Cover not available

Article published In: Spanish in Context
Vol. 13:1 (2016) ► pp.29–52

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

Cross-generational prosodic convergence in South Texas Spanish

Published online: 14 April 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.13.1.02car
This study investigates variation in the prosodic system of Spanish in the speech of three generations of Mexican Americans living in a Mexican American-majority community in South Texas, United States, characterized by high levels of bilingualism and long-term, sustained contact between languages. Low and Grabe’s (1995) Pairwise Variability Index was used to quantify prosodic rhythm in the Spanish and the English of community members across generations in order to: (1) assess differences between contact and non-contact varieties of Spanish, (2) investigate the cross-generational stability of prosodic rhythm in the community, and (3) ascertain the type of influence from English, if any, on Spanish prosody. Findings show that while the oldest generations maintain separate systems of rhythm in Spanish and English, the youngest generation demonstrates prosodic convergence.
References (59)
Abercrombie, David. 1967. Elements of General Phonetics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alfaraz, Gabriela. 2000. Sound change in a regional variety of Cuban Spanish. PhD diss. Lansing: Michigan State University.
Alvord, Scott. 2010. “Miami Cuban Spanish declarative intonation.” Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 3(1): 3–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arvaniti, Amalia. 2012. “The Usefulness of Metrics in the Quantification of Speech Rhythm.” Journal of Phonetics 401: 351–373. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barrett, Rusty. 2006. “Language Ideology and Racial Inequality: Competing Functions of Spanish in an Anglo-owned Mexican Restaurant.” Language in Society 351: 163–204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul & David Weenik. 2013. Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borzone de Manrique, Ana María, and Angela Signorini. 1983. “Segmental Durations and the Rhythm in Spanish.” Journal of Phonetics 111: 117–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bullock, Barbara, and Almeida Jacqueline Toribio. 2004. “Convergence as an Emergent Property in Bilingual Speech.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 71: 91–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell, William M., and Stephen D. Isard. 1991. “Segment Duration in a Syllable Frame.” Journal of Phonetics 191: 37–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carter, Phillip M. 2005. “Quantifying Rhythmic Differences between Spanish, English, and Hispanic English.” In Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Romance Linguistics: Selected Papers from the 34th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, ed. by Randall Gess, 63–75. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cogshall, Elizabeth. 2008. “The prosodic rhythm oftwo varieties of Native American English.” In University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 14.21: Selected Papers from NWAV 36: 1–9.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Del Barrio Estévez, Laura and Sergio Tornel Castells. 1999. “La duración consonántica en castellano.” Estudios de Lingüística - Universidad de Alicante 131: 9–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fought, Carmen.2003. Chicano English in Context. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fought, Carmen, and John Fought. 2002. Prosodic Rhythm Patterns in Chicano English. Unpublished manuscript, Pitzer College.
Gabriel, Christoph, and Elena Kireva. 2014. “Prosodic Transfer in Learner and Contact Varieties: Speech Rhythm and Intonation of Buenos Aires Spanish and L2 Castilian Spanish Produced by Italian Native Speakers.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition 361: 257–281.    Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Godinez, Manuel, Jr Ian Maddieson., and . 1985. “Vowel Differences between Chicano and General Californian English?” International Journal of the Sociology of Language 531: 43–58.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gutierrez, Manuel. 1995. “On the Future of the Future Tense in the Spanish of the Southwest.” In Spanish in Four Continents, ed. by Carmen Silva-Corvalan. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. “Estar innovador en el continuo generacional bilingüe de Houston.” Proceedings of the VII Simposio Internacional de Comunicación Social, 210–213. Santiago de Cuba: Centro de Lingüística Aplicada.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hill, Jane. 2008. The Everyday Language of White Racism. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Henriksen, Nicholas. 2013. “The Acquisition of Second Language Rhythm by Spanish-English Bilinguals.” Paper presented at Second Language Research Forum , Provo, UT.
Lafford, Barbara. 1986. “Valor diagnostico-social del uso de ciertas variantes de Is/en el espanol de Cartagena, Colombia.” In Estudios sobre lafonologia del espafiol del Caribe, ed. by Rafael Nufiez Cedeno, Iraset Paez Urdaneta, and Jorge M. Guitart, 53–75.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Low, Ee Ling, and Esther Grabe. 1995. “Prosodic Patterns in Singapore English.” In Proceedings of the XIIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, ed. by Kjell Elenius and Peter Branderud, 636–639. Stockholm: KTH and Stockholm University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. “Durational Variability in Speech and the Rhythm Class Hypothesis.” In Papers in Laboratory Phonology 7, ed. by C. Gussenhoven, and N. Warner, 515–546. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Low, E.L., Esther Grabe, and Francis Nolan. 2000. “Quantitative Characterizations of Speech Rhythm: Syllable- Timing in Singapore English.” Language and Speech 431: 377–401. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lynch, Andrew. 2000. “Spanish-Speaking Miami in Sociolinguistic Perspective: Bilingualism, Recontact, and Language Maintenance among the Cuban-Origin Population.” In Research on Spanish in the United States: Linguistic Issues and Challenges, ed. by Ana Roca, 271–283. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. “A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Final /s/ in Miami Cuban Spanish.” Language Sciences 311: 766–790. