Variación sociofonética de las consonantes del castellano chileno [Sociophonetic variation in Chilean Spanish consonants]

Authors

  • Scott Sadowsky Universidad de La Frontera Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v9i1.19927

Keywords:

Chilean Spanish, Consonant Inventory, Sociophonetics, Language Change

Abstract

This paper explores the sociophonetic variation of the consonants of Chilean Spanish. It analyzes the socially-indexed allophones of /t???/, /t???/, /r/, /?/, /?/, /s/, /d?/, /?/, /f/, /l/ and /b/, and concludes that in the young generation, speakers of all social classes are adopting prestige allophones of /t???/ on a massive scale; that a process of sociolect leveling is affecting /t???/, /r/, /?/ and /?/, possibly under the influence of an exonorm in the case of /t???/ and /r/; that /s/ has developed new stigmatized allophones due to the operation of covert prestige; and that certain allophones of /s/ and /d?/ which were socially unmarked in the past are becoming stigmatized, likely as a result of hypercorrective use. It further concludes that /?/ is for all intents and purposes extinct, and that the stigmatized allophones of /f/ and /l/, as well as a non-stigmatized allophone of /b/, have been largely abandoned.

Author Biography

  • Scott Sadowsky, Universidad de La Frontera
    Scott Sadowsky is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the Universidad de La Frontera in Temuco, Chile, and director of the university's Center for Research on Language, Cognition and Culture. His work focuses on sociolinguistics, phonetics and language contact, with special emphasis on Spanish and Mapudungun.

Published

2015-06-11

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Sadowsky, S. (2015). Variación sociofonética de las consonantes del castellano chileno [Sociophonetic variation in Chilean Spanish consonants]. Sociolinguistic Studies, 9(1), 71-92. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v9i1.19927