to test whether optional non-inversion of subjects in wh-questions (¿qué tú piensas?) is indicative of a movement in Spanish from flexible to rigid word order . We find high rates of subject expression (51%) and a strong preference for SV word order (47%) over VS (4%) in all sentence types, in line with assertions of fixed SVO word order. The usage-based examination of 882 wh-questions shows non-inversion occurs in 14% of the cases (25% of wh-questions containing an overt subject). Variable rule analysis reveals subject, verb and question type significantly constrain interrogative word order, but we find no evidence that word order is predicted by perseveration. SV word order is highest in rhetorical and quotative questions, revealing a pathway of change through which word order is becoming fixed in this variety.
We would like to acknowledge the helpful comments we received from three anonymous reviewers and ... more We would like to acknowledge the helpful comments we received from three anonymous reviewers and constructive feedback from the audience attending the Workshop on Caribbean Spanish at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium 2010.
Missing from the body of literature on contact induced phonological influence are studies that ex... more Missing from the body of literature on contact induced phonological influence are studies that examine language variation as it occurs in speech production among members of a speech community. This study uses a corpus of naturally occurring Spanish/English code-switched discourse to determine whether cross-language phonological effects are evident in the data. Specifically, 2,629 tokens of word-initial /d/ were analyzed in spontaneous interactions to identify the linguistic factors that condition the variable reduction (unreduced [d], reduced [ð]/Ø) of /d-/ in Spanish words. Cognate words (doctor) were found to reduce significantly less often than non-cognate words (después ‗after'). Additionally, a significant effect is found for a novel, contextually informed measure that estimates words' proportion of use in online contexts promoting reduction (FFC -Frequency in a Favorable Context). The greater a word's prior exposure to online contexts promoting reduction, the greater the likelihood of reduced articulations. Indeed, this work argues that the distinction between cognates and non-cognates in fact emerges through this cumulative effect of significantly different patterns of use in discourse. Cognate /d/ words are used overall (considering speakers' use of both English and Spanish) less often in contexts that promote reduction than non-cognate words. As a result of the diminished net exposure to reducing environments, per usage-based grammar, the lexical representations of cognate words have strengthened non-reduced exemplars ([d]). The distinct rates of variation for the word categories thus emerge from distinct usage patterns. This paper proposes such a focus on usage patterns within naturally occurring speech for phonological analyses within contact linguistics.
Using a corpus of Medieval Spanish text, we examine factors affecting the Modern Standard Spanish... more Using a corpus of Medieval Spanish text, we examine factors affecting the Modern Standard Spanish outcome of the initial /f/ in Latin FV-words. Regression analyses reveal that the frequency of a word's use in extralexical phonetic reducing environments and lexical stress patterns significantly predict the modern distribution of f-([f]) and h-(Ø) in the Spanish lexicon of FV-words. Quantification of extralexical phonetic context of use has not previously been incorporated in studies of diachronic phonology. We find no effect of word frequency, lexical phonology, word class, or word transmission history. The results suggest that rather than frequency of use, it is more specifically a word's likelihood of use in contexts favoring reduction that promotes phonological change. The failure to find a significant effect of transmission history highlights the relative importance of language internal sources of change. Results are consistent with usage-based approaches; contextual variation creates differential articulatory pressures among words, yielding variable pronunciations that, when registered in memory, promote diachronic change.
A B S T R A C T It has been argued speakers' knowledge of the probabilities of certain phones, wo... more A B S T R A C T It has been argued speakers' knowledge of the probabilities of certain phones, words, and syntactic structures affects language production ). This study provides evidence for effects of grammatical relation probabilities by identifying significant effects on verb morphology in the Spanish presentative [haber 'there (be)'þ NP] construction stemming from nouns with varying proportion of use in subject function. In addition to this novel type of probability (grammatical relation), we present calculations that are not context-dependent but cumulative, reflecting speakers' overall experience with these nouns in the grammar. We conduct variationist analyses on corpora of spoken Puerto Rican Spanish. Our results reveal that nouns with a high probability of subject function promote the analogical leveling of haber by increasing the likelihood of reanalysis of the object as subject of the construction. We interpret these results as suggesting speakers possess lexicalized knowledge of grammatical relation usage patterns.
Los trabajos anteriores sobre las construcciones interrogativas del español, centrados en estudia... more Los trabajos anteriores sobre las construcciones interrogativas del español, centrados en estudiar la diversidad de patrones sintácticos y su multifuncionalidad comunicativa, rompen con la relación isomórfica entre forma (interrogativa) y función (buscar información) que se estableció en la gramática tradicional. En este artículo, a través de un análisis basado en la frecuencia de todas las preguntas parciales directas en 27 horas de conversación natural puerto rrique ña (N = 1210), establecemos la existencia de correlaciones significativas entre la función pragmática de la pregunta y la forma sintáctica que adquiere la construcción interrogativa. Las formas canónicas (interrogativas Verbo-Sujeto y sin sujeto expreso) se corresponden con la función de buscar información, mientras que las formas no canónicas (interrogativas hendidas e interrogativas Sujeto-Verbo) típicamente cumplen otras funciones discursivas. Los resultados de los análisis de la regla variable (Varbrul) exponen con detalle los factores lingüísticos que restringen de manera significativa el uso de estas formas no canónicas.
En español, la construcción impersonal-existencial con haber (hubo fiestas) está en variación sin... more En español, la construcción impersonal-existencial con haber (hubo fiestas) está en variación sintáctica con la construcción intransitivaexistencial, en la que haber concuerda en número y persona con su único argumento (hubieron fiestas). En este estudio, utilizamos un análisis de regresión múltiple para determinar cuáles son los factores lingüísticos que condicionan la variación de haber en el habla de Puerto Rico, teniendo en cuenta todos los ejemplos con una frase nominal en plural encontrados en un corpus de español puertorriqueño de 370.000 palabras. Los resultados muestran que los ejemplos de pluralización de haber son más frecuentes que los de haber impersonal, y que los factores lingüísticos que favorecen este uso son: la presencia de un referente humano en el presentatum, ya que presenta características de los sujetos prototípicos, y el uso de haber en imperfecto de indicativo, porque es el tiempo pasado que tiene una frecuencia textual mayor y porque había posee un equivalente plural usado en el sistema verbal del español.
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