On competing indexicalities in southern Peninsular Spanish. A sociophonetic and perceptual analysis of affricate [ts] through time

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines linguistic, cognitive, and social factors in the development of an ongoing sound change in Andalusian Spanish related to the crosslinguistically well-known process of syllable coda lenition. The resyllabification of word internal /-s/ when followed by dental plosive /t/, in words such as lingüística [liŋ⋅ˈgujs⋅ti⋅ka] ‘linguistics’ realized as [liŋ⋅ˈguj⋅tsi⋅ka], results in an affricate sound [ts] that may be indexed in different ways within the speech community. Findings are reported from a trend study of two sample surveys separated by a twenty-year time gap, acoustic analysis, and two perception experiments. Acoustic phonetics, historical linguistics, theoretical phonology, and sociolinguistic studies provide the theoretical background to help explain the development of this sound change and its connection with other phonological features of Andalusian Spanish. Development of the affricate allophone is a natural outcome consistent with universal constraints boosted by the recent emergence of a regional koine, where its indexicality is undetermined.