Cover not available

In:Innovative Approaches to Research in Hispanic Linguistics: Regional, diachronic, and learner profile variation
Edited by Sara Fernández Cuenca, Tiffany Judy and Lauren Miller
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 38] 2023
► pp. 106–129

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 5
The emergence of sound change
in two varieties of Spanish

A usage-based analysis of variable trill /r/ production in Caracas, Venezuela, and Caguas, Puerto Rico

 | Indiana University
 | Indiana University
 | Indiana University
 | Indiana University
 | Indiana University
Published online: 7 June 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.38.05pol
Abstract
We examine social and linguistic factors, including lexical frequency, that influence variable production of the alveolar rhotic trill in Caracas, Venezuela, and the region surrounding Caguas, Puerto Rico. Two categories of rhotic productions are established: non-innovative trills with two or more occlusions and innovative reduced ones with fewer than two occlusions and possible frication. Phonetic context, rhotic duration, and lexical frequency conditioned trill production in both varieties; mixed-effect logistic regressions showed that shorter duration and high frequency tokens predicted use of innovative variants in both varieties, while low vowels also did so in Caracas. This suggests that Caracas and Caguas are experiencing variation reflective of the early stages of a linguistic change, with linguistic factors conditioning reduced variants.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous literature
    • 2.1A phonetic description of trill production
    • 2.2A sociolinguistic description of trill production
    • 2.3Research questions
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1The Caracas corpus
    • 3.2The Caguas area corpus
    • 3.3Acoustic analysis and the dependent variable
    • 3.4Independent variables
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Logistic regression results
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
References (40)
References
Alvord, S., Echávez-Solano, N., & Klee, C. (2005). La (r) asibilada en el español andino: un estudio sociolingüístico. Spanish and Portuguese Studies, 29, 27–45.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Amengual, M. (2016). Acoustic correlates of the Spanish tap-trill contrast: Heritage and L2 Spanish speakers. Heritage Language Journal, 13(2), 88–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bentivoglio, P., & Sedano, M. (1993). Investigación sociolingüística: sus métodos aplicados a una experiencia venezolana. Boletín de Lingüística, 8, 3–35.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2020). Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer [Computer program]. Version 6.0.35, retrieved 16 October 2017 from [URL]
Bongiovanni, S. (2021). Acoustic investigation of anticipatory vowel nasalization in a Caribbean and non-Caribbean dialect of Spanish. Linguistic Vanguard, 7(1), 1–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bradley, T. G. (2006). Spanish rhotics and Dominican hypercorrect /s/. Probus, 18(1), 1–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bradley, T. G., & Willis, E. W. (2012). Rhotic variation and contrast in Veracruz Mexican Spanish. Estudios de Fonética Experimental, 21, 43–74.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, E. L. (2018). Cumulative exposure to phonetic reducing environments marks the lexicon: Spanish /d-/ words spoken in isolation. In K. Aaron Smith & D. Nordquist (Eds.), Functionalist and Usage-based Approaches to the Study of Language: In honor of Joan L. Bybee (pp. 127–153). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, J. (2002). Word frequency and context of use in the lexical diffusion of phonetically conditioned sound change. Language variation and change, 14(3), 261–290. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colantoni, L. (2006). Increasing Periodicity to Reduce Similarity: An Acoustic Account Deassibilation in Rhotics. In M. Díaz-Campos (Ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonetics and Phonology (pp. 22–34). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Contasti, M. (1980). Metodología para la medición del nivel socioeconómico para la población venezolana. Boletín de la Asociación Venezolana de Psicología Social, 2, 13–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Delgado-Díaz, G., & Galarza, I. (2015). ¿Que comiste [x]amón? A closer look at the neutralization of /h/ and posterior /r/ in Puerto Rican Spanish. In E. W. Willis, P. M. Butragueño, & E. Herrera-Zendejaset (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Romance Phonology (pp. 70–82). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla PressGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Delgado-Díaz, G. & Galarza, I. (2016). Sociolinguistic implications on perception: The case of the posterior /r/ in Puerto Rican Spanish. In A. Cuza, L. Czerwionka & D. Olson (Eds.), Inquiries in Hispanic Linguistics: From theory to empirical evidence (pp. 241–262). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Delgado-Díaz, G., Galarza, I., & Díaz-Campos, M. D. (2021). Complex attitudes towards two sociolinguistic variables and their social meanings. In M. Díaz-Campos & S. Sessarego (Eds.) Aspects of Latin American Spanish Dialectology: In honor of Terrell A. Morgan (pp. 125–153). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Díaz-Campos, M. (2008). Variable production of the trill in spontaneous speech: Sociolinguistic implications. In L. Colantoni and J. Steele (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp. 47–58). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Díaz-Campos, M. & Gradoville, M. (2011). An analysis of frequency as a factor contributing to the diffusion of variable phenomena: Evidence from Spanish data. In L. A. Ortiz-López (Ed.) Selected Proceedings of the 13th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 224–238). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hammond, R. (1999). On the non-occurrence of the phone /r/ in the Spanish sound system. In J. Gutierrez-Rexach & F. Martinez-Gil (Eds.), Advances in Hispanic Linguistics: Papers from the 2nd Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 290–304). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, M. (1988). French. In M. Harris & N. Vincent (Eds.), The Romance Languages (pp. 209–245). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Henriksen, N. (2014). Sociophonetic analysis of phonemic trill variation in two subvarieties of Peninsular Spanish. Journal of Linguistic Geography, 2(1), 4–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Acoustic analysis of the rhotic contrast in Chicagoland Spanish. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 5(3), 285–321. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Henriksen, N., & Willis, E. W. (2010). Acoustic Characterization of Phonemic Trill Production in Jerezano Andalusian Spanish. In M. Ortega-Llebaria (Ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 4th Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp. 115–127). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holmquist, J. C. (2008). Gender in context: Features and factors in men’s and women’s speech in rural Puerto Rico. In M. Westmoreland & J. A. Thomas (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the fourth workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp. 17–35). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hualde, J. I. (2005). The sounds of Spanish. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, D. E. (2009). Getting off the GoldVarb standard: Introducing Rbrul for mixed-effects variable rule analysis. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(1), 359–383. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001). Principles of linguistic change: Vol. 2. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayer, M. (1969). Frog, where are you? New York: Dial.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Melero, F. & Cisneros, A. (2020). No es tan simple como parece: The effect of duration of one-closure rhotics on the perception of Spanish /ɾ/ and /r/. In D. Pascual, C. Elola, & I. Elola (Eds.), Current Theoretical and Applied Perspectives on Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics (pp. 295–318). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Navarro Tomás, T. (1948). El español en Puerto Rico. Rio Piedras: Editorial Universitaria UPR.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parkinson, S. (1988). Portuguese. In M. Harris & N. Vincent (Eds.), The Romance Languages (pp. 131–169). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
PRESEEA (2014–). Corpus del Proyecto para el estudio sociolingüístico del español de España y de América. Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá. [[URL]].
Rissel, D. (1989). Sex, attitudes, and the assibilation of /r/ among young people in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Language Variation and Change, 1(3), 269–283. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, S. A. (2012). Variationist sociolinguistics: Change, observation, interpretation. Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Comparative sociolinguistics. In J. K. Chambers & N. Schilling (Eds.), The handbook of language variation and change (pp. 128–156). Wiley Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valentín-Márquez, W. (2007). Doing being Boricua: Perceptions of national identity and the sociolinguistic distribution of liquid variables in Puerto Rican Spanish (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Widdison, K. (1998). Phonetic motivation for variation in Spanish trills. Orbis, 40, 51–6l. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Willis, E. W. (2006). Trill Variation in Dominican Spanish: An Acoustic Examination and Comparative Analysis. In N. Sagarra & A. J. Toribio (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 9th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 121–131). Sommerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). An acoustic study of the ‘pre-aspirated’ trill in narrative Cibaeño Dominican Spanish. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37(1), 33–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Willis, E. W. & Bradley, T. G. (2008). Contrast maintenance of taps and trills in Dominican Spanish: Data and Analysis. In L. Colantoni & J. Steele (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 3rd conference on laboratory approaches to Spanish phonology (pp. 87–100). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zahler, S., & Daidone, D. (2014). A variationist account of trill /r/ usage in the Spanish of Málaga. IULC Working Papers, 14(2), 17–42.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Delgado‐Díaz, Gibran
2025. La variación fonológica del español puertorriqueño. In Enciclopedia concisa de los dialectos del español en el mundo, ► pp. 183 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue