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. 137–164
Chapter 6¡Hola mi a[ɾ]ma!
The social evaluation of the rotacismo merger in Sevilla
Published online: 2 September 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.45.06reg
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.45.06reg
Abstract
This study examines the social perception of the rotacismo merger in comparison to the /l/-/ɾ/ phonemic
distinction for syllable-final word-medial /l/ in Andalusian Spanish. A matched-guise experiment was created by digitally
manipulating speech from four Sevilla speakers, varying only in [l] and [ɾ] realizations in syllable-final word-medial
position. Based on 98 listeners from Sevilla, Spain, results found that those with more formal education, women, and older
listeners evaluated speakers with the rotacismo merger as being of less status than speakers with the /l/-/ɾ/
distinction. Additionally, speakers with the rotacismo merger were more likely to be perceived from towns outside of
Sevilla than from the city of Sevilla. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of the social evaluation of local
features versus supra-local features in dialect levelling.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Background
- 2.1Dialect levelling in Andalusian Spanish and the Sevilla norm
- 2.2Linguistic variable: The rotacismo merger
- 2.3Social perception studies of Andalusian phonetic features
- 2.4Research questions
- 3.Methods
- 3.1Stimuli
- 3.2Experimental design
- 3.3Participants
- 3.4Statistical analysis
- 4.Results
- 5.Discussion
- 5.1Revisiting the research questions
- 5.2Theoretical implications
- 5.3Future directions of research
- 6.Conclusion
Acknowledgements Notes References
References (110)
Alvar, M. (1974). Sevilla,
macrocosmos lingüístico. In L. Quiroga-Torrealba, M. Torrealba, & P. Díaz-Seijas (Eds.), Estudios
filológicos y lingüísticos. Homenaje a Ángel
Rosenblat (pp. 13–42). Instituto Pedagógico.
Alvar, M., Llorente, A., Salvador, G., & Mondéjar, J. (1973). Atlas
lingüístico y etnográfico de Andalucía
(ALEA) (Vol. 6). CSIC.
Ash, S. (2013). Social
class. In J. K. Chambers & N. Schilling (Eds.), The
handbook of language variation and change (2nd
ed., pp. 350–367). Wiley.
Auer, P., & Hinskens, F. (1996). The
convergence and divergence of dialects in Europe: New and not so new developments in an old
area. Sociolinguistica, 10, 1–30.
Ávila Muñoz, A. M. (1994). Variación
reticular e individual de s/z en el vernáculo urbano malagueño: Datos del barrio de
Capuchinos. Analecta
Malacitana, 17, 343–367.
Baird, B., Rohena-Madrazo, M., & Caroline, C. (2018). Perceptions
of lexically specific phonology switches on Spanish-origin loan-words in American
English. American
Speech, 93(1), 79–107.
Baranowski, N. (2013). On
the role of social factors in the loss of phonemic distinctions. English Language and
Linguistics, 17(2), 271–295.
Barnes, S. (2015). Perceptual
salience and social categorization of contact features in Asturian Spanish. Studies in
Hispanic and Lusophone
Linguistics, 8(2), 213–241.
(2018). Copula
variation in Asturian Spanish and the multidimensionality of stancetaking in
interaction. Journal of
Sociolinguistics, 22(1), 29–54.
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting
linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical
Software, 67(1), 1–48.
Becker, K. (2009). /r/
and the construction of place identity on New York City’s Lower East Side. Journal of
Sociolinguistics, 13(5), 634–658.
Britain, D. (2009). Supralocal
regional dialect leveling. In C. Llamas & D. Watt (Eds.), Language
and
identities (pp. 193–204). Edinburgh University Press.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity
and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse
Studies, 7(4–5), 585–614.
Campbell-Kibler, K. (2007). Accent,
(ING), and the social logic of listener perceptions. American
Speech, 82(1), 32–64.
