A Sociophonetic Study of Rioplatense Spanish

Rioplatense Spanish (RPS; Argentina and Uruguay) is known for its distinctive pronunciation. One unique feature is the pronunciation of sounds represented by the letters ‘y’ or ‘ll’. In Standard American Spanish, the sound associated with these letters is [j] (‘yellow’), but in RPS the sound has been either the voiced [ʒ] (‘measure’) or, more recently, its voiceless counterpart [ʃ] (‘shoe’). Previous studies found that the devoicing ([ʒ]→[ʃ]) is almost complete in speakers from both Uruguay and Argentina, but that the change in Uruguay is much more recent. In this study, RPS speakers from both countries will be presented with audio stimuli of words. Recordings will be manipulated to sound voiced ([ʒ]; older generation in Uruguay), or voiceless ([ʃ]; younger generation in Uruguay or speakers from Argentina). Participants will be asked to listen to the stimuli and determine the country of origin of the speaker in the given recording. Options will include Argentina, Uruguay, Argentina/Uruguay, and “Other”. Given the recent change in the Uruguayan dialect, we expect that participants from Argentina will more likely attribute words with the devoiced sound to Argentinian Spanish, whereas Uruguayan participants will be less likely to differentiate between the two Rioplatense dialects

Lexical Diversity, Lexical Sophistication, and Predictability for Speech in Multiple Listening Conditions

When talkers anticipate that a listener may have difficulty understanding their speech, they adopt a speaking style typically described as “clear speech.” This speaking style includes a variety of acoustic modifications and has perceptual benefits for listeners. In the present study, we examine whether clear speaking styles also include modulation of lexical items selected and produced during naturalistic conversations. Our results demonstrate that talkers do, indeed, modulate their lexical selection, as measured by a variety of lexical diversity and lexical sophistication indices. Further, the results demonstrate that clear speech is not a monolithic construct. Talkers modulate their speech differently depending on the communication situation. We suggest that clear speech should be conceptualized as a set of speaking styles, in which talkers take the listener and communication situation into consideration

A Perception Study of Rioplatense Spanish

Rioplatense Spanish (RPS; Argentina and Uruguay) is known for its distinctive pronunciation features. In Standard American Spanish, the sound associated with the letters ‘y’ or ‘ll’ is [j] (as in ‘yellow’), but in RPS the sound is [Ʒ] (as in ‘measure’) or, more recently, [ʃ] (as in ‘shoe’). Previous studies found this sound change (from [Ʒ] to [ʃ?]) is almost complete in speakers from Uruguay and Argentina, but the change in Uruguay is more recent. In this study, RPS speakers from both countries were presented with audio recordings of words containing all possible variants of the sounds [j], [Ʒ], and [ʃ]. After listening to the recordings, participants determined the country of origin of the speaker. We expected Argentinian participants to attribute [ʃ] to Argentinian Spanish, and [Ʒ] to Uruguayan Spanish. Uruguayan participants were expected to attribute both [ʃ] and [Ʒ] to either Argentinian or Uruguayan Spanish, unable to differentiate between the two sounds. A preliminary analysis shows that speakers are aware of their own dialect’s shift towards [ʃ]. However, they also attribute the [Ʒ] sound to speakers from across the river, unaware that both pronunciations have shifted

The Influence of Social Information on Speech Intelligibility within the Spanish Heritage Community

Previous research in speech perception has shown that perception is influenced by social factors that can result in behavioral consequences such as reduced intelligibility (i.e., a listeners’ ability to transcribe the speech they hear). However, little is known about these effects regarding Spanish speakers’ perception of heritage Spanish, Spanish spoken by individuals who have an ancestral and cultural connection to the Spanish language. Given that ideologies within the U.S. Latino community often equate Latino identity to speaking Spanish “correctly” and proficiently, there is a clear need to understand the potential influence these ideologies have on speech perception. Using a matched-guised methodology, we analyzed the influence of speaker social background information and listener social background information on speech perception. Participants completed a transcription task in which four different Spanish heritage speakers were paired with different social guises to determine if the speakers were perceived as equally intelligible under each guise condition. The results showed that social guise and listener social variables did not significantly predict intelligibility scores. We argue that the unique socio-political culture within the U.S. Latino community may lead to different effects of language ideology and social expectation on speech perception than what has been documented in previous work

The Influence of Social Information on Speech Intelligibility within the Spanish Heritage Community

Previous research in speech perception has shown that perception is influenced by social factors that can result in behavioral consequences such as reduced intelligibility (i.e., a listeners’ ability to transcribe the speech they hear). However, little is known about these effects regarding Spanish speakers’ perception of heritage Spanish, Spanish spoken by individuals who have an ancestral and cultural connection to the Spanish language. Given that ideologies within the U.S. Latino community often equate Latino identity to speaking Spanish “correctly” and proficiently, there is a clear need to understand the potential influence these ideologies have on speech perception. Using a matched-guised methodology, we analyzed the influence of speaker social background information and listener social background information on speech perception. Participants completed a transcription task in which four different Spanish heritage speakers were paired with different social guises to determine if the speakers were perceived as equally intelligible under each guise condition. The results showed that social guise and listener social variables did not significantly predict intelligibility scores. We argue that the unique socio-political culture within the U.S. Latino community may lead to different effects of language ideology and social expectation on speech perception than what has been documented in previous work

Structure of the Ebembe Language

This poster is an overview of the linguistic features of the Ebembe (bmb; also Kibembe) language, spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and parts of Tanzania, as well as by a number of refugees in the Boise area. Ebembe is classified as a Bantu language, part of the Atlantic-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Although the language has around 252,000 speakers, it is considerably under-documented in terms of linguistic literature. Throughout the Spring 2019 semester, 13 students in the linguistics capstone course (LING 498) met with a native speaker of Ebembe in order to document and analyze the language’s phonological (sounds), morphological (words), and syntactic (sentences) features. This analysis, accompanied by recordings from sessions with the speaker, helps to serve the linguistic community beyond Boise State by providing other linguists with a new set of data to further their research. It will also serve the Ebembe speaking community by providing well documented resources on their language and archiving such resources for future generations to have access to