Cover not available

In:Interdisciplinary Approaches to Romance Linguistics: In honor of Barbara E. Bullock and Almeida Jacqueline Toribio
Edited by Mark Amengual and Amanda Dalola
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 45] 2025
► pp. 9–41

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

Chapter 1
A typological account of perceptually driven prosodic effects on voiced stop lenition in monolingual and bilingual Spanish grammars

 | Macalester College | University of California, Davis
 | Macalester College | University of California, Davis
Published online: 2 September 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.45.01loz
Abstract
A well-known pattern of Spanish segmental phonology is voiced stop lenition, in which /b,d,ɡ/ are predictably realized as spirant approximant allophones [β,ð,ɣ] after continuant segments. The alternation was traditionally formalized as speaker-based stricture assimilation or effort reduction, but recent proposals in theoretical phonology have shifted the locus of explanation of spirantization/approximantization onto perceptual factors motivated by the listener’s need to identify prosodic boundaries in running speech. Classified by Katz (2016) as an example of continuity lenition, the reduction of voiced stops in languages like Spanish helps maintain a continuous signal of relatively greater intensity inside a given prosodic constituent, while complementary fortition processes align constituent edges with auditory disruptions of lesser intensity, thereby signaling the location of domain boundaries. The present chapter reviews previous phonetic studies of spirantization in monolingual and bilingual Spanish varieties, including both second language learners and heritage speakers. Prosodic effects seem to guide the degree of intervocalic voiced stop lenition, which is favored within the minimal prosodic word but less so across the minimal and maximal prosodic word boundaries. Focusing in on Lozano’s (2021) study of spirantization in U.S. Colombian heritage Spanish, we first contextualize her main findings within previous studies. Then, we provide a formal analysis of continuity lenition in Optimality Theory situating U.S. Colombian heritage Spanish within a broader cross-linguistic typology of monolingual and bilingual Spanish grammars, which also includes varieties of Judeo-Spanish. We identify several advantages of our analysis over a previous alternative account of second language Spanish learners, and we also make a methodological suggestion for future research. In sum, the present study contributes to a growing body of theoretical work that has begun to flip the conventional narrative that Spanish postvocalic spirantization is speaker-driven, suggesting instead that the process is better understood as a perceptually motivated strategy for signaling the location of prosodic boundaries to the listener.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Intervocalic voiced stop lenition in Spanish
    • 2.1Monolingual Spanish
    • 2.2L2 Spanish
    • 2.3Heritage Spanish
    • 2.4Summary
  • 3.A formal account of prosodically conditioned continuity lenition
  • 4.The factorial typology of continuity lenition grammars
  • 5.Theoretical and methodological discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (65)
References
Amengual, M. (2019). Type of early bilingualism and its effect on the acoustic realization of allophonic variants: Early sequential and simultaneous bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism, 23(5), 954–970. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Au, T. K. F., Knightly, L. M., Jun, S. A., & Oh, J. S. (2002). Overhearing a language during childhood. Psychological Science, 13(3), 238–243. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Au, T. K. F., Oh, J. S., Knightly, L. M., Jun, S. A., & Romo, L. F. (2008). Salvaging a childhood language. Journal of Memory and Language, 58(4), 998–1011. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baković, E. (1995). Strong onsets and Spanish fortition. In C. Giordano & D. Ardron (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Student Conference in Linguistics (SCIL 6) (pp. 21–39). MIT Working Papers in Linguistics. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blair, K., & Lease, S. (2021). An examination of social, phonetic, and lexical variables on the lenition of intervocalic voiced stops by Spanish heritage speakers. Languages, 6(2), 108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, P., & Hayes, B. (2001). Empirical tests of the Gradual Learning Algorithm. Linguistic Inquiry, 32, 45–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2021). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.1.33. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bonet, E. (2020). Spanish phonology at the syntax interface. In S. Colina & F. Martínez-Gil (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Spanish phonology (pp. 325–340). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brogan, F. D., & Bolyanatz, M. A. (2018). A sociophonetic account of onset /s/ weakening in Salvadoran Spanish: Instrumental and segmental analyses. Language Variation and Change, 30, 203–230. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Broś, K., Żygis, M., Sikorski, A., & Wołłejko, J. (2021). Phonological contrasts and gradient effects in ongoing lenition in the Spanish of Gran Canaria. Phonology, 38(1), 1–40. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cabrelli Amaro, J. (2017). The role of prosodic structure in the L2 acquisition of Spanish stop lenition. Second Language Research, 33(2), 233–269. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carrasco, P. (2008). An acoustic study of voiced stop allophony in Costa Rican Spanish [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Carrasco, P., Hualde, J. I., & Simonet, M. (2012). Dialectal differences in Spanish voiced obstruent allophony: Costa Rican versus Iberian Spanish. Phonetica, 69, 149–179. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colantoni, L., & Marinescu, I. (2010). The scope of stop weakening in Argentine Spanish. In M. Ortega-Llebaria (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 4th Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp. 100–114). Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colina, S. (2020). Spirantization in Spanish: The role of the underlying representation. Linguistics, 58(1), 1–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
de Lacy, P. (2004). Markedness conflation in optimality theory. Phonology, 21(2), 145–199. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eddington, D. (2011). What are the contextual phonetic variants of /ß, ð, ɣ/ in colloquial Spanish? Probus, 23(1), 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elias-Ulloa, J. (2022). Influencia prosódica en la espirantización de las oclusivas sonoras del castellano de la ciudad de Lima (Perú). Lexis, 46(2), 441–480. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Face, T. L., & Menke, M. R. (2009). Acquisition of the Spanish voiced spirants by second language learners. In J. Collentine, M. García, B. Lafford, & F. M. Marín (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 11th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 39–52). Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Figueroa, M. (2016). Lenition in the production and perception of Chilean Spanish approximant consonants: Implications for lexical access models [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University College London.
González, C. (2006). Constraint re-ranking in three grammars: Spirantization and coda devoicing in Peninsular Spanish. In J.-P. Y. Montreuil (Ed.), New Perspectives on Romance Linguistics: Vol. II: Phonetics, phonology and dialectology. Selected papers from the 35th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (pp. 97–111). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, J., Urua, E.-A. & Tang, K. (2024). A unified model of lenition as modulation reduction: Gauging consonant strength in Ibibio. Phonology, 1–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayes, B., Tesar, B. & Zuraw, K. (2013). OTSoft. [Computer program]. Version 2.5, [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Los sonidos del español. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hualde, J. I., & Şaul, M. (2011). Istanbul Judeo-Spanish. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 41(1), 89–110. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hualde, J. I., Simonet, M., & Nadeu, M. (2011). Consonant lenition and phonological recategorization. Laboratory Phonology, 2(2), 301–329. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Itô, J., & Mester, A. (2007). Prosodic adjunction in Japanese compounds. In M. Ochi & Y. Miyamoto (Eds.), Formal approaches to Japanese linguistics 4 (pp. 97–111). MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009a). The extended prosodic word. In J. Grjzenhout & B. Kabak (Eds.), Phonological domains: Universals and deviations (pp. 135–194). De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009b). The onset of the prosodic word. In S. Parker (Ed.). Phonological argumentation: Essays on evidence and motivation (pp. 227–260). Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Katz, J. (2016). Lenition, perception and neutralisation. Phonology, 33(1), 43–85. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Katz, J., & Fricke, M. (2018). Auditory disruption improves word segmentation: A functional basis for lenition phenomena. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 3(1), 38.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Katz, J., & Moore, M. W. (2021). Phonetic effects in child and adult word segmentation. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(3), 854–869. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keating, P. A. (2006). Phonetic encoding of prosodic structure. In J. Harrington & M. Tabain (Eds.), Speech production: Models, phonetic processes, and techniques (pp. 167–186). Psychology Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kingston, J. (2008). Lenition. In L. Colantoni & J. Steele (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp. 1–31). Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kirchner, R. (2001). An effort based approach to consonant lenition. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Knightly, L. M., Jun, S. A., Oh, J. S., & Au, T. K. F. (2003). Production benefits of childhood overhearing. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 114(1), 465–474. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lavoie, L. (2001). Consonant strength: Phonological patterns and phonetic manifestations. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lozano, C. J. (2021). Prosodically driven continuity lenition: A phonological account of spirantization in Colombian heritage Spanish [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of California, Davis. [URL]