Carabaña Morales, J., & Gómez Bueno, C. (1996). Escalas
de prestigio profesional. Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
Carbonero, P. (1982). Norma
estándar y actitud sociolingüística: Sobre la aceptación y uso de algunos rasgos lingüísticos en hablantes
sevillanos.
(1985). Aspectos
sociolingüísticos sobre la nivelación en el español meridional. Revista de Filología
Románica, 3, 77–83.
Carbonero, P., Álvarez, J. L., Casas, J., & Gutiérrez, I. M. (1992). El
habla de Jerez: Estudio sociolingüístico. Ayuntamiento (BUP. Cuadernos de divulgación).
Cerruti, M., & Tsiplakou, S. (Eds.). (2020). Intermediate
language varieties: Koinai and regional standards in Europe. John Benjamins.
Chappell, W. (2016). On
the social perception of intervocalic /s/ voicing in Costa Rican Spanish. Language
Variation and
Change, 28, 357–378.
de las Heras, J., Bardallo, M. D., Castrillo, C., Gallego, J., Padilla, J. M., Romero, J., Torrejón, V., & Vacas, C. (1996). Perfil
sociolingüístico del habla culta de la zona periurbana de Huelva. Aestuaria. Revista de
Investigación, 4, 109–124.
Drager, K., Hay, J., & Walker, A. (2010). Pronounced
rivalries: Attitudes and speech production. Reo,
Te, 53, 27–53.
Eckert, P., & Labov, W. (2017). Phonetics,
phonology and social meaning. Journal of
Sociolinguistics, 21(4), 467–496.
Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (1999). New
generalizations and explanations in language and gender research. Language in
Society, 28, 185–201.
García Amaya, L. J. (2008). Variable
norms in the production of /θ/ in Jerez de la Frontera,
Spain. In J. F. Siegel, T. C. Nagle, A. Lorente-Lapole, & J. Auger (Eds.), IUWPL7:
Gender in
Language (pp. 49–71). IULC Publications.
Gordon, E. (1997). Sex,
speech, and stereotypes: Why women use prestige speech forms more than men. Language in
Society, 26, 47–63.
Gylfadottir, D. (2018). The
effective borrowing of a phonemic contrast (Doctoral
dissertation). The University of Pennsylvania.
Hall-Lew, L. (2013). ‘Flip-flop’
and mergers-in-progress. English Language and
Linguistics, 17(2), 359–390.
Harjus, J. (2017). Perceptual
variety linguistics: Jerezano speakers’ concepts and perceptions of phonetic variation in western Andalusian
Spanish. Loquens, 4(2), 1–15.
(2018a). Sociofonética
andaluza y lingüística perceptiva de la variación: el español hablado en Jerez de la
Frontera. Iberoamericana Vervuert.
(2018b). Enregisterment
del rotacismo, del ceceo y de la fricativa en Andalucía Occidental: El caso de la serie de
televisión Allí Abajo. Apropos [Perspektiven auf die
Romania], 1, 43–61.
(2021a). Sibilants
in western Andalusian Spanish: The lack of a Sevillian norm in the Jerezano speech
community. In E. Núñez Méndez (Ed.), Sociolinguistic Approaches to
Sibilant Variation in
Spanish (pp. 73–94). Routledge.
(2021b). Sociophonetic
perceptions in Andalusian Spanish: The case of sibilants in Seville, Jerez, and
Cordoba. In L. A. Ortiz López & E.-M. Suárez Büdenbender (Eds.), Topics in
Spanish Linguistic
Perceptions (pp. 73–93). Routledge.
Hernández-Campoy, J. M., & Villena Ponsoda, J. A. (2009). Standardness
and nonstandardness in Spain: Dialect attrition and revitalization of regional dialects of
Spanish. International Journal of the Sociology of
Language, 196-197, 181–214.
Hickey, R. (2004). Mergers,
near-mergers and phonological interpretation. In C. J. Kay, C. Hough, & I. Wotherspoon (Eds.), New
Perspectives on English Historical
Linguistics (pp. 125–137). John Benjamins.
