Article published In:
Linguistic Variation: Online-First ArticlesTap/trill variation and change across generations of Spanish-Creole bilinguals in San Andrés, Colombia
This work examines the behavior of vibrant (presenting linguo-alveolar contact) tap/trill variation across
generations of bilingual Afro-Caribbean speakers of Spanish and an English-Lexifier Creole, known here as Raizal Creole, in the
Archipelago of San Andrés, Colombia. In these islands, a bilingual Spanish variety, known here as Raizal Spanish, coexists with a
monolingual Spanish variety spoken by Colombian immigrants (Costeño Spanish). Data consists of over 3,300 tokens (867 trills and
2531 taps) compared across three generations of Raizal Spanish speakers with a sample of 528 segments (133 trills and 395 taps)
produced in Costeño Spanish. Results show that although the frequency of use of vibrant taps and trills in younger generations
increasingly resembles those presented in the monolingual variety, the behavior of rhotic variation is different in both Spanish
varieties. In addition, non-vibrant or approximant variants are increasingly prevalent in the first and second generation
informants with rates doubling those of the younger generation and monolingual Costeño Spanish. Results of the cross-variety
comparison show that Raizal Spanish displays a generational continuity where a restructuring of the constraint ordering starts in
the second generation and is completed with younger Raizales. On the contrary, Costeño Spanish behaves differently in terms of the
systematic linguistic conditionings. The evidence suggests that rhotic variation has changed internally within both varieties.
Article outline
- Introduction
- The linguistic varieties and the sociolinguistic setting of the Archipelago
- The comparative method and the variable production of rhotics
- Methodology
- Envelope of variation
- Coding of the sociolinguistic data
- Results
- Classificatory analysis of trill production
- Comparative analyses of vibrant tap production
- Comparative analyses of vibrant trill production
- Discussion and conclusion
- Notes
-
References
References (70)
Aaron, J. E. (2006). Variation
and change in Spanish future temporal expression: Rates, constraints, and
grammaticization (Doctoral dissertation, University of New Mexico).
(2010). Pushing
the envelope: Looking beyond the variable context. Language variation and
change,
22
(1), 1–36. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Aaron, J. E., & Hernández, J. E. (2007). Quantitative
evidence for contact-induced accommodation. Spanish in contact: Policy, social and linguistic
inquiries, 3291.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Restrepo-Ramos, F. (2019). A
sociophonetic analysis of Islander Creole rhotics. Proceedings of the Florida Linguistics
Yearly
Meeting,
6
(1), pp. 76–90.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
(2021). Non-vibrant
bilingual rhotics in a Creole-Spanish Contact Scenario. IULC Working
Papers,
21
(1).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
(2022a). Neutralization
of the tap/trill contrast in the bilingual Spanish-Creole community of the Archipelago of San Andres,
Colombia. Ikala: Revista de Lenguaje y
Cultura,
27
(1). ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
(2022b). Converging
paths of variation: Bilingual rhotics and linguistic change in the Archipelago of San Andres,
Colombia. Isogloss: Open Journal of Romance
Linguistics (
8
)11. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Balam, O. (2013). Neutralization
of the intervocalic rhotic contrast in Northern Belizean Spanish. Borealis–An International
Journal of Hispanic
Linguistics,
2
(2), 285–315. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bartens, A. (2009). A
comparison of the English-based Creoles of Nicaragua and San Andrés and Old
Providence. Neuphilologische
Mitteilungen,
110
(3), 299–318.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bickerton, D. (1975). Dynamics
of a Creole
system (pp. 1–164). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Blecua, B. (2001). Las
vibrantes del español: manifestaciones acústicas y procesos
fonéticos. Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona dissertation.