Martínez Celdrán, E. (1984). Cantidad e intensidad en los sonidos obstruyentes del castellano: hacia una caracterización acústica de los sonidos aproximantes. Estudios de fonética experimental, 1, 71–129.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1991). Sobre la naturaleza de los alófonos de /bdg/ en español y sus distintas denominaciones. Verba, 18, 235–253.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Problems in the classification of approximants. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34(2), 201–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Some chimeras of traditional Spanish phonetics. In L. Colantoni & J. Steele (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp. 32–46). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martínez Celdrán, E., & Regueira, X. L. (2008). Spirant approximants in Galician. Journal of the international phonetic association, 38(1), 51–68. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martínez-Gil, F. (2020). Spirantization and the phonology of Spanish voiced obstruents. In S. Colina & F. Martínez-Gil (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Spanish phonology (pp. 34–83). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCarthy, J. J. (2002). A thematic guide to Optimality Theory. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Doing Optimality Theory: Applying theory to data. Blackwell Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Migration Policy Institute. (2015). The Colombian Diaspora in the United States. RAD Diaspora Profile. [URL]
Nespor, M., & Vogel, I. (1986). Prosodic phonology. Foris.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ortega-Llebaria, M. (2004). Interplay between phonetic and inventory constraints in the degree of spirantization of voiced stops: Comparing intervocalic /b/ and intervocalic /g/ in Spanish and English. In T. Face (Ed.), Laboratory approaches to Spanish phonology (pp. 237–253). de Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Parker, S. G. (2002). Quantifying the sonority hierarchy [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Piñeros, C. E. (2002). Markedness and laziness in Spanish obstruents. Lingua, 112(5), 379–413. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prince, A., & Smolensky, P. (2004). Optimality Theory: Constraint interaction in generative grammar. Blackwell Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quintana, A. (2006). Geografía lingüística del judeoespañol. Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rao, R. (2014). On the status of the phoneme /b/ in heritage speakers of Spanish. Sintagma: Revista de Lingüística, 26, 37–54.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Manifestations of /bdg/ in heritage speakers of Spanish. Heritage Language Journal, 12(1), 48–74. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020). The phonological system of adult heritage speakers of Spanish in the United States. In S. Colina & F. Martínez-Gil (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Spanish phonology (pp. 439–451). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rao, R., & Ronquest, R. (2015). The heritage Spanish phonetic/phonological system: Looking back and moving forward. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 8(2), 403–414. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ronquest, R., & Rao, R. (2018). Heritage Spanish phonetics and phonology. In K. Potowski (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of Spanish as a heritage language (pp. 164–177). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdés, G. (2000). Introduction. In Spanish for native speakers: AATSP professional development series handbook for teachers K-16 (Vol. 1, pp. 1–20). Harcourt College.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zampini, M. L. (1994). The role of native language transfer and task formality in the acquisition of Spanish spirantization. Hispania, 77(3), 470–481. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1997). L2 Spanish spirantization, prosodic domains and interlanguage rules. Language Acquisition and Language Disorders, 16, 209–234.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1998). L2 Spanish spirantization: A prosodic analysis and pedagogical implications. Hispanic Linguistics, 10, 154–188.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue