Converging Paths of Variation: Bilingual Rhotics and Language Change in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia

This study examines the acoustic realization of phonemic taps and trills across generations of Creole-Spanish bilinguals in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia. Formant frequencies in the form of F2 and F3 were compared in the realization of 1,450 rhotics presenting no lingual closure produced...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Falcon Restrepo Ramos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2022-02-01
Series:Isogloss
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/115
_version_ 1818280316943466496
author Falcon Restrepo Ramos
author_facet Falcon Restrepo Ramos
author_sort Falcon Restrepo Ramos
collection DOAJ
description This study examines the acoustic realization of phonemic taps and trills across generations of Creole-Spanish bilinguals in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia. Formant frequencies in the form of F2 and F3 were compared in the realization of 1,450 rhotics presenting no lingual closure produced in the bilingual Spanish speech of three generations of Creole-Spanish speakers. Alongside, F2 and F3 values were extracted from rhotic segments produced in the monolingual varieties coexisting in the Archipelago, Islander Creole (n=328) and Colombian Continental Spanish (n=150). Results show that F3 frequencies and the distance between F3-F2 in senior bilinguals increasingly resemble the values in Islander Creole approximants, whereas younger generations are more closely associated to Continental Spanish. Supporting this trend is the fact that second generation speakers stand at an intermediate position between generations. These findings suggest a change in progress where approximants in younger generations are converging in the direction of Colombian Spanish, while formant frequencies in seniors are more associated with Islander Creole.
first_indexed 2024-12-12T23:47:18Z
format Article
id doaj.art-856b2a83f5224aa89dcf7c89e0cbb89d
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2385-4138
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-12T23:47:18Z
publishDate 2022-02-01
publisher Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
record_format Article
series Isogloss
spelling doaj.art-856b2a83f5224aa89dcf7c89e0cbb89d2022-12-22T00:06:49ZengUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaIsogloss2385-41382022-02-018110.5565/rev/isogloss.115Converging Paths of Variation: Bilingual Rhotics and Language Change in the Archipelago of San Andres, ColombiaFalcon Restrepo Ramos0College of Charleston This study examines the acoustic realization of phonemic taps and trills across generations of Creole-Spanish bilinguals in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia. Formant frequencies in the form of F2 and F3 were compared in the realization of 1,450 rhotics presenting no lingual closure produced in the bilingual Spanish speech of three generations of Creole-Spanish speakers. Alongside, F2 and F3 values were extracted from rhotic segments produced in the monolingual varieties coexisting in the Archipelago, Islander Creole (n=328) and Colombian Continental Spanish (n=150). Results show that F3 frequencies and the distance between F3-F2 in senior bilinguals increasingly resemble the values in Islander Creole approximants, whereas younger generations are more closely associated to Continental Spanish. Supporting this trend is the fact that second generation speakers stand at an intermediate position between generations. These findings suggest a change in progress where approximants in younger generations are converging in the direction of Colombian Spanish, while formant frequencies in seniors are more associated with Islander Creole. https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/115zero-occlusion rhoticssound variationIslander CreoleRaizal Spanishlanguage convergence
spellingShingle Falcon Restrepo Ramos
Converging Paths of Variation: Bilingual Rhotics and Language Change in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia
Isogloss
zero-occlusion rhotics
sound variation
Islander Creole
Raizal Spanish
language convergence
title Converging Paths of Variation: Bilingual Rhotics and Language Change in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia
title_full Converging Paths of Variation: Bilingual Rhotics and Language Change in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia
title_fullStr Converging Paths of Variation: Bilingual Rhotics and Language Change in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia
title_full_unstemmed Converging Paths of Variation: Bilingual Rhotics and Language Change in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia
title_short Converging Paths of Variation: Bilingual Rhotics and Language Change in the Archipelago of San Andres, Colombia
title_sort converging paths of variation bilingual rhotics and language change in the archipelago of san andres colombia
topic zero-occlusion rhotics
sound variation
Islander Creole
Raizal Spanish
language convergence
url https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/115
work_keys_str_mv AT falconrestreporamos convergingpathsofvariationbilingualrhoticsandlanguagechangeinthearchipelagoofsanandrescolombia