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. “Observaciones sobre comunidad y (dis)continuidad en el estudio sociolingüístico del español en Estados Unidos.” In El español en los Estados Unidos: E pluribus unum? Enfoques multidisciplinarios, ed. by Domnita Dumitrescu and Gerardo Piña-Rosales, 67–83. New York: Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ma, Roxana, and Eleanor Herasimchuk. 1971. “The linguistic dimensions of a bilingual neighborhood.” In Bilingualism in the Barrio, ed. by Joshua A. Fishman, 349–464.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oliver, Paul. 2006. “Snowball Sampling.” In The Sage Dictionary of Social Research Methods, ed. by Victor Jupp, 281–282. Sage: London. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Otheguy, Ricardo, Ofelia García, and Ana Roca. 2000. “Speaking in Cuban: The Language of Cuban Americans.” In New Immigrants in the United States. Readings for Second Language Educators, ed. by Sandra McKay and Sau-ling Cynthia Wong, 165–188. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Otheguy, Ricardo, and Ana Celia Zentella. 2011. Spanish in New York: Language Contact, Dialect Leveling and Structural Continuity. New York: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Penfield, Joyce, and Jacob L. Ornstein-Galicia. 1985. Chicano English: An Ethnic Contact Dialect. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Phillips, Robert. 1982. “The Influences of English on /b/ in Los Angeles Spanish.” In Spanish in the United States: Sociolinguistic Aspects, edited by Jon Amaste and Lucía Elías-Olivares. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pike, Kenneth. 1945. The Intonation of American English. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Porcel, Jorge. 2006. “The paradox of Spanish among Miami Cubans.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 101: 93–110. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prieto, Pilar, María del Mar Astruc Vanrell, Elinor Lluïsa Payne, and Brechtje Post. 2012. “Phonotactic and Phrasal Properties of Speech Rhythm. Evidence from Catalan, English, and Spanish.” Speech Communication 54 (6), 681–702   Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ramus, Frank, Marina Nespor, and Jacques Mehler. 1999. “Correlates of Linguistic Rhythm in the Speech Signal.” Cognition 731: 265–292. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ríos, Antonio. 1991. Caracterización acústica del ritmo castellano. Trabajo de investigación de Tercer Ciclo. Departamento de Filología Española, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robles-Puete, Sergio. 2014. Prosody in Contact: Spanish in Los Angeles. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Santa Ana, Otto. 1992. “Chicano English Evidence for the Exponential Hypothesis: A Variable Rule Pervades Lexical Phonology.” Language Variation and Change 41: 275–88. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1993. “Chicano English and the Nature of the Chicano Language Setting.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 151: 3–35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public Discourse. Austin, TX: University of Austin Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shousterman, Cara. 2013. “Speaking English in Spanish Harlem: Dialect change in Puerto Rican English.” Paper presented at the American Dialect Society (ADS) Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
Silva-Corvalán, Carmen. 1986. “Bilingualism and Language Change: The Extension of estar in Los Angeles Spanish.” Language 621: 587–608. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1994. “The Gradual Loss of Mood Distinction in Los Angeles Spanish.” Language Variation and Change 61: 255–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. “El español en Los Ángeles: aspectos morfosintácticos.” Ínsula 679-6801: 19–25.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006. “El español de Los Ángeles: ¿adquisición incompleta o desgaste lingüístico?” In Estudios sociolingüísticos del español de España y América, ed. by Ana María Cestero, Isabel Molina, and Florentino Paredes, 121–138. Madrid: Arco Libros.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solé, Yolanda R., and Carlos A. Solé. 1979. Modern Spanish Syntax: A Study in Contrast. Lexington, MA: Heath and Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Szakay, Anita. 2006. “Rhythm and Pitch as Markers of Ethnicity in New Zealand English.” In Proceedings of the 11th Australian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, ed. by Paul Warren and Catherine I. Watson. University of Auckland, New Zealand.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Terrell, T.D. 1979. “Final/s/in Cuban Spanish.” Hispania 62(4): 599–612. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomas, Erik R. 2001. An Acoustic Analysis of Vowel Variation in New World English. Publication of the American Dialect Society 851. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomas, Erik R., and Phillip M. Carter. 2006. “Prosodic Rhythm and African American English.” English World Wide 27 (3): 331–355. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomason, Sarah. 2001. Language Contact: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Urciuoli, Bonnie. 1996. Exposing Prejudice: Puerto Rican Experiences of Language, Race and Class. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veltman, Calvin. 1988. “Modeling the Language Shift Process of Hispanic Immigrants.” International Migration Review 221: 545–562. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2000. “The American Linguistic Mosaic: Understanding Language Shift in the United States.” In New Immigrants in the United States: Readings for Second Language Educators, edited by Sandra L. McKay and Sau-Ling C. Wong. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolford, Tonya, and Phillip M. Carter. 2010. “Spanish as a Threat Ideology and the Sociocultural Context of Spanish in South Texas.” In Spanish of the US Southwest: a language in transition, ed. by Susana Rivera-Mills and Daniel Villa, 111–132. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolfram, Walt, Phillip M. Carter, and Rebecca Moriello. 2004. “New Dialect Formation in the American South: Emerging Hispanic English.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 8 (3): 339–358. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zentella, Ana Celia. 1997. Growing up Bilingual: Puerto Rican Children in New York. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (13)

