Phonological contrasts and gradient effects in ongoing lenition in the Spanish of Gran Canaria

Abstract

This study explores ongoing lenition of postvocalic /p t k b d g/ in the Spanish of Gran Canaria. Duration, intensity and harmonics-to-noise ratio of 16,454 sounds produced by 44 native speakers were measured, with the latter phonetic parameter used for the first time to investigate lenition. The results show a path of gradual sound shortening and opening from voiceless stops to open approximants, as well as systematic use of six different variants depending on the underlying representation and phonological context: two types of [p t k], two types of [b d g] and two types of [β˕ ð˕ ɣ˕]. We interpret this as continuity lenition that leads to the flattening of the intensity contour and harmonicity of the target segment with respect to the flanking sounds. We argue that a phonological analysis of this process that accounts for its non-neutralising character requires the use of a scalar [aperture] feature.

A unified model of lenition as modulation reduction: gauging consonant strength in Ibibio

“…Kirchner 1998: ch 4, Lavoie 2001. This is now well established for Spanish (Romero Gallego 1995, Cole et al1998, Ortega-Llebaria 2003, Kingston 2008, Figueroa Candia 2016, Broś et al 2021, and we will see below that the same goes for Ibibio.…”

“…Various methods have been proposed elsewhere for measuring the effect of lenition on the intensity properties of consonants, especially in Spanish. One method measures the difference in intensity between a consonant and a neighbouring vowel (Soler & Romero 1999, Lavoie 2001, Ortega-Llebaria 2004, Colatoni & Mainsescu 2010, Hualde et al 2011, Carrasco et al 2012, Broś et al 2021. Another measures the velocity with which intensity increases between the consonant and a following vowel, motivated by the observation that C-to-V transitions are more abrupt when the consonant is a stop than 10 The speech data on which this section is based were originally collected for a study reported by Harris & Urua (2001).…”

“…The main types are illustrated in (1) by brief examples from various dialects of Spanish. (For more extensive exemplification and references, see the cross-linguistic surveys in Kirchner 1998, Lavoie 2001, Gurevich 2004 ( (1a) illustrates an intervocalic chain shift in Gran Canaria Spanish, where plain plosives undergo voicing (as in (i)) while voiced plosives spirantise (as in (ii)) (Trujillo 1980, Broś et al 2021. The examples in (1b) illustrate vocalisation in Cibaeño Spanish, where coda liquids turn into glides (Harris 1969).…”

“…There is a plausible aerodynamic explanation for the preferred absence of frication noise in consonants that undergo both voicing and spirantisation: vocal fold vibration inhibits airflow, thus reducing the potential for air turbulence at the point of stricture (Ohala 1983). Terms such APPROXIMANTISATION (Broś et al 2021) or VOCALISATION might be better here, if these are taken to mean the conversion of a consonant into a vocoid, a point we return to in our analysis of Ibibio. Nevertheless, the term SPIRANTISATION seems to have stuck, perhaps in recognition of the fact that vocoid outputs of lenition are not always canonical approximants like the yod output illustrated in (1b).…”

“…Consider first an 'opening' account, in which lenition is defined as increasing the degree of articulatory aperture in a consonant, thereby reducing impedance to airflow through the vocal tract. This successfully brings together spirantisation and vocalisation (Lass & Anderson 1975, Broś et al 2021, as well as debuccalisation, all of which result in a loosening of articulatory stricture. However, it excludes obstruent voicing.…”