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

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.