Cited by 13 other publications

Krieger, Svenja & Miriam Geiss
2025. Intonation of polar questions in German-dominant heritage speakers of Italian. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 15:5 ► pp. 601 ff. DOI logo
Kim, Ji Young
2024. The Phonetics and Phonology of Heritage Language Speakers. In The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Phonetics and Phonology, ► pp. 560 ff. DOI logo
Butera, Brianna, Rajiv Rao & Maryann Parada
2023. A Preliminary Exploration of Declarative Intonation in the Chilean Diaspora of Sweden. Languages 8:4 ► pp. 228 ff. DOI logo
Carter, Phillip M., Salvatore Callesano & Lydda López Valdez
2023. 3. Language in U.S. Latinx Communities. Publication of the American Dialect Society 108:1 ► pp. 52 ff. DOI logo
Michnowicz, Jim, Rebecca Ronquest, Sarah Chetty, Georgia Green & Stephanie Oliver
2023. Spanish in the Southeast: What a Swarm of Variables Can Tell Us about a Newly Forming Bilingual Community. Languages 8:3 ► pp. 168 ff. DOI logo
Carter, Phillip M., Lydda López Valdez & Nandi Sims
2020. New Dialect Formation Through Language Contact. American Speech 95:2 ► pp. 119 ff. DOI logo
Michnowicz, Jim & Alex Hyler
2020. The acento pujado in Yucatan Spanish. In Hispanic Contact Linguistics [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 22], ► pp. 115 ff. DOI logo
Michnowicz, Jim & Alex Hyler
2020. The changing rhythm of Yucatan Spanish. In Spanish Phonetics and Phonology in Contact [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 28], ► pp. 35 ff. DOI logo
Ronquest, Rebecca, Jim Michnowicz, Eric Wilbanks & Claudia Cortés
2020. Examining the (mini-) variable swarm in the Spanish of the Southeast. In Hispanic Linguistics [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 26], ► pp. 303 ff. DOI logo
Robles-Puente, Sergio
2019. Rhythmic variability in Spanish/English bilinguals in California. Spanish in Context 16:3 ► pp. 419 ff. DOI logo
Bagheri, Nazgol & Steven L. Driever
2018. Geographic Patterns of Language and Bilingualism in the United States. Papers in Applied Geography 4:1 ► pp. 83 ff. DOI logo
Carter, Phillip M. & Tonya E. Wolford
2018. Grammatical change in borderlands Spanish: A variationist analysis of copula variation and progressive expansion in a South Texas bilingual enclave community . Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 11:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Henriksen, Nicholas & Stephen Fafulas
2017. Prosodic timing and language contact: Spanish and Yagua in Amazonian Peru. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 10:2 ► pp. 225 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 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