On the Origin of Post-Aspirated Stops: Production and Perception of /s/ + Voiceless Stop Sequences in Andalusian Spanish

Abstract

The present study investigates the role of articulatory and perceptual factors in the change from pre-to post-aspiration in two varieties of Andalusian Spanish. In an acoustic study, the influence of stop type, speaker age, and variety on the production of pre-and post-aspiration was analyzed in isolated words produced by 24 speakers of a Western and 24 of an Eastern variety, both divided into two age groups. The results confirmed previous findings of a sound change from pre-to post-aspiration in both varieties. Velar stops showed the longest, bilabials the shortest, and dental stops intermediate pre-and post-aspiration durations. The observed universal VOTpattern was not found for younger Western Andalusian speakers who showed a particularly long VOT in /st/-sequences. A perception experiment with the same subjects as listeners showed that post-aspiration was used as a cue for distinguishing the minimal pair /pata/-/pasta/ by almost all listeners. Production-perception comparisons suggested a relationship between production and perception: subjects who produced long post-aspiration were also more sensitive to this cue. In sum, the results suggest that the sound change has first been actuated in the dental context, possibly due to a higher perceptual prominence of post-aspiration in this context, and that post-aspirated stops in Andalusian Spanish are on their way to being phonologized.

Metathesis of aspiration as the source of anticipatory voicelessness in Basque

“…Further, perceptual metathesis of aspiration is well described in some of the world's languages. A clear case, supported by recent phonetic studies, occurs in Andalusian Spanish (Ruch and Harrington, 2014;Ruch and Peters, 2016). In this variety of Spanish, as shown in Table 7, a sequence of /hT/ (where h < s), is reinterpreted as Th, pronounced as a post-aspirated stop.…”

An Example of Linguistic Stylization in Spanish Musical Genres: Flamenco and Latin Music in Rosalía’s Discography

“…We have compiled 17 cases of pronunciation of this sound in examples such as besos ("kiss") [ˈveso], olvidar ("forget") [olviˈð̞ a] or abanico ("fan") [avaˈniko]. 11 We have also noticed examples of articulatory reinforcement of the group [st] with an affricate pronunciation [hts], which is increasingly frequent, especially in western Andalusia (Ruch and Peters 2016;Ruch 2008;Vida Castro 2022Moya Corral 2007). In studies of traditional flamenco and flamenco fusion this variant also appears in younger generations, and Rosalía continues this trend in her songs.…”

“…Rosalía is a bilingual speaker of Catalan and S speaks Spanish, she uses phonetic phenomena specific to the Spanish o ern peninsular and, in addition, linguistic characteristics from Catalan ish such as the palatalization of /-l/ at the end of a word, the voicing of word, which is pronounced as [-t] (verdad "true" as [beɾˈð̞ a t]) or the so some speakers, who pronounce this sound as [z], e.g., in los amigos "f os] (Garachana 2018;Villena-Ponsoda 2022;Poch Oliver 2019;Rius-Esc royo 2004, 2021, 1995García Mouton 2007;Vila-Pujol 2007) a] or abanico ("fan") [ava"niko]. 11 We have also noticed examples of articulatory reinforcement of the group [st] with an affricate pronunciation [hts], which is increasingly frequent, especially in western Andalusia (Ruch and Peters 2016;Ruch 2008;Vida Castro 2015, 2022Moya Corral 2007). In studies of traditional flamenco and flamenco fusion this variant also appears in younger generations, and Rosalía continues this trend in her songs.…”