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O rder N um ber 9228912
The phonetic basis for s-aspiration in Spanish
Widdison, Kirk Allen, Ph.D.

University of California, Berkeley, 1991
Copyright © 1991 by W iddison, Kirk A llen. A ll rights reserved.
UMI
300N.ZeebRd.
Ann Aibor, M I 48106
\
The Phonetic Basis for s-Aspiration in Spanish
By
Kirk Allen Widdison
B.A. (Oregon State University) 1980

M.A. (Brigham Young University) 1987
DISSERTATION
Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
HISPANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE
in the
GRADUATE DIVISION
of the
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA at BERKELEY
Approved:
Chair: ..
********************
Copyright c 1991
by
Kirk Allen Widdison
by
Kirk Allen Widdison
Abstract
This dissertation examines the phonetic principles which

underlie the origin of ^-aspiration in Spanish. It focuses
on the acoustic and perceptual information encoded in the
auditory signal of syllable-final [s]. The thesis is that
aspiration began as coarticulatory forces reduced the saliency
of the sibilant causing listeners to perceive a sound similar

to [h]. It is claimed that ^-aspiration responds to universal
phonetic factors in combination with inherent limitations in
speech perception and parsing.

Acoustic analysis revealed that many of the robust
perceptual cues for [s] are degraded in the original

conditioning context of ^-aspiration. Furthermore, it was
observed that vowel margins preceding [s] show a breathy voice
quality whose auditory properties mimic the effect of post
vocalic [h]. It was hypothesized that in the absence of a

strong [s] this murmured*vowel offset might be interpreted as
intentional aspiration. Results from perceptual tests uphold
this hypothesis and suggest that this is likely the mechanism
which triggered ^-aspiration in Spanish.
Chairman Approval:
Milton M<''£zevedo, Committee Chairman
1
To my mother, who has supported me in every endeavor
I have undertaken and never lost confidence.
ii
Table of Contents
D e d i c a t i o n ......................................... ii
Acknowledgements................................... vi
Chapter 1. Introduction ........................... 1
1.0 Introductory Remarks .................... 1
1.1 Descriptions of s-Aspiration . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.1 Informal Descriptions of s-Aspiration ... 5
1.1.2 The Phonetic Variants of s-Aspiration ... 6

1.1.3 Phonological Representations of
s-Aspiration ............................. 8
1.1.3.1 Formal Descriptions of s-Aspiration ........ 8
1.1.3.2 S-Aspiration as a Weakening Process ........ 10
1.2 Approaches to the Study of s-Aspiration . . 11
1.2.1 Traditional Analyses of s-Aspiration .... 12
1.2.2 Sociological Analyses of s-Aspiration . . . . 13
1.2.3 Physio-Psychological Analyses of

s-Aspiration ............................. 14
1.3 Linguistic Consequences of s-Aspiration . . 15
1.3.1 Effects of s-Aspiration in the Phonology . . 16
1.3.2 Effects of s-Aspiration on the Morpbosyntax . 17

1.3.3 Effects of s-Aspiration in the Lexicon ... 18
1.3.4 Effects of s-Aspiration on Sociolinguistic
Registers ............................... 19
1.3.5 Effects of s-Aspiration in Dialectal
S u b s y s t e m s ............................... 19
Chapter 2. Explaining the Sound Pattern of
s-Aspiration ................................... 21
2.0 Introduction............................. 21
2.1 Synchronic and Diachronic Aspects of
s-Aspiration ............................. 22
2.2 Phonological Analyses of Various Aspects of
s-Aspiration ............................. 25
2.2.1 Historical Studies of s-Aspiration ........ 27
2.2.2 Traditional Studies of s-Aspiration ........ 32
2.2.2.1 Structural Accounts of s-Aspiration ........ 33
2.2.2.2 Generative Accounts of s-Aspiration ........ 40

2.2.3 Quantitative Studies of s-Aspiration .... 50
2.3 The Role of Phonetic Information in
s-Aspiration Research ................... 65
2.3.1 Articulatory Descriptions of s-Aspiration . . 71
2.3.2 Articulatory Explanations of s-Aspiration . . 75
2.4 Summary of Chapter T w o .................... 79

Chapter 3. The Acoustic Correlates of s-Aspiration . . 82
3.0 Introduction.............................. 82
3.1 Sound Change Based on Perception ........... 83
3.2 The Acoustic Make-up of [s] and [h] .... 87
3.2.1 The Spectral Properties of [s] and [h] ... 88

3.2.2 The Perception of [s] and [ h ] ............... 92
3.3 Coarticulatory Effects in s-Aspirated

Syllables ............................... 97
3.3.1 Modifications of [ s ] ...................... 99

3.3.1.1 The Quantity of the [s] S i g n a l ............. 99
3.3.1.2 The Quality of the [s] S i g n a l ................. 104
3.3.2 Modifications by [ s ] ......................... 109
3.4 An Hypothetical Account of s-Aspiration . . 113
iv
Chapter 4. Experimental Tests of Perceived Aspiration
on Vowels before [ s ] ..............................117
4.0 Introduction................................ 117

4.1 Methodology ................................ 118
4.2 Perceptual Test # 1 .......................... 130
4.2.1 D e s i g n ...................................... 130
4.2.2 Results and D i s c u s s i o n ...................... 132
4.3 Perceptual Test # 2 .......................... 139
4.3.1 D e s i g n ...................................... 139
4.3.2 Results and D i s c u s s i o n .......................146
4.4 Summary .................................... 155
Chapter 5. Conclusions ............................. 158

Appendix 1. Instructions: Test # 1 ................... 167
Appendix 2. Subject Response Sheet: Test #1 168
Appendix 3. Answer Key: Test # 1 .................. 170
Appendix 4. Instructions: Test # 2 ................... 171
Appendix 5. Subject Response Sheet: Test #2 172

Appendix 6. Answer Key: Test # 2 ..................... 174
Appendix 7. Instructions: Post-test #2 ........... 175
Bibliography S-Aspiration Studies of Spanish ....... 177

Bibliography Phonetic and PhonologicalTheory .... 186
Index A u t h o r ......................................... 194
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank all those who have helped in the
preparation of this dissertation. Thanks go to my advisor and

committee chairman, Milton M. Azevedo, for his guidance and
moral support not only in this project but in all phases of
my graduate career. I appreciate the careful examination and
suggestions of Jerry R. Craddock, which were of enormous help
in making the text more readable. Liz Shriberg provided
helpful comments on the statistical portion of my experiments.

