Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-qmkzp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-27T23:05:46.670Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Linguistic assimilation in two variables

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Jon Amastae  and
David Satcher
Jon Amastae
Affiliation:
The University of Texas, El Paso
David Satcher
Affiliation:
The University of Texas, El Paso
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the type of relatively rapid speech modification sometimes called “accommodation” (Trudgill, 1986). In this case, we track change on the part of speakers of Honduran Spanish newly resident among speakers of Northern Mexican Spanish. The two variables investigated are final /n/ velarization and spirantization, both of which differ in the two dialects. (Honduran Spanish velarizes final /n/, while Northern Mexican Spanish does not; Honduran Spanish conserves stops l, r, s and glides, whereas Northern Mexican Spanish produces fricatives.) It is found that, although there is change in the direction of local norms in both variables, velarization shows greater change. In addition, the degree of contact with local speakers also leads to greater change for velarization only. Reasons for the different behavior are considered.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 77 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Amastae, Jon. (1989). The intersection of s-aspiration/deletion and spirantization in Honduran Spanish. Language Variation and Change 1:169–183.Google Scholar
Amastae, Jon. (in preparation). Internal vs. external sources of change.Google Scholar
Amastae, Jon, Benedicto, Rosa, & Guzmán, Sergio. (1991). Final (n) velarization in Honduran Spanish. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest,Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Amastae, Jon, & Guzmán, Sergio. (1992). Incipient marking of morphological categories. Paper presented at NWAVE-XXI,Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar
Chambers, J. K. (1992). Dialect acquisition. Language 68:673–705.Google Scholar
Giles, Howard, Taylor, Donald M., & Boorhis, Richard. (1973). Towards a theory of interpersonal accommodation through language: Some Canadian data. Language in Society 2:177–192.Google Scholar
Labov, William. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Lipski, J. M. (1987). Fonética y fonología del Español de Honduras. Tegucigalpa: Editorial Guaymuras.Google Scholar
Poplack, Shana. (1979). Function and process in a variable phonology. Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter. (1986). Dialects in contact. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Venneman, Theo. (1972). Rule inversion. Lingua 29:209–242.Google Scholar
Wolfram, Walt. (1973). Sociolinguistic aspects of assimilation. Arlington: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar