Abstract
Work on Spanish in the U.S. has increasingly examined the results of dialect contact. This paper analyzes realizations of syllable-final /s/ and word and syllable-initial /r̄/ in naturalistic interviews among 88 individuals in Chicago belonging to three generations of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans and two generations of “MexiRicans.” It explores: (1) whether realizations change depending on the dialect of the interviewer – that is, whether accommodation is taking place; (2) if there is change across generations; (3) in the case of MexiRicans, whether individuals’ realizations align with the mother’s ethnolinguistic group. Results show that Mexicans’ phonological behavior did not vary for /s/ or /r̄/ according to interlocutor, while Puerto Ricans used velarized /r̄/ more frequently with other Puerto Ricans at a rate approaching significance. Significant differences were also found between generations in several cases but not for mother’s ethnolinguistic group; the interaction of generation and interlocutor showed significance in some cases. We also observed a correspondence between the use of a weakened /s/ and velarized /r̄/, although there was considerable variation among individual speakers.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Morgan Edwards, Andrea Olmedo, and Beth Petree for assistance with segmentation and initial data coding. Thanks also to Maria T. Miller, Beate Henschel, and Lilian Golzarri Arroyo at the Indiana Statistical Consulting Center (ISCC) for advice on statistical analyses. Any errors or limitations remain the authors’ responsibility.
Appendix A. Mexicans (n = 19)
| G | # | Interviewer | s-s, % (n) | r-r, % (n) |
| G1 | 20 EJ | Same | 81.7 (93) | 92.3 (13) |
| 24 RO | Same | 88.7 (62) | 100 (16) | |
| 118 CO | Same | 96.4 (56) | 100 (13) | |
| 56 JH | Different | 87.3 (55) | 100 (11) | |
| 153 MG | Different | 82.4 (108) | 100 (11) | |
| 155 MM | Different | 94.4 (71) | 100 (31) | |
| G2 | 1 LE | Same | 93.5 (108) | 100 (12) |
| 3 AE | Same | 94.5 (91) | 100 (11) | |
| 14 JV | Same | 88.5 (61) | 100 (18) | |
| 7 AB | Different | 90.7 (97) | 100 (11) | |
| 10 CC | Different | 92.0 (113) | 100 (11) | |
| 116 LL | Different | 80.0 (20) | 100 (19) | |
| 151 AV | Different | 94.7 (57) | 100 (10) | |
| 154 EV | Different | 95.8 (71) | 100 (14) | |
| G3 | 2 LR | Same | 94.8 (96) | 100 (18) |
| 34 MC | Same | 89.2 (37) | 100 (19) | |
| 35 EB | Same | 97.0 (33) | 70.0 (10) | |
| 25 BF | Different | 84.6 (143) | 100 (17) | |
| 26 GP | Different | 100 (49) | 100 (10) |
Appendix B. Puerto Ricans (n = 24)
| G | # | Interviewer | s-s, % (n) | r-r, % (n) |
| G1 | 17 AR | Same | 9.9 (81) | 80.0 (10) |
| 66 MS | Same | 4.2 (71) | 13.3 (15) | |
| 150 CR | Same | 83.1 (65) | 100 (10) | |
| 156 AS | Same | 97.6 (85) | 81.8 (11) | |
| 33 JR | Different | 1.4 (70) | 100 (16) | |
| 55 JR | Different | 15.8 (114) | 100 (18) | |
| 85 ER | Different | 89.1 (119) | 100 (12) | |
| 96 RH | Different | 20.0 (80) | 100 (18) | |
| G2 | 21 AA | Same | 5.7 (53) | 100 (14) |
| 54 RN | Same | 6.0 (50) | 10.0 (10) | |
| 18 AR | Different | 12.4 (113) | 36.4 (11) | |
| 19 GR | Different | 88.3 (111) | 100 (15) | |
| 36 SS | Different | 26.6 (79) | 100 (10) | |
| 38 GM | Different | 70.0 (60) | 88.2 (17) | |
| 39 AG | Different | 88.2 (51) | 100 (22) | |
| 43 RD | Different | 13.7 (73) | 84.6 (13) | |
| G3 | 4 VM | Same | 19.4 (72) | 100 (13) |
| 23 FM | Same | 82.0 (61) | 100 (14) | |
| 31 MC | Same | 75.7 (37) | 56.3 (16) | |
| 29 JV | Different | 45.0 (60) | 100 (11) | |