I am especially grateful to John J. Ohala for his supervision
and assistance in the development of ideas behind this

dissertation. He has shaped the way Z view linguistics and
contributed greatly to my professional formation.
I would like to acknowledge the financial support of UC
Berkeley, which provided travel funds through the Center for

Latin American Studies and a generous research stipend from
the University Predoctoral Humanities Fellowship. Thanks to
the many students who participated in experiments at the

Universidad del Bio-Bio in Chilian, Chile. I also wish to
thank Professors Esteban Vergara, Miriam Cid, and especially,
Claudio Pinuer, at this institution for their friendly
assistance and hospitality during my visit.
To my wife, Erica, and children must go the ultimate
thanks for their sacrifices and unending love and support

throughout.
K.A.W.
vi
C H A P T E R ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introductory Remarks

^-aspiration in Spanish has received abundant attention
from phonologists and dialectologists over the last century.
Professional interest in this phenomenon reflects not only its
pervasiveness at many levels of society throughout the Spanish

speaking world but also its far reaching effects in the
structure of the language itself. The focus of these studies

has changed as the objectives of linguistic inquiry have been
modified over the years and in accordance with the particular

aspect of the problem under examination.
While investigations into areas relating to ^.-aspiration
have improved our overall understanding of the phenomenon, our
knowledge of the physical mechanism underlying the original

change remains inadequate. This inadequacy is the result of
descriptions based almost solely on the production aspect of
2 -aspiration, i.e., the articulatory motions involved. The

purpose of the present study is to give a fuller account of
the phonetic details surrounding 2 -aspiration by including

acoustic and perceptual information.
An elaboration of the phonetic facts of 2~aspiration will
not only result in a more accurate description of this
phenomenon, it may also lead to an explanation of its origin.
Since principled linguistic explanations of language behavior
2
are more highly regarded than taxonomies, a model capable of
making predictions regarding the original sound shift would
significantly contribute to our knowledge of ^-aspiration.

This contribution will be complementary to explanations of
other aspects of ^-aspiration developed in recent years in the
social and psychological domains by researchers dealing with
the generalization of the phenomenon.

Competing views of the causes behind ^.-aspiration tend
to minimize, either through neglect or design, the explanatory
value of the physical properties involved in the change. In
contrast, I believe that a thorough analysis of a phonological

phenomenon such as ^-aspiration must not overlook phonetic
information encoded in the signal. In this dissertation I
intend to inspect the acoustic characteristics of the sounds

involved in ^-aspiration more closely and interpret them
according to a more refined model of sound change.
The purpose of this introductory chapter is to provide
a brief overview of ^-aspiration with regards to the range of

issues that it entails. In particular, I will survey the
various descriptions of ^-aspiration which have been put forth
to date, outline the different facets of the problem which
demand investigation, and highlight some of the linguistic
consequences of this phenomenon which have inspired sustained

research over the years.
In Chapter Two I provide a sample of the abundant
research into aspects of .^-aspiration not directly related to
the physical domain. In contrast, I show how discussions
based on the phonetics o£ 2-aspiration are deficient and

infrequent in the literature. I then propose that a
comprehensive analysis of the phonetic factors involved in a-
aspiration is crucial to our understanding of the original
cause of the sound shift. If properly designed, a phonetic

explanation of ^-aspiration allows for falsifying tests, need
not appeal to teleologies, and may be easily generalizable to
similar phenomena, such as other syllable-final processes
common in Spanish.
In Chapters Three and Four I apply the analytical model
developed in Chapter Two to an empirical reexamination of a -

aspiration. The accumulation of finer phonetic detail will
only prove useful if these data are interpreted within a more
sophisticated model of sound change, one that includes the
role of the listener in the communication process as set forth
by Ohala (1981).
Chapter Three examines the phonetic properties of the two
sounds involved in ^-aspiration ([s] and [h]) in their

production, transmission, and perception. After analyzing
them in isolation, I will examine how they are modified by

coarticulatory forces in order to determine, in particular,
what effect rate of speech and phonological environment, two
variables assumed to condition the original shift, have on the

phonetic make-up of the sounds under study. I will show that
profound modifications of the acoustic signal of [s] are a
natural consequence of these coarticulatory effects. The
hypothesis is that the reduced auditory saliency of [s] alters

listeners' perception of the sound such that it may be falsely
interpreted as an [h]-like sound.
Two linguistic experiments are carried out in Chapter
Four in order to test the above-stated hypothesis. The
experiments involve perceptual tests that have been designed
to evaluate the subject's ability to correctly identify and
categorize the speech sounds. Each experiment is presented

in modular form, with a description of test design, an
exposition of results, and a discussion of their relevance.
In addition, I provide an overview of the techniques of

perceptual testing adopted along with a description of the
methods used in data collection and token preparation.
In Chapter Five I review the validity of the proposed
thesis in light of the results of the previous chapter. I

summarize the major findings of the dissertation and consider
what generalizations might be possible for issues closely
related to £-aspiration.
1.1 Descriptions of s-Asoiration
A variety of descriptions of ^-aspiration has been

offered by researchers analyzing the problem from different
theoretical perspectives. Historians and traditional

dialectologists have given us many useful labels by which we
may informally refer to the phenomenon. Linguists concerned
with a finer classification of the variation heard in speech
have described a wealth of phonetic detail encompassed by the
cover term ^-aspiration. Others who pursue a formal

description of the process on the phonological plane have
minimized the significance of such phonetic variety in order

to describe systematic alternations. In sections 1.1.1
through 1.1.3 I explore each of these descriptions in turn.
1.1.1 Informal Descriptions of s-Asciration
5,-aspiration is easily recognizable to the trained and

untrained ear alike. Consequently, linguists as well as non
linguists have offered their impressions of the effect this
speech habit has on perception.