Hinskens, F., Auer, P., & Kerswill, P. (2005). The
study of dialect convergence and divergence: Conceptual and methodological
considerations. In P. Auer, F. Hinskens, & P. Kerswill (Eds.), Dialect
Change: Convergence and Divergence in European
Languages (pp. 1–48). Cambridge University Press.
Johnstone, B., & Kiesling, S. F. (2008). Indexicality
and experience: Exploring the meanings of /aw/-monophthongization in
Pittsburgh. Journal of
Sociolinguistics, 12, 5–33.
Koch, L. M., Gross, A. M., & Kolts, R. (2001). Attitudes
towards Black English and code-switching. Journal of Black
Psychology, 27(1), 29–42.
Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., & Christensen, R. H. B. (2017). lmerTest
package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical
Software, 82, 1–26.
Lambert, W. E., Hodgson, R. C., Gardner, R. C., & Fillenbaum, S. (1960). Evaluational
reactions to spoken language. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, 60, 44–51.
Lamíquiz, V., & Carbonero, P. (1987). Perfil
sociolingüístico del sevillano culto. Instituto de Desarrollo Regional / Universidad de Sevilla.
Lasarte Cervantes, M. C. (2010). Datos
para la fundamentación empírica de la escisión fonemática prestigiosa de /ƞ s/ en
Andalucía. Nueva Revista de Filología
Hispánica, 58(2), 483–516.
Lenth, R. V., Singmann, H., Love, J., Buerkner, P., & Herve, M. (2018). Emmeans: Estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means.
Lin, Y. (2023). Toward
a comprehensive model of style-shifting: Evidence from sibilant variation in
Madarin. Language &
Communication, 89: 23-31.
Maguire, W., Clark, L., & Watson, K. (2013). Introduction:
What are mergers and can they be reversed? English Language and
Linguistics, 17(2), 229–239.
Manjón Cabeza Cruz, A. (2018). Creencias
y actitudes de los jóvenes universitarios granadinos hacia las variedades cultas del
español. Boletín de
Filología, LIII, 145–177.
Martínez, M. D., & Moya Corral, J. A. (2000). Reacciones
actitudinales hacia la variación dialectal en hablantes granadinos. Lingüística
Española
Actual, 22(2), 137–160.
Melguizo Moreno, E. (2007). La
variación de /θs/: Estudio comparativo de dos muestras de población de
Granada. ELUA, 21(1), 1–16.
(2009). Estudio
sociolingüístico del ceceo en dos comunidades de habla. Analecta
Malacitana, 27, 165–184.
Mendoza Abreu, J. M. (1985). Contribución
al estudio del habla rural y marinera de Lepe (Huelva). Diputación Provincial de Huelva.
Milroy, J. (2001). Language
ideologies and the consequences of standardization. Journal of
Sociolinguistics, 5(4), 530–555.
Molina-García, A. (2019). Percepción
y distancia acústica: La variación paramétrica individual en la escisión fonemática de /θ/ en el español andaluz.
Datos de la ciudad de
Málaga. ELUA, 33, 111–140.
Morillo Velarde, R. (2001). Sociolingüística
en el ALEA: Variable generacional y cambio lingüístico. Estudios de
Lingüística, 15, 1–87.
Moya Corral, J. A. (2018a). La
evaluación del cambio: A propósito de los cambios prestigiosos en Andalucía. Actos do
XIII Congreso Internacional de Lingüística Xeral,
Vigo, 662–668.
Moya Corral, J. A., & García Wiedemann, E. (1995a). El
habla de Granada y sus barrios. Universidad de Granada.
Moya Corral, J.A., & García Wiedemann, E. (1995b). La
‘ch’ fricativa en Granada: un sonido del habla
masculina. In M. Ward Aengus, J. Whicker, & D.F. Flitter (Eds.), Actos
del XII Congreso Internacional de
Hispanistas, (pp. 270-283). University of Birmingham.
