On covariation between nasal consonant weakening and anticipatory vowel nasalization: Evidence from a Caribbean and a non-Caribbean dialect of Spanish

Abstract

In this study, I examine co-variation between the word-final nasal consonant and anticipatory vowel nasalization in two dialects of Spanish. In Caribbean dialects of Spanish, nasalization has been proposed as allophonic (an intended feature of the vowel) but elsewhere it is presumably coarticulatory (a marker of nasal consonant weakening). I argue that, when differences in the phonological interpretation of nasalization are factored in, the temporal extent of nasalization cannot be exclusively attributed to weakening of the nasal consonant. Twenty-eight speakers from Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and twenty-six from Buenos Aires (Argentina) were recorded with a nasometer. Findings revealed that when the feature for nasality is phonologized in the representation of the vowel (Santo Domingo Spanish), earlier onset of nasalization can (and does) obtain with little (and arguably even without) weakening of the nasal. By analyzing nasal consonant weakening concurrently with anticipatory vowel nasalization, this study bridges the gap between the aforementioned sources of variation in nasalization.