Probably the most common way in which Spanish speakers
have referred to this phenomenon is by the phrase comerse las
eses. or 'to eat the s' (Terrell 1979). Others have compared
the sound produced in s.-aspiration with the iota, orthographic
{x,j}, corresponding to the voiceless velar fricative /x/,
often realized as pharyngeal [h]. Thus, the 19th-century

Spanish novelist Galdds describes this speech habit in
Fortunata v Jacinta by saying of the protagonist "Las eses

finales se le convertian en jotas ..." (cited in Zamora
Vicente 1979:71, fn. 13). By analogy to other widely used

terms in Spanish phonology, linguists have proposed the terms
ioteo. ieieo and hsbsfi to refer to ^-aspiration (Seklaoui

1986:20), none of which have caught on in popular usage.
6
By far the most widely accepted technical label for the
phenomenon is the term asoiracidn de la s or 's.-aspiration'.
It seems to have been coined by Navarro Tom&s in his article
"Desdoblamiento de fonemas voc&licos" (1939) and translated

as 'aspiration of &'. In her Ph.D. dissertation Diane Ringer
Uber points out that the term ^.-aspiration is a misnomer since
aspiration is not an acoustic term one would normally ascribe
to the fricative class of sounds (1981:82). She suggests that

a more accurate translation of the original notion might be
'aspiration from a' since we have breathiness which occurs in

place of sibilance and not accompanying it (1981:10).
1.1.2 Ihg Phpne.tlc.JLariants of g-Aspiration

In many languages aspiration is a secondary feature of
stops which occurs spontaneously upon release of occlusion.

It has been characterized as a puff of air or breath which
escapes during a long delay between the release of a
consonantal constriction and the onset of voicing. Although
traditional accounts of aspiration assume that friction is

produced at the narrow glottal opening, Kim suggests that the
point of constriction of the following vowel (through
coarticulation) is actually the place where greater turbulence
is created (1970:111). Lehiste comes to a similar conclusion
for the English phone [h], describing it as a voiceless

continuant of the adjacent vowel (1967, Chapter 7).
Of course, Spanish [s] is not aspirated in the same way
as English voiceless stops, but the essential quality of an
aspirated & is a breathy sound similar to the release element
of the plosives. This sound is the principal phonetic
realization of ^-aspiration and is transcribed as [h].

Since the physiological nature of [h] allows for
extensive assimilations due to coarticulation, ^-aspiration

results in a great number of slightly different phonetic
variants. Spanish dialectologists have classified numerous

allophonic realizations of aspirated [s], cf. Seklaoui's
listing of twenty different transcriptions of the word rasoo
'feature' (1986:11).
For practical purposes, researchers carrying out
quantitative studies suggest that final /s/ has three possible
realizations: /s/ is retained as [s], a sound with

perceptible sibilance, /s/ is modified to [h], a variant with
audible non-sibilant turbulence usually in the form of breathy
sound, or /s/ is deleted altogether, symbolized by X or

absence of phonic material (Terrell 1979:600). Not all
investigators are in agreement as to where to draw the borders
between the three types. For example, some classify
gemination and glottal stop as [h] while others consider them
examples of complete deletion. Another problem in this
approach is the inevitable arbitrariness that such fine
nuances in the speech signal entail for any rational
classification. Most researchers readily admit that many
8
cases of ^-aspiration which border on [h] and Jtr are difficult
to classify and are therefore assigned to the latter category,
which serves as a kind of catch-all. These attempts at

classification often lead to excessively broad generalizations
as I shall make clear in the next section.
1.1.3 Phonological Representations of s-Aspiration
All of the synchronic phonetic variation observed for &-
aspiration appears to fall into a relatively systematic sound

pattern. Phonologists wish to capture this regularity in
speech behavior by proposing phonological rules which govern
the appearance of one or another allophone at the phonetic

level. The formalization of these rules by means of
linguistic shorthand takes on ajvariety of shapes depending
on the theoretical framework within which this phenomenon is

described.
1.1.3.i Esrmal Bgs<?EiPli.9ns <?£...s-ftgp.irat.ian

In the standard language, linguists operating within a
structural view of language posit that the phoneme /s/ has
voiced and voiceless positional variants. The non-standard

aspiration of s. adds [h] to the allophonic inventory of /s/,
a sound described by Quilis and Fern&ndez as a laryngeal
fricative that occurs in syllable-final position (1982:97).
In formal notation this process is described as:
9
/S/ - > [h] / _____ $
The arrow (— >) means 'is realized as', the diagonal line (/)
delimits the phonological environment and the symbol ($)
refers to a syllabic margin.
Generativists view the aspirated a as a surface level

realization whose systematic appearance is determined by
psychological rules governing output. Phonetic [h] is linked
to a higher level of language storage through a set of rules
which derive this surface form from a more basic, underlying
lexical representation. The rule may be formalized as:
s — > h / V C
The segments 3 and Ji may, of course, be represented by their

respective matrices of non-redundant, phonetic features.
Since ^-aspiration commonly leads to weakening ([h]) or

deletion (*0T), the derivational rules which lead from sibilance
to complete absence of sound may be presented in either a
direct or indirect fashion. Although Saporta (1965) proposes
a set of extrinsically ordered rules of the type s — > h,
s — > JZr to describe the process, many other investigators
(Cedergren, Uber, Terrell, etc.) operate under the assumption

that ^.-aspiration follows an intrinsic order such that
s — > h, h — > JIT. The reasoning behind the latter approach
is that the aspirated 3 represents an intermediate stage in
10
a larger process of phonological weakening. This idea will
be further examined in 1.1.3.2.
5-aspiration has also been described within the newer
generative models of Lexical Phonology and Autosegmental
Phonology. In Syllable Structure and Stress Assignment in

Spanish (1983) James Harris gives an account of ^-aspiration
which relies crucially on the initial assignment of a prosodic
skeleton which then conditions the process whenever /s/
appears in a rhyme position. He states that the rule of &-

aspiration is non-cyclic and must appear in the "last cyclic"
stage of the lexical component of a phonology (1983:80).
Goldsmith (1981) analyzes ^-aspiration as a suppression of the

oral autosegment of the three-dimensional representation of
/s/ while the laryngeal portion is reassociated with the
previous segment. The persistence of the laryngeal feature
of /s/ ([+spread glottis]) is what gives the residual effect

of breathiness to the adjacent sound.
1.1.3.2 S-Aspiration as a Weakening Process