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2022). Praat:
doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version
6.2.09, retrieved 15 February
2022 from [URL]
Bradley, T., & Willis, E. (2012). Rhotic
variation and contrast in Veracruz Mexican Spanish. Estudios de fonética
experimental, 211, 43–74.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cicres, J., & Blecua, B. (2015). Caracterización
acústica de las róticas fricativas prepausales en español
peninsular. Loquens
2
(
1
), 1–12. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Colantoni, L. (2006). Increasing
periodicity to reduce similarity: an acoustic account of deassibilation in
rhotics. In Selected proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Laboratory
Approaches to Spanish Phonetics and
Phonology (pp. 22–34). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Constitution of the Republic of
Colombia. (1991). [Online] Accessed in January
2018. Retrieved from: [URL]
DANE. (2005). 2005 Census of
Colombia. [Online] Accessed on October 2020. Available on the Web: [URL]
. (2018). 2018 Census of
Colombia. [Online] Accessed in March 2022. Available on the Web: [URL]
De Friedemann, Nina. (1989). Religión
y tradición oral en San Andrés y Providencia. In San Andrés y
Providencia: Tradiciones culturales y coyuntura política, edited by Isabel Clemente. Bogotá: Ediciones Uniandes.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Díaz-Campos, M. (2008). Variable
production of the trill in spontaneous speech: Sociolinguistic
implications. In Selected proceedings of the 3rd Conference on
Laboratory Approaches to Spanish
Phonology (pp. 47–58).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Enciso-Patiño, P. (2004). Estado
del arte de la etnoeducación en Colombia con énfasis en política
pública. Colombia. Ministerio de Educación Nacional.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Espy-Wilson, C. Y., Boyce, S. E., Jackson, M., Narayanan, S., & Alwan, A. (2000). Acoustic
modeling of American English/r. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America,
108
(1), 343–356. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ferguson, C. A. (1990). From
esses to aitches: identifying pathways of diachronic change. Studies in Typology and Diachrony
for Joseph H. Greenberg. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 59–78. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Florez, S. (2006). A
Study of language attitudes in two Creole-speaking islands: San Andrés and Providence
(Colombia). Ikala, Revista de lenguaje y
cultura,
11
(17) pp.119–147. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Foulkes, P., & Docherty, G. (2006). The
social life of phonetics and phonology. Journal of
phonetics,
34
(4), 409–438. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Garrett, A., Bowern, C., & Evans, B. (2015). Sound
change. The Routledge handbook of historical
linguistics, 227–248.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gries, S. (2019). On
classification trees and random forests in corpus linguistics: Some words of caution and suggestions for
improvement. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic
Theory,
16
(3), 617–647. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hagiwara, R. E. (1995). Acoustic
realizations of American /r/ as produced by women and men. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics No.
90. Los Angeles, CA: University of California![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hammond, R. (1999). On
the non-occurrence of the phone [r)] in the Spanish sound system. Advances in Hispanic
Linguistics, ed. by Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach and Fernando Martínez-Gil, 135–151. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Henriksen, N., & Willis, E. (2010). Acoustic
characterization of phonemic trill production in Jerezano Andalusian
Spanish. In Selected proceedings of the 4th Conference on Laboratory
Approaches to Spanish
Phonology (pp. 115–127). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Henriksen, N. (2014). Sociophonetic analysis of phonemic trill variation in two sub-varieties of Peninsular Spanish. Journal of Linguistic Geography, 2(1), 4–24. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras “José Benito Vives de
Andrés”. (2012). Atlas de la reserva de biósfera Seaflower: Archipiélago de
San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina. In Gómez-López et al. (Eds.). San
Andrés Isla, Colombia. Retrieved from: [URL]
Johnson, D. (2009). Getting
off the GoldVarb standard: Introducing Rbrul for mixed-effects variable rule analysis. Language
and linguistics
compass,
3
(1), 359–383. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kawahara, S. (2010). Praat