Moya Corral, J. A., & Sosiński, M. (2015). La
inserción social del cambio: La distinción s/θ en Granada. Análisis en tiempo aparente y en tiempo
real. Lingüística Española
Actual, 37(1), 33–72.
Nakagawa, S., & Schielzeth, H. (2013). A
general and simple method for obtaining R² from generalized linear mixed-effects
models. Methods in Ecology and
Evolution, 4, 133–142.
Narbona Jiménez, A., Cano Aguilar, R., & Morillo Velarde-Pérez, R. (2011). El
español hablado en Andalucía. Universidad de Sevilla.
Navarro Tomás, T., Espinosa, A. M., & Rodríguez-Castellano, L. (1933). La
frontera del andaluz. Revista de Filología
Española, 20, 225–277.
Nycz, J. (2013). New
contrast acquisition: Methodological issues and theoretical implications. English
Language and
Linguistics, 17(2), 325–357.
Pierrehumbert, J. (2001). Exemplar
dynamics: Word frequency, lenition, and contrast. In J. Bybee & P. J. Hopper (Eds.), Frequency
and the emergence of linguistic
structure (pp. 137–157). John Benjamins.
Podesva, R. J. (2007). Phonation
type as a stylistic variable: The use of falsetto in constructing a persona. Journal of
Sociolinguistics, 11(4), 478–504.
Qualtrics. (2005–2024). Qualtrics
online survey [Computer program]. [URL]
R Core Team. (2023). R: A language
and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. [URL]
Regan, B. (2017). A
study of ceceo variation in Western Andalusia (Huelva). Studies in Hispanic and
Lusophone
Linguistics, 10(1), 19–60.
(2020a). El
[ʃ]oquero: /tʃ/ variation in Huelva capital and surrounding towns. Estudios de Fonética
Experimental, 29, 55–90.
(2020b). Intra-regional
differences in the social perception of allophonic variation: The social evaluation of allophonic [tʃ]-[ʃ] in Huelva
and Lepe (Western Andalucía). Journal of Linguistic
Geography, 8(2), 82–101.
(2020c). The
split of a fricative merger due to dialect contact and societal changes: A sociophonetic study on Andalusian Spanish
read-speech. Language Variation and
Change, 32(2), 159–190.
(2021). Differing
effects of speaker and listener characteristics on the perception of two traditional Andalusian features undergoing
dialect leveling. In L. A. Ortiz-López & E.-M. Suárez-Büdenbender (Eds.), Topics
in Spanish Linguistic
Perceptions (pp. 95–116). Routledge.
(2022a). La
percepción social del seseo sevillano y sus implicaciones para la norma
sevillana. Lingüística en la
Red, 19, 1–27.
(2022b). The
social meaning of a merger: The evaluation of an Andalusian Spanish consonant merger
(ceceo). Language and
Society, 51(3), 481–510.
Regan, B., & Martinez, J. (2023). The
indeterminacy of social meaning linked to ‘Mexico’ and ‘Texas’ Spanish: Examining monoglossic language ideologies
among heritage and L2 Spanish
listeners. Languages, 8(4), 266.
Rufo Sánchez, J. R. (2006). Actitudes
y creencias frente al rotacismo sevillano [Unpublished M.A.
thesis]. University of Georgia.
Ruiz-Peña Sánchez de Ibargüen, E. (2013). “Alma”
o “arma”, evidencia de la neutralización /l/ /r/ en la variedad dialectal andaluza de Sevilla (Unpublished M.A.
thesis). University of Western
Ontario (Canada).
Ruiz Sánchez, C. (2017). Seseo,
ceceo, and distinción in Andalusian Spanish: Free variation or sociolinguistic
variation? Linguistics
Vanguard, 3(1), 1–10.