Spanish sounds undergo a number of interesting
modifications in syllable-final position. In the literature
such modifications constitute a subclass of phenomena known
as weakening processes. The correlation between weakening
and syllable position has led Spanish linguists to consider

the syllabic implosion the position in which sounds are
typically most subject to phonetic erosion.
11
^-aspiration has bean viewed as a weakening process on
both the phonetic and phonological planes. Many phonologists
(Guitart, Seklaoui, Terrell, etc.) suggest that phonetically
the aspirated phone [h] is a direct consequence of
articulatory weakening in the production of [s]. Seklaoui,

for example, asserts that the weakening of [s] yields four
common reflexes in Spanish: aspiration, gemination, fusion
and deletion (1986:11). A more abstract concept of weakening
recognizes the aspirate [h] as an intermediate stage in a
larger sound shift and thus takes ^.-aspiration to be a

weakening process "by definition." The definition often
referred to is Hyman's proposal that "a segment X is said to

be weaker than a segment Y if Y goes through an X stage on its
way to zero" (1975:165).
1.2 Approaches to the Study of s-Aspiration
Investigators who set out to study ^-aspiration establish

a set of research objectives consistent with their theoretical
orientation. The questions they seek to answer are those
deemed crucial to the advancement of the particular facet of

linguistic science that their research frame is best equipped
to address. Research into ^-aspiration may be either
descriptive or explanatory and generally falls within the
three traditional domains of linguistic inquiry - the
physical, social and psychological. Sections 1.2.1 through
1.2.3 briefly summarize the issues relating to ^-aspiration
12
that are commonly examined within each of these areas. My
intent is to outline only the objectives and methods of

different analytical approaches to ^-aspiration, leaving an
elaboration of specific findings to the next chapter.
1.2.1 Traditional Analyses of s-Aspiration

The original interest in ^-aspiration centered around its
prominence in dialectal speech. Historical linguists and
philologists have tried to establish the chronology and

geography of its appearance through textual analysis and other
inferential techniques. Studies in geographic dialectology
seek to identify where ^.-aspiration occurs and the varied
phonetic nature of the phenomenon. Researchers in this area
employ the traditional field survey techniques of interviews

and subsequent phonetic analysis of speech samples in order
to catalog and then calculate the extent of a-aspiration which
characterizes a given dialectal community.
The types of issues addressed in traditional studies of
2 -aspiration were aimed solely at compiling the large amounts
of information necessary for classificatory purposes. As a

result, extensive maps have been drawn with isoglosses which
delimit the use of 2-aspiration and allow important dialect
distinctions to be made by reference to the relative intensity
13
of 2-aspiration^. While most of this information may seem
elementary to us now, the raw material gathered in these

studies represents an invaluable source from which other
researchers have constantly drawn.
1.2.2 Sociological Analyses of s-Aspiration

The phenomenon of 2 -aspiration is not only distributed
horizontally on the geographic plane but also vertically on
the sociological plane. The spread of 2~aspiration at

different levels of society was quite often overlooked in
traditional studies due to the narrow focus of their
objectives (Lafford 1982:62).

Sociolinguistic studies of 2_aspiration are concerned
with such questions as who uses this speech habit, when and
for what reasons. Observers typically account for such
factors as age, gender, social class, level of education,
social setting, register and rate of speech, among others.

Although these variables, long considered extra-linguistic,
are difficult to control, their inclusion in a treatment of

2~aspiration provides a more accurate picture of how this
phenomenon occurs in a variety of conversational settings.
* The classification of 2-aspiration was only one aspect

of much larger, centrally coordinated projects whose objective
was to produce linguistic atlases which delimit dialect zones
by well-defined speech traits. Examples of such undertakings
include the ALPI project (Atlas Linguistico de la Peninsula
Ibdrica), which was subdivided into various regional efforts,
and the ALEC project (Atlas Linguistico-EtnogrSfico de
Colombia).
14
1.2.3 PhYgio-PgYchQl.pqigal Analyses 9i.-g.zAg.pirati qn

^-aspiration may also be examined as a natural
phonological process governed either by underlying cognitive
operations specific to language programming or by universal
physical constraints on the speech/hearing apparatus. Such
a proposition requires that investigators explain the
naturalness of the phenomenon. What is of interest here is
exactly how an [s] becomes aspirated and why. Both the

physical and the psychological branches of linguistics are
well equipped to address these issues.
In a psychologically oriented approach, the analyst
assumes that speakers control ^.-aspiration by a set of

abstract rules in their mental grammars. Within this
framework, the initiation of ^-aspiration as a new feature of
language comes about as speakers change their rules of grammar
in an attempt to simplify their cognitive task. The revised
grammar with the new rules for ^.-aspiration reflects speakers'

desire to capture a significant generalization of a surface
pattern and thus process language in the most economical way.

Unfortunately, arguments based on the physical mechanism
behind ^.-aspiration have not been refined to the same degree
as the psychological models. For example, most researchers
who attribute the initiation of s-aspiration to physical
causes ultimately rely on vague notions of articulatory
transformations to motivate the change (e.g. - Longmire 1976,

Terrell 1979, Guitart 1983, Seklaoui 1986). For this reason,
15
explanations of the causes of ^-aspiration as they are
currently put forth are far from adequate, as I will show in
Chapter Two. My objective is to develop a more satisfactory
physical model of ^.-aspiration capable of addressing the
theoretical important issues surrounding the origin of this
sound change.
1.3 Linguistic Consequences of s-Asoiration

Any sound change or alternation carries with it
linguistic consequences for the structure of the language.
In its initial stages the effects of ^.-aspiration are limited

to the phonology of Spanish. The generalization of aspiration
within the language system and the further reduction of [h]
in phonetic content creates pressure on the changing
morphosyntactic structure due to the important grammatical

functions of the (-s) morphemes. To the extent that s.-
aspiration reduces the phonemic inventory the lexicon will
need to be restructured. The variable use of ^.-aspiration is
of considerable importance as a social and stylistic factor
in linguistic behavior. Finally, if the phenomenon is
transmitted to all levels and geographic areas of a speech

community it will become a distinguishing linguistic feature
of the dialectal subsystem of the language. In sections 1.3.1
through 1.3.5 I will elaborate briefly on the specific effects
that 2 -aspiration may have in the phonology, morphosyntax,
lexicon, and sociolinguistic registers of Spanish.
16
1.3.1 Effects of s-Asoiration in the Phonology
As mentioned in 1.1.3.1, a structural representation of
the allophonic variation of the /s/ phoneme in standard
Spanish may be represented as follows:
Isl ~ > [z] / c V0ICED
[s] / (everywhere else)
The rule proposed for ^-aspiration, /s/ — > [h] /

infringes on the positional domain of both allophones in the
standard language so that rules governing the distribution of
non-aspirated variants require additional restrictions. Of

course, this rule of jg-aspiration serves as only an
approximation to how this phenomenon is actually manifested
in many different Spanish speaking areas; subsequent spread
of aspiration to (word-final) prenuclear environments through
the natural linking of words in Spanish ("enlace") would

necessitate the inclusion of other conditioning contexts
beyond the existence of a syllabic margin. Sociolinguists

have questioned the theoretical value of any categorical
phonological rule of ^-aspiration, preferring instead a
variable rule with probabilistic coefficients for rule
application based on quantitative analyses.
* Actually, aspiration may be voiceless [h] or voiced

[ft] depending on the nature of the following sound. This is
in agreement with the general voicing of all fricative sounds
before voiced consonants.
In addition, the phonetic composition of the [h]
allophone of /s/ leads to a rich series of assimilations in

the speech chain resulting in combinations of sounds new to
the morphophonemics of Spanish, such as geminated voiceless
stops, glottal stops and other infrequently attested sound
sequences in the language. Aspiration may also lead to
progressive assimilations in which the [h] affects preceding
vowels. A long-standing debate has raged over whether £-

aspiration leads to modifications in the phonemic vowel
inventory through compensatory effects on the adjacent vocalic
segment.
1.3.2 Effects of s-Asniration on the Morphosvntax

Aside from a moderate number of minimal pairs involving
word-internal /s/ and the null phoneme (e.g.- nastilla 'pill'

vs. patilla 'sideburn'), the high functional load of zS. as the
morphemic marker of plural in nouns and the second person in
most verb forms makes [s] an extremely important sound in
Spanish. As ^-aspiration is generalized to word-final
position in all contexts (i.e., even when the occurrence of
a following vowel would place the /s/ in the syllabic onset)
the salience of these morphemic markers may be reduced due to
the reduced acoustic signal of the segment. Terrell asserts
that speakers tend to use alternative morphological and
syntactic markers to convey these grammatical notions,
18
initially to complement aspirated versions of these morphemes
and eventually to replace them (1987).

Terrell's argument is known in the literature as the
"functionalist" view of language change. Like any language
system, Spanish has built-in redundancies to facilitate
speaker-listener interaction in the communication process.

A fundamental question is whether a reduction of morphological
redundancies brought about by ^-aspiration yields a net gain
or loss in communicative effectiveness (Seklaoui 1986).
1.3.3 Effects of s-Aspiration in the Lexicon

Generativists are concerned with the psychological
representation of ^-aspiration. While most investigators

assume an underlying /s/ with accompanying derivational rules
of aspiration and deletion, others have proposed that a more
accurate reflection of the mental grammar of some speakers may

be an underlying /h/ with rules of deletion and (stylistic)
^-insertion (Terrell 1986). If ^-aspiration were to arrive
at the extreme point of complete absence of phonetic material
(categorical deletion) then speakers would abandon rules of
aspiration and deletion and carry out a restructuring of

lexemic forms without underlying /s/ or /h/ in those cases
affected by the loss.
19
1.3.4 Effects of s-Aspiration on Sociolinquistic Registers
As researchers discover the sociolinguistic variables

that show a high correspondence with aspiration the use of
the phenomenon either subconsciously or purposefully will
serve to identify speakers' social characteristics. The
social information thus conveyed may serve just as important
a linguistic function in imparting facts pertinent to the

message as any pure linguistic data encoded in the signal.
In this way ^-aspiration may come to represent a social
register controlled by speakers to adapt their speech to the
situational needs of the conversation.
1.3.5 Effects of s-Aspiration in Dialectal.Subsystems

Traditional dialect classification relies on a series of
speech traits, which need not be absolutely exclusive, that
serve to typify the spoken language of a community. £-
aspiration has accordingly assumed a role of primary
importance in the characterization of Spanish dialects.

Terrell (1983(a)) has devised a three way system of
classifying dialects according to the degree of phonological
reduction in ^-aspiration. He sees ^-aspiration as a sound
change in progress whose relative stages of development are
revealed in the synchronic states of various subsystems

ranging from the conservative to radical (1983(a):139).
From a practical point of view, speakers from non
aspirating dialects may encounter initial communicative
20
difficulties in their interaction with speakers who practice

S.-aspiration. The former may need to develop alternative
morphosyntactic strategies for recovering "lost" grammatical
information similar to those commonly used by the latter.
Also social connotations closely linked to ^-aspiration may

influence how speakers of different dialects perceive each
other as members of a pan-hispanic community. Finally, sheer
numbers of speakers practicing a-aspiration could eventually

elevate it from dialectal status to the rank of standard norm.
C H A P T E R TWO
EXPLAINING THE SOUND PATTERN OF ^-ASPIRATION
2.0 introduction
The social and psychological aspects of ^-aspiration have
been extensively investigated. By contrast, research into the
physical side of this sound pattern has been much more
sporadic; consequently, key issues regarding the origin of
this sound shift remain unresolved. A fully integrated study
of the phonetic factors involved in ^-aspiration promises to

fill this gap in our understanding and will complement the
advances already made from other perspectives. In addition,

a strictly phonetic approach offers significant methodological
advantages over competing models.

