Bilabial fricatives in Mexican Spanish: A sociophonetic analysis
Voiceless bilabial fricative productions ([ɸ]) have been widely reported for several Spanish dialects especially in America (Lenz 1940; Predmore 1945; Navarro Tomás 1943; Florez 1951; Boyd-Bowman 1960; Canfield 1981; among others). Most of these sources posit that the bilabial variant [ɸ] is more l...
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doaj-43dd77a83f514c59a28f9fad13f170042020-11-25T02:46:36ZengSeptentrio Academic PublishingBorealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics1893-32112019-06-018110.7557/1.8.1.4561Bilabial fricatives in Mexican Spanish: A sociophonetic analysisSergio Robles-Puente0Jesús Vilches Aguado1West Virginia UniversityMiami University Voiceless bilabial fricative productions ([ɸ]) have been widely reported for several Spanish dialects especially in America (Lenz 1940; Predmore 1945; Navarro Tomás 1943; Florez 1951; Boyd-Bowman 1960; Canfield 1981; among others). Most of these sources posit that the bilabial variant [ɸ] is more likely to be found in rural areas, that it is normally produced by speakers with a low educational level and that is generally followed by back (and rounded) vowels. Nevertheless, there is a need to formalize such observations and check to what extent these external and internal factors or others may be impacting the choice of this fricative over the more common [f]. In order to do so, eighteen speakers of Spanish from Guanajuato (Mexico), an area that has been reported to present both variants (Boyd-Bowman 1960), were recorded producing words with ‘f’. The analysis of 126 productions yielded the following results: a) speakers with a lower educational level (primary or secondary education) show more instances of the bilabial fricative [ɸ] than those that have attained higher degrees (university); b) older speakers and males tend to produce the vernacular variant [ɸ] more than younger speakers and females; and c) back round vowels (/o u/) are more likely to trigger the use of the bilabial fricative due to their articulatory similarities. https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/borealis/article/view/4561sociophoneticsbilabial fricativeMexicoSpanish |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sergio Robles-Puente Jesús Vilches Aguado |
spellingShingle |
Sergio Robles-Puente Jesús Vilches Aguado Bilabial fricatives in Mexican Spanish: A sociophonetic analysis Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics sociophonetics bilabial fricative Mexico Spanish |
author_facet |
Sergio Robles-Puente Jesús Vilches Aguado |
author_sort |
Sergio Robles-Puente |
title |
Bilabial fricatives in Mexican Spanish: A sociophonetic analysis |
title_short |
Bilabial fricatives in Mexican Spanish: A sociophonetic analysis |
title_full |
Bilabial fricatives in Mexican Spanish: A sociophonetic analysis |
title_fullStr |
Bilabial fricatives in Mexican Spanish: A sociophonetic analysis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bilabial fricatives in Mexican Spanish: A sociophonetic analysis |
title_sort |
bilabial fricatives in mexican spanish: a sociophonetic analysis |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
series |
Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics |
issn |
1893-3211 |
publishDate |
2019-06-01 |
description |
Voiceless bilabial fricative productions ([ɸ]) have been widely reported for several Spanish dialects especially in America (Lenz 1940; Predmore 1945; Navarro Tomás 1943; Florez 1951; Boyd-Bowman 1960; Canfield 1981; among others). Most of these sources posit that the bilabial variant [ɸ] is more likely to be found in rural areas, that it is normally produced by speakers with a low educational level and that is generally followed by back (and rounded) vowels. Nevertheless, there is a need to formalize such observations and check to what extent these external and internal factors or others may be impacting the choice of this fricative over the more common [f]. In order to do so, eighteen speakers of Spanish from Guanajuato (Mexico), an area that has been reported to present both variants (Boyd-Bowman 1960), were recorded producing words with ‘f’. The analysis of 126 productions yielded the following results: a) speakers with a lower educational level (primary or secondary education) show more instances of the bilabial fricative [ɸ] than those that have attained higher degrees (university); b) older speakers and males tend to produce the vernacular variant [ɸ] more than younger speakers and females; and c) back round vowels (/o u/) are more likely to trigger the use of the bilabial fricative due to their articulatory similarities.
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topic |
sociophonetics bilabial fricative Mexico Spanish |
url |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/borealis/article/view/4561 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT sergioroblespuente bilabialfricativesinmexicanspanishasociophoneticanalysis AT jesusvilchesaguado bilabialfricativesinmexicanspanishasociophoneticanalysis |
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1724757217485258752 |