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Forma y Función
Print version ISSN 0120-338X
Abstract
SCHMIDT, Lauren B.. An exploratory study of the linguistic and social predictors of /s/-voicing in Quito, Ecuador. Forma. func. [online]. 2022, vol.35, n.1, e6424. Epub Dec 09, 2021. ISSN 0120-338X. https://doi.org/10.15446/fyf.v35n1.86424.
The objective of this exploratory study is to further the current understanding of regional variation of /s/-voicing in Spanish. Twelve speakers from Quito, Ecuador, completed an oral contextualized picture description task that elicited /s/ in preconsonantal and prevocalic contexts. A voicing percentage was calculated for each production of /s/, and statistical analyses were conducted using EEG models to determine which (socio)linguistic factors were relevant in the application of the /s/-voicing process in the Quito variety. The oral task revealed that speakers from Quito voiced the sibilant more frequently than speakers of other previously studied American and Peninsular varieties of Spanish, both for the preconsonantal context and the prevocalic context. Only some of the linguistic factors (for example, position of the /s/) and social factors (speaker sex) previously reported for other varieties were likewise found to be predictors of /s/-voicing for speakers from Quito.
Keywords : Ecuador; Spanish; phonological rules; voicing; linguistic variation.