I begin with a brief discussion of the diachronic and
synchronic nature of the phenomenon (2.1), then review those

aspects of ^.-aspiration which have received greatest scholarly
attention (2.2). My intent is not to assess comprehensively
all studies on ^-aspiration, but rather to highlight

selectively some of the more important findings uncovered by
researchers operating according to various theoretical

orientations. In section 2.3, after noting the lack of a
full-scale study that incorporates phonetic information into

an investigation of the physical nature of ^-aspiration, I
cull from diverse sources cursory statements offered as
"explanations" for the phenomenon. This section includes a
21
22
general discussion of the proper role of phonetic evidence in
solving a phonological problem such as the origin of £-

aspiration, since I suspect that the above-mentioned disregard
of phonetic detail has occurred as much by design as by

neglect. Finally, in section 2.4 1 restate in greater detail
the thesis presented in the first chapter and summarize the

potential scientific gains that this research strategy offers
to the field.
2.1 Synchronic and Diachronic Aspects of s-Aspiration
Diachronic linguistics examines language through time

while synchronic linguistics focuses on the state of given
languages at fixed points of reference. Traditionally
diachrony focuses on language change, most commonly how the

sounds of a language evolve over time. Saussure believed that
a horizontal cut along the temporal axis would reveal a
synchronic cross-section of language composed of static
elements ideally suited for the study of systems and

relations. In recent years, Weinreich, Labov, and Herzog have
suggested that languages may show considerable relative

stability over time while on the synchronic plane there exists
a wealth of regular and systematic variation (cited in Lafford
1982:1s)1. Adherents of Labov's philosophy embrace the notion
1 According to Lafford, this idea is not entirely new to

the sociolinguistic school of thought, but indeed may be found
in the writings of many Prague School proponents (1982:43,
fn.7).
23
that individual variation constitutes a meaningful part of the
linguistic message (cf. Lafford 1982, chapter 1 for an

excellent summary of this position). Another type of
synchronic dynamism is the abundance of what Ohala terms
"hidden" variation in speech which neither speaker nor

listener recognize overtly as variation (1988:3). In any
case, it is generally held that synchronic variation, whether
meaningful or hidden, provides the impetus for sound change.
The analysis of ^-aspiration in Spanish provides a

favorable opportunity to combine synchronic and diachronic
approaches. The great majority of the studies have been
synchronic examinations of the degree to which the phenomenon
has developed at a particular time among a specific group of
speakers. However, historical evidence of ^-aspiration dating

back at least two centuries (see section 2.2.1.1) suggests
that this is actually an historical sound change in the
making. The assumption is that this sound change is becoming

generalized throughout the various levels of society and
geographic regions at different rates.
Many observers have noted the resemblance between SL~
aspiration in modern Spanish and similar processes already
completed in Old French and Italian. Some researchers (e.g.,
Terrell 1981, Seklaoui 1986) have thus considered that £-
aspiration may not be merely a language specific phenomenon
but rather incorporate more general features common to the

Romance languages or even language universal tendencies. In
24
this case the synchronic data from Spanish have served as
valuable corroborating evidence for stages and segments
postulated in the diachronic reconstructions of French and
Italian.
Along these same lines Terrell asserts that a comparison
of the different stages of development of ^-aspiration among

the Spanish dialects will help us reconstruct the diachronic
evolution of this sound change in progress (1981:115). The

so-called radical dialects represent advanced stages where the
reduction process is nearing its logical completion while the

more conservative dialects reflect an early stage where £-
aspiration is just taking root (Terrell 1983(a)). Between

these two extremes is a continuum of dialects which represents
the path of development that this sound change is expected to
take.
Most 2,-aspiration studies carried out in recent years
deal with issues related to the transmission and
generalization of the phenomenon operating variably throughout
the Spanish speaking world. As I demonstrate in the next

section, this is only one aspect of the overall phonological
problem. Matters dealing with the initial causes of the
movement are generally ignored in the above line of research
since the great majority of Spanish dialects have already
progressed beyond that proposed diachronic stage. It is my
contention that a phonetic investigation into the origins of
^-aspiration will not only give greater precision to the
25
diachronic development of this sound pattern, but may also
reveal important information relevant to other weakening

processes prevalent in Spanish synchrony.
2.2 Phonological Analyses of Various Aspects of s-Asoiration

Since ^.-aspiration has already been identified as a
systematic pattern in the Spanish language, the next step in
a phonological analysis is to explain the behavior. Whether
one considers ^.-aspiration to be a synchronic alternation or

a sound change in progress, there are several aspects of the
pattern that demand explanation. Ohala (1974(a):254) states

that, in the case of sound change, these issues would include
its origin, its directionality2, its transmission and
generalization throughout society, and its retention today.

Terrell shares this view of a phonological division of labor
in order to achieve the ultimate linguistic objective of
explanation of language behavior:
2 Ohala makes a useful distinction between the origin of

a sound change and its directionality, which many other
linguists fail to separate. By origin is meant when and where
a sound change occurs, while the directionality refers to how
or in what way (direction) it happens. To explain the origin
of a sound change one would have to know why it happened in
a given area at a given time (and not earlier/later or
somewhere else, etc.). Ohala considers this aspect of sound
change to be the least amenable to explanation (1974(a):254).
On the other hand, to address the question of the direction
a sound change takes one must ask why, for example, an [s]
changes to something like an [h] and not some other segment
(e.g., [f,8,r] etc.). This type of question is quite
accessible through a phonetic analysis as I show in section
2.3.
26
La meta tedrica . . . es llegar a explicar el cambio
fonoldgico: como se origina, c6mo se extiende por
una sociedad y qu6 efectos tiene posteriormente en
la forma de las gram&ticas de los hablantes . . .
(1986:117).
Each component of the problem may rely on a separate set

of facts for an adequate interpretation of the data and all
of these factors when integrated together contribute to a
unified explanation of the sound pattern under investigation.

For example, Ohala suggests that the origin of a sound change
may be explained by referring to information pertaining to
the external history of the language, its directionality
either by appeal to phonetic facts for universal tendencies

or grammatical and cultural information for language specific
phenomena, its spread by reference to social criteria, and its
retention as an active pattern today through inquiries into

the psychological realm (1974(a):253).
The theoretical orientation of different researchers

often influences their approach to the issues by soliciting
explanations for certain aspects of the problem. For example,
philologists and historical linguists are most interested in
the historical dating of the phenomenon. Early studies of
aspiration were carried out by dialectologists concerned
primarily with description and classification. Structural