| 40 LR | Different | 28.6 (42) | 90.9 (11) | |
| 84 DO | Different | 39.5 (43) | 93.3 (30) | |
| 90 EF | Different | 88.1 (59) | 76.9 (13) | |
| 100 NL | Different | 0.0 (100) | 100 (12) |
Appendix C. MexiRicans (n = 45)
| G | # | Mom | s-s, % (n) | r-r, % (n) |
| G2 | 11 MZ | PR | 95.8 (96) | 100 (13) |
| 13 VG | PR | 96.7 (92) | 100 (10) | |
| 71 AL | PR | 98.5 (65) | 100 (26) | |
| 72 CM | PR | 96.2 (53) | 100 (12) | |
| 75 YM | PR | 90.9 (33) | 100 (11) | |
| 79 JS | PR | 98.7 (78) | 100 (14) | |
| 81 JM | PR | 85.1 (67) | 100 (19) | |
| 94 FR | PR | 96.9 (64) | 100 (11) | |
| 109 MM | PR | 95.0 (40) | 100 (12) | |
| 110 VM | PR | 92.9 (56) | 100 (14) | |
| 111 MJ | PR | 95.2 (104) | 100 (19) | |
| 67 MS | MX | 96.1 (102) | 100 (13) | |
| 69 IV | MX | 82.6 (109) | 100 (25) | |
| 76 LG | MX | 98.2 (57) | 100 (17) | |
| 80 PR | MX | 95.8 (24) | 100 (23) | |
| 83 EP | MX | 85.5 (62) | 100 (12) | |
| 107 AM | MX | 94.4 (89) | 100 (21) | |
| 157 CI | MX | 100 (115) | 100 (16) | |
| 158 AT | MX | 98.1 (52) | 100 (15) | |
| G3 | 6 KM | PR | 22.7 (44) | 100 (12) |
| 9 AD | PR | 97.8 (46) | 100 (13) | |
| 16 HG | PR | 1.7 (60) | 54.5 (11) | |
| 32 MA | PR | 95.5 (67) | 72.7 (11) | |
| 37 GP | PR | 36.5 (104) | 100 (10) | |
| 57 LO | PR | 29.9 (97) | 100 (19) | |
| 61 VP | PR | 85.7 (112) | 91.7 (12) | |
| 62 EP | PR | 88.8 (107) | 100 (14) | |
| 68 CG | PR | 100 (67) | 100 (27) | |
| 103 LG | PR | 94.4 (54) | 100 (10) | |
| 114 SL | PR | 92.4 (66) | 100 (10) | |
| 22 JT | MX | 5.8 (104) | 95.7 (23) | |
| 28 DV | MX | 88.2 (17) | 100 (3) | |
| 42 JL | MX | 89.3 (121) | 100 (10) | |
| 46 KS | MX | 97.2 (36) | 100 (10) | |
| 49 AC | MX | 100 (55) | 100 (12) | |
| 60 CM | MX | 98.3 (59) | 100 (12) | |
| 63 MD | MX | 85.1 (67) | 100 (20) | |
| 64 KM | MX | 92.0 (50) | 100 (28) | |
| 65 EL | MX | 91.1 (79) | 96.0 (25) | |
| 74 CS | MX | 98.9 (90) | 100 (11) | |
| 78 AO | MX | 88.4 (43) | 100 (11) | |
| 108 BV | MX | 89.1 (46) | 100 (11) | |
| 112 EE | MX | 61.5 (39) | 100 (10) | |
| 113 LC | MX | 93.3 (105) | 100 (16) | |
| 126 LR | MX | 98.3 (59) | 93.8 (16) |
Appendix D. Tokens of weakened /s/ among Mexican speakers (n=135)
| Comparisons | Analysis, Examples |
| By word | Tokens of 3 or more: los (n=14), muchos/as (n=7), entonces (n=6), es (n=5), nos (n=4), pues (n=3), mis (n=3), and ellos (n=3). |
| By word context | Word final, followed by consonant (n=106, 78.5 %); Word-internal, before a consonant (n=22, 16.3 %) e. g., mismo/a/os/as (n =7), estar (está/n, estaba) (n=5), Estados (Estados Unidos) (n=3); other words (n=7); Word-final, before a pause (n=7, 5.2 %) e. g., años, entonces, escuelas, frecuentamos, idiomas, latinos, and más. |
| By part of speech | Nouns (n=27, 25.5 %), verbs (n=15, 14.2 %), modifiers (quantifiers and adjectives) (n=18, 17 %), articles (n=15, 14.2 %), personal pronouns (n=10, 9.4 %), possessive pronouns (n=8, 7.5 %), other (n=12, 11.3 %). |
| By voicing and context | Word-final, followed by a voiced consonant (n=81, 76.4 %). Word-internal, followed by a voiceless consonant (n=15, 68.2 %). |
| By manner | Nasal (n=31, 23.0 %), approximant (n=25, 18.5 %), lateral (n=21, 15.6 %), fricative (n=6, 4.4 %). |
| By stress type | Penultimate stress (n=67, 49.6 %), monosyllabic words (n=33, 24.4 %), antepenultimate (n=5, 3.7 %) or final stress (n=1, 0.7 %). |
| By position in relation to stress | Post-tonic position (n=65, 48.1 %), tonic position (n=34, 25.2 %), two syllables after the tonic syllable (n=5, 3.7 %), pretonic syllable (n=2, 1.5 %). |
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