The Effect of Forms’ Ratio of Conditioning on Word-Final /s/ Voicing in Mexican Spanish
There is mounting evidence that words that occur proportionately more often in contexts that condition a phonetically-motivated sound change end up changing more rapidly than other words. Support has been found in at least modern-day Spanish, Medieval Spanish, bilingual English-Spanish, and modern-d...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Languages |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/5/4/61 |
| _version_ | 1797547741446930432 |
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| author | Earl Kjar Brown |
| author_facet | Earl Kjar Brown |
| author_sort | Earl Kjar Brown |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is mounting evidence that words that occur proportionately more often in contexts that condition a phonetically-motivated sound change end up changing more rapidly than other words. Support has been found in at least modern-day Spanish, Medieval Spanish, bilingual English-Spanish, and modern-day English. This study tests whether there is support for this idea with regards to the variable voicing of word-final /s/ in Spanish. An analysis of 1431 tokens of word-final /s/ spoken by 15 female speakers of Mexican Spanish living in Salinas, California, USA is performed. The response variable is the percentage of the /s/ segment that is voiced, and the effect of a handful of predictor variables shown in the literature to condition /s/ voicing is investigated. The variable of interest is forms’ ratio of conditioning (FRC), or the proportion of times with which word types occur in the context that conditions voicing of word-final /s/. The results of a series of 40 beta regression models indicate that FRC significantly conditions the percentage of voicing of word-final /s/ in these data. Also, the effect of manipulating two aspects of FRC operationalization is analyzed. This study adds to the growing body of literature documenting the importance of cumulative contextual information in the mental representation of words. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:49:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-18fa3e72d20d452691eb5fbbd2561349 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:49:28Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-18fa3e72d20d452691eb5fbbd25613492023-11-20T21:05:23ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2020-11-01546110.3390/languages5040061The Effect of Forms’ Ratio of Conditioning on Word-Final /s/ Voicing in Mexican SpanishEarl Kjar Brown0Department of Linguistics, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USAThere is mounting evidence that words that occur proportionately more often in contexts that condition a phonetically-motivated sound change end up changing more rapidly than other words. Support has been found in at least modern-day Spanish, Medieval Spanish, bilingual English-Spanish, and modern-day English. This study tests whether there is support for this idea with regards to the variable voicing of word-final /s/ in Spanish. An analysis of 1431 tokens of word-final /s/ spoken by 15 female speakers of Mexican Spanish living in Salinas, California, USA is performed. The response variable is the percentage of the /s/ segment that is voiced, and the effect of a handful of predictor variables shown in the literature to condition /s/ voicing is investigated. The variable of interest is forms’ ratio of conditioning (FRC), or the proportion of times with which word types occur in the context that conditions voicing of word-final /s/. The results of a series of 40 beta regression models indicate that FRC significantly conditions the percentage of voicing of word-final /s/ in these data. Also, the effect of manipulating two aspects of FRC operationalization is analyzed. This study adds to the growing body of literature documenting the importance of cumulative contextual information in the mental representation of words.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/5/4/61Spanish /s/voicingforms’ ratio of conditioning |
| spellingShingle | Earl Kjar Brown The Effect of Forms’ Ratio of Conditioning on Word-Final /s/ Voicing in Mexican Spanish Languages Spanish /s/ voicing forms’ ratio of conditioning |
| title | The Effect of Forms’ Ratio of Conditioning on Word-Final /s/ Voicing in Mexican Spanish |
| title_full | The Effect of Forms’ Ratio of Conditioning on Word-Final /s/ Voicing in Mexican Spanish |
| title_fullStr | The Effect of Forms’ Ratio of Conditioning on Word-Final /s/ Voicing in Mexican Spanish |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effect of Forms’ Ratio of Conditioning on Word-Final /s/ Voicing in Mexican Spanish |
| title_short | The Effect of Forms’ Ratio of Conditioning on Word-Final /s/ Voicing in Mexican Spanish |
| title_sort | effect of forms ratio of conditioning on word final s voicing in mexican spanish |
| topic | Spanish /s/ voicing forms’ ratio of conditioning |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/5/4/61 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT earlkjarbrown theeffectofformsratioofconditioningonwordfinalsvoicinginmexicanspanish AT earlkjarbrown effectofformsratioofconditioningonwordfinalsvoicinginmexicanspanish |