(taxonomic) analyses of ^.-aspiration attempt to describe what
impact this speech habit has on the language system shared by
a linguistic community. Generative (taxonomic) accounts seek
27
to depict what effect s-aspiration has on the structure and
organization of the rules of grammar of an ideal speaker-
hearer of the language. Finally, recent investigations which
apply quantitative analyses to variation in s-aspiration
attempt to explain the generalization of this phenomenon by

appeal to sociolinguistic data. In sections 2.2.1 - 2.2.3 I
highlight the contributions that researchers in the above-
mentioned areas have made to an understanding of s-aspiration.
2.2.1 Historical Studies of s-Aspiration
Research into the history of s-aspiration may be

conducted at either the descriptive or explanatory level. All
historical studies thus far have tried to describe the
appearance of the phenomenon in time and space. As mentioned
earlier, a more difficult task would be to explain why it

occurred where and when it did. Although this is an area that
has received little consideration to date, studies of this
aspect of s-aspiration would refer to a similar set of
historico-cultural facts.
The findings of these descriptive historical accounts of
S-aspiration may serve an explanatory role in some other

respect. For example, theories of language transmission which
deal with a phenomenon as widely scattered as s-aspiration

either postulate a single focus (origin) with subsequent
spread to other areas, or an independent development in the
diverse dialect regions. Many times concrete data on the
28
dates and places of origin will help decide which of the two
alternative explanations seems more logical. Terrell proposes
that in the case of ^-aspiration, "because of the time factor,
it is more likely that the change (s-h-jef) in Spanish had a
single focus with subsequent spread" (emphasis mine)

(1981:116). These issues are of utmost importance in Spanish
dialectology where the relation between peninsular and
colonial speech habits at the time of the New World conquests
represents a crucial theoretical topic.

The standard procedure for documenting the appearance of
a sound pattern such as ^-aspiration is to begin at the

present, where the data are most accessible and reliable, and
work back in time as far as the evidence permits. Detailed
dialect studies in recent decades make it possible to assess
directly the extent that this speech habit has been adopted
by contemporary speakers of Spanish. However, systematic
informant examination is rarer prior to this century and so
investigators must rely on the observations of grammarians and
indirect evidence provided from stylistic literary usage,
textual analysis of historical documents, and other common
philological recourses in order to infer the existence and
magnitude of s.-aspiration for different time periods.
Current research in Spanish dialectology confirms that
S,-aspiration is pervasive at all levels of society in most
areas except Northern Spain and the interior highlands of
Mexico, Central and South America (Terrell 1979). These
29
findings generally ratify Canfield's 1962 proposal that
aspiration is one of the characteristic traits which broadly
distinguishes two modalities of American Spanish: Highlands
Spanish and Lowlands Spanish. Boyd-Bowman suggests that the
aspiration typical of Lowlands speech was a habit carried to

America by the predominately Andalusian colonizers of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Spanish linguists are divided on the antiquity of £-
aspiration which can be positively attested by spelling
modifications in historical texts. One group, represented by
Amado Alonso, Navarro Tomds, Canfield, and Torreblanca,
affirms that it is a recent development dating back no further
than the eighteenth century. Others, such as Men£ndez Pidal,
Lapesa, Boyd-Bowman, Terrell, and Lafford, believe that it is

of much earlier origin, dating back to the sixteenth century
or even further. This difference of opinion stems from what
linguists are willing to accept as solid evidence.

In a dialectal study of the speech of Cabra, Rodriguez-
Castellano & Palacio cite the oft-quoted example given by
Menendez Pidal, Sofonifa < Sofonisba from the early part of

the 16th century, as a good indication that this speech habit
was already strongly rooted in the popular Cordoban society
(1948:583-84). They argue that if the educated scribe

overlooked this dialectal peculiarity as reflected in the
spelling, then s-aspiration must have begun much earlier.
30
For Latin America, Jimgnez Sabater has produced similar
evidence from the Dominican Republic where the reduction of
final s. appears in the late seventeenth century (1975:33-37).

Terrell maintains that ^-aspiration is a change from below and
that any sound alternation noted in the spelling of the more
educated members of society must reflect the generalization
of a popular speech habit begun much earlier (1981:122, note

4). For this reason, he proposes that s-aspiration probably
began around the sixteenth century in this area.

Lafford offers a similar argument, observing that the
conservative nature of written language reflects variation
that has been around for a long time. She states:
If the first written evidence of /s/ deletion are

found in the sixteenth century, it is very likely
that /s/ deletion had been a characteristic of the
spoken language for a lengthy period preceding that
date. Also, the fact that in those days writing was
a skill possessed only by the upper classes whose
speech very often approximated the conservative,
written norm, it is not surprising that those
innovations in spoken language which originated in
the lower classes very seldom appeared on paper
(1982:48-49).
Lapesa gives another reason why spelling might be
conservative in the particular case of ^.-aspiration. He

states that as long as aspiration is considered a mere
allophonic variant of /s/ in the linguistic consciousness of
speakers, there would be no reason to write (spell) it

otherwise. Only after final /s/ had eroded over time to the
extreme point of complete reduction (or fusion with a
31
contiguous consonant) would a speaker become psychologically
aware of it and try to reflect this change in the orthography

(1981:387). In section 2.2.2 I examine generative studies
addressing the mental representation of lexical items
containing syllable-final s. in aspirating dialects.
On the other hand, Hispanists such as Canfield and A.
Alonso have been unwilling to document with any certainty the

beginnings of ^-aspiration beyond the late eighteenth century,
maintaining instead that it was a phenomenon of rather recent
development. Although Navarro Tom&s claims that syllable-
final s. must have remained sibilant up through the eighteenth

century, he concedes that the phenomenon underwent a rather
long stage of elaboration at the lower echelons of the speech
community dating back to the sixteenth century (1966:74).

All of these and many other discrepancies regarding the
chronology of ^-aspiration in Spain and Latin America have
been gathered and analyzed in a concise article by Miximo

Torreblanca from 1989 entitled "La /s/ implosiva en espafiol:
Sobre las fechas de su aspiracidn". In it he questions what
many linguists (including himself) have sustained as "sure"
evidence in the early dating of this phenomenon. He proposes
that the only reliable data concerning the origin of &-
aspiration in Spanish come from the eighteenth century and

suggests that the scanty, earlier attested forms are the
result of scribal errors in transcription (303). He claims

that human fallibility may have been a major cause in many
32
spelling errors involving the omission, addition, and crossing
of letters, which some have taken as evidence of aspiration,
but which he insists is an inaccurate reflection of the oral
expression of the historical period (288-93). In addition,
he observes that the conservation of syllable-final £ in a few