Script for Automatic Extraction of Formant Frequencies [Online] Accessed
on January 2018. Retrieved
from: [URL]
Labov, W. (1984). Field
methods of the project on linguistic change and
variation. In Language in use: readings in
sociolinguistics. John Baugh and Joel Sherzer (eds), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 28–54.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
(2010). Principles
of linguistic change, volume 3: Cognitive and cultural
factors (Vol. 361). John Wiley & Sons. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ladefoged, P., & Maddieson, I. (1996). The
sounds of the world’s
languages (Vol. 10121). Oxford: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lastra, Y., & Butragueño, P. M. (2006). Un
posible cambio en curso: el caso de las vibrantes en la ciudad de México. Estudios
sociolingüísticos del español de España y
América, 35–68.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Law 47. (1993) [Online] Accessed
on January 2018. Retrieved
from: [URL]
Law 1381. (2010). [Online] Accessed
in January 2018. Retrieved
from: [URL]
Lennes, M. (2002). Praat
Script for Automatic Extraction of Segmental Duration [Online] Accessed
on January 2018. Retrieved
from: [URL]
Lewis, A. (2004). Coarticulatory
effects on Spanish trill production. In Proceedings of the 2003 Texas
Linguistics Society
Conference (Vol. 1161, p. 127).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lopez Alonzo, K. I. (2016). Rhotic
production in the Spanish of Bluefields, Nicaragua, a language contact situation (Doctoral
dissertation, The Ohio State University).
Meyerhoff, M. (2009). Replication,
transfer, and calquing: Using variation as a tool in the study of language contact. Language
Variation and
Change,
21
(3), 297–317. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Morren, R. (2001). Creole-based
trilingual education in the Caribbean archipelago of San Andrés, Providence and Santa
Catalina. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development,
22
(3), 227–241. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Moya-Chaves, D. (2014). La
situación sociolingüística de la lengua Creole de San Andrés Isla: el caso de San
Luis. Colombian Applied Linguistics
Journal,
16
(1), 55–66. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Nagy, N., & Irwin, P. (2010). Boston
(r): Neighbo (r) s nea (r) and fa (r). Language Variation and
Change,
22
(2), 241–278. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Natvig, D. (2022). Variation
and stability of American Norwegian/r/in contact. Linguistic Approaches to
Bilingualism,
12
(6), 816–844. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Patiño Rosselli, C. (1992). La
criollística y las lenguas criollas de Colombia. Thesaurus: Boletín del Instituto Caro y
Cuervo, 47(2), 233–264.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Picard, M. (1997). English
Flapping and the feature [vibrant]. English Language &
Linguistics,
1
(2), 285–294. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Recasens, D. (1991). On
the production characteristics of apicoalveolar taps and trills, Journal of
Phonetics, 191, 267–280. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ross, J. (2007). Routes
for roots: entering the 21st century in San Andrés Island, Colombia. Caribbean
Studies, 3–36.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sankoff, D., & Thibault, P. (1981). Weak
complementarity: Tense and aspect in Montreal French. Syntactic
change,
25
1, 205–216.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Solé, M. (2002). Aerodynamic
characteristics of trills and phonological patterning. Journal of
Phonetics, 301, 655–88. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stemberger, J. P., & Bernhardt, B. M. (2018). Tap
and trill clusters in typical and protracted phonological development: Challenging segments in complex phonological
environments. Introduction to the special issue. Clinical Linguistics &
Phonetics,
32
(5–6), 411–423. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tagliamonte, S., & Baayen, R. (2012). Models,
forests, and trees of York English: Was/were variation as a case study for statistical
practice. Language Variation and
Change, 24(2), 135–178. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Weinreich, U., Labov, W., & Herzog, M. (1968). Empirical
foundations for a theory of language change. In Winfred P. Lehmann and Yakov Malkiel (eds.), Directions
for Historical Linguistics (95–195). University of Texas Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Weissglass, C. A. (2014). Spanish
stop-rhotic sequences in Spanish-Basque bilinguals and second language learners: An acoustic
study (Doctoral dissertation, The Florida State University).