Santana Marrero, J. (2016). Seseo,
ceceo y distinción en el sociolecto alto de la ciudad de Sevilla: Nuevos datos a partir de los materiales de
PRESEEA. Boletín de Filología de la Universidad de
Chile, 51(2), 255–280.
(2016–2017). Factores
externos e internos influyentes en la variación de /θs/ en la ciudad de
Sevilla. Analecta
Malacitana, 39, 143–177.
(2018). Creencias
y actitudes de jóvenes universitarios sevillanos hacia las variedades normativas del español de España: Andaluza,
canaria y castellana. Pragmática
Sociocultural, 6(1), 71–97.
(2020). Percepción
de las variedades andaluza y castellana de los jóvenes sevillanos: Un análisis
contrastivo. Onomázein: Revista de Lingüística, Filología y
Traducción, 50, 71–89.
Sawoff, A. (1980). A
sociolinguistic appraisal of the sibilant pronunciation in the city of
Seville. Festgabe für Norman Denison. Grazer Linguistische
Studien, 11–12, 238–262.
Styler, W. (2017). Using
Praat for linguistic research (Version 1.7). [URL]
Trudgill, P. (1972). Sex,
covert prestige, and linguistic change in urban British English of Norwich. Language in
Society, 1(2), 179–195.
Villena Ponsoda, J. A. (1996). Convergence
and divergence in a standard-dialect continuum: Networks and individuals in
Málaga. Sociolinguistica, 10, 112–137.
Villena Ponsoda, J. A. (2001). La
continuidad del cambio lingüístico: Tendencias conservadoras e innovadoras en la fonología del español a la luz de la
investigación sociolingüística urbana. Universidad de Granada.
Villena Ponsoda, J. A. (2008). Sociolinguistic
patterns of Andalusian Spanish. International Journal of the Sociology of
Language, 193/194, 139–160.
Villena Ponsoda, J. A., & Ávila Muñoz, A. M. (2014). Dialect
stability and divergence in southern Spain: Social and personal
motivations. In K. Braunmüller, S. Höder, & K. Kühl (Eds.), Stability
and divergence in language contact: Factors and
mechanisms (pp. 207–237). John Benjamins.
Villena Ponsoda, J. A., & Felix Requena, S. (1996). Género,
educación y uso lingüístico: La variación social y reticular de S y Z en la ciudad de
Málaga. Lingüística
(ALFAL), 8, 5–51.
Villena Ponsoda, J. A., & Vida Castro, M. (2017). Variación,
identidad y coherencia en el español meridional. Lingüística en la Red,
Monográfico, 15, 1–32.
(2020). Variation,
identity, and indexicality in southern Spanish: On the emergence of a new variety in urban
Andalusia. In M. Cerruti & S. Tsiplakou (Eds.), Intermediate
language varieties: Koinai and regional standards in
Europe (pp. 148–182). John Benjamins.
Walker, A., García, C., Cortés, Y., & Campbell-Kibler, K. (2014). Comparing
social meanings across listener and speaker groups: The indexical field of Spanish
/s/. Language Variation and
Change, 26, 169–198.
Watson, K., & Clark, L. (2013). How
salient is the nurse-square merger? English Language and
Linguistics, 18(2), 297–323.
Weatherholtz, K., Campbell-Kibler, K., & Jaeger, T. F. (2014). Socially
mediated syntactic alignment. Language Variation and
Change, 26, 387–420.
Weinreich, U., Labov, W., & Herzog, M. I. (1968). Empirical
foundations for a theory of language change. In W. P. Lehman & Y. Malkiel (Eds.), Directions
for historical linguistics: A
symposium (pp. 95–195). University of Texas Press.
Weinschenk, E. A. (2022). Factors
impacting ceceo production in Jerez de la Frontera (Unpublished M.A.
thesis). Universidad de Sevilla.
Wickham, H. (2016). ggplot2:
Elegant graphics for data analysis. Springer. [URL].