Latin American dialects as well as in Judeo Spanish (both of
which are believed to be closely tied to Andalusian Spanish),
casts doubt as to whether ^-aspiration was the linguistic

norm, or even a frequent phenomenon in sixteenth century
southern peninsular Spanish (302).
2.2.2 Traditional Studies of s-Asniration

For the purposes of this dissertation, traditional
studies of ^-aspiration are defined as those which have sprung

out of the geographic-dialectological approach to regional
language variation made popular in Spanish linguistics over

the past century. The focus of this approach was to note with
extraordinary detail the wealth of phonetic variation that a
regional trait such as ^-aspiration showed across dialect
zones. As Lafford observes, this early research was done in
a rather atomistic fashion in an attempt to classify the

minute differences that serve to distinguish one dialect from
another (1982:53-54).
Subsequently, Spanish linguists have sought to organize
the phonetic variation found in a-aspiration in order to

describe its patterning in the language (sub)system. Dialect
33
studies based on current theoretical models have proposed
accounts which describe the systematic nature of ^-aspiration
with regard to the allophonic distribution of phonemes
(structural) or by the organization of derivational rules

(generative). Both approaches serve primarily a taxonomic
role which is an essential first step in phonology (cf.

section 2.2), since before a sound pattern can be explained
it must first be identified and described in sufficient detail
in order to consider it a regularity of the language.
2.2.2.1 Structural Accounts of s-Asniration

Within a structural framework researchers observe that
^.-aspiration responds to the phoneme /s/, which has a wide

range of allophonic variants and which, in extreme cases, may
be reduced to a phonetic zero (St). For expository purposes

the allophones of /s/ are generally simplified to those which
contain some sibilance ([s]) and those with some breathy
characteristic ([h]). The distribution of these variants is
taken to be ordered (complementary) and generalizations which

describe regular patterns are sought in the phonological
positioning of the sounds. Rules are then formulated which
describe this variation as a categorical choice between one
or another allophone according to the conditioning context.
Where vacillation occurs between some allophone of /s/ and
complete reduction (St), free variation allows for what was
considered a random choice of variants by the speaker.
34
Traditional studies of ^-aspiration which loosely apply
this framework of structural analysis to the phonetic detail
gathered in geographic-dialectological surveys are abundant
in the literature as attested by Terrell:

In fact, until very recently most dialect
investigation was limited to indicating the
existence of the phenomenon of aspiration and
deletion and to describing the relevant allophones
and their distribution in various parts of the
Spanish speaking world . . . (1979:599).
Only in the prist 15 years have alternative descriptive
accounts of ^-aspiration been offered within a generative

framework. Nevertheless, both structural and generative
taxonomic analyses of 2-aspiration suffer from methodological

deficiencies which limit their descriptive usefulness, as will
be discussed in section 2.2.3 dealing with sociolinguistic
studies.
The main interest of researchers seeking a structural
description of 2~aspiration is to determine the conditioning

phonological environments which trigger the use of one or
another allophone. Casual observance that 2 ~aspiration occurs

at times more frequently or to a greater extent than others
leads researchers to believe that the phenomenon is going
through a stage of generalization. It is generally maintained
that those environments where 2 -aspiration is more consistent
or advanced represent the original contexts, while those
positions where aspiration is only sporadic reflect its
subsequent spread.
35
It was expected that s-aspiration would occur first in
syllable-final position where sounds are usually weakened in
Spanish. However, because of the phonotactics of Spanish and
the general rule of "enlace", which links words together in
an utterance, researchers have needed to incorporate higher

level ideas in their descriptions, especially the notion of
word or 1exeme. Thus, in many structural, taxonomic studies
researchers analyze the aspiration of syllable-final £ in its

various positional possibilities: word-medial, word-final,
utterance-final, etc. The nature of the following sound is
crucial since it may influence the frequency of aspiration
occurring in word-final position, as well as the nature of the
allophonic aspirate in cases of assimilation.

By comparing the degree of 2,-aspiration in different
phonological positions within and between Spanish dialects,
researchers have proposed a chronology of the development of

this sound pattern. The accepted theory is that s-aspiration
began in syllable-final position (i.e., when followed by a
consonant), although there is some discussion as to whether

this occurred first word-medially or word-finally3. A lesser
degree of s-aspiration occurs in syllable-final position when
3 For example, Seklaoui proposes a first stage of s~

aspiration conditioned by the environment VsC which she
subdivides into word-medial and word-final positions, although
she does not state which is primary (1986:9-10). On the other
hand, Longmire believes that ^-aspiration in Spanish follows
the pattern of other Romance languages, "occurring first in
word-internal position and second in word-final position"
(1976:104-105).
the segment appears before a pause (utterance-final) or before
another vowel (word-final before another word that begins with

a vocalic segment). Seklaoui interprets this to mean that
aspiration, although not original in the latter positions, has
subsequently spread to these contexts where it is less
frequent and becoming generalized (1986:10).

Due to the limited objectives of the descriptive,
taxonomic framework, structuralists have little to say

regarding the mechanism of the spread and popularization of
this phenomenon. With respect to the positional spread of

aspiration from a more restricted environment to a more
general one, it was generally assumed that some sort of

analogy was operating in the collective minds of the
linguistic community. Also, most structural treatments of £-
aspiration were based on data compiled by traditional field
survey techniques which did not examine social variables
because they were felt to be extralinguistic. As a result,

only the most general observations were made concerning the
probable link between social factors and the popularization

of aspiration4. These sociolinguistic issues are readdressed
in later variationist studies which focus on the transmission

aspect of this phonological problem (cf. section 2.2.3).
4 This example from Rodriguez-Castellano and Palacio is

typical: "Las personas jdvenes prefieren casi siempre la
p€rdida de la s aspirada a la conservacidn . . . " (1948:592).
This type of generalization was based on the investigator's
impressions, since the methodology itself did not lend itself
to quantitative statistical analysis.
37
A central issue of structural analyses of ^.-aspiration
is uhat effect this sound change might have on the phonemic

inventory of Spanish. Structural change at the allophonic
level is an integral part of any description and not

considered significant at the social level of language.
However, if phonetic variation becomes highly correlated with

grammatical or semantic properties then the change may be
phonemicized and come to represent a meaningful element of
language. This phonemicization may be completely unmotivated,

although an alternative view is that such language internal
pressures as system symmetry or functional communicative
constraints may serve to promote the change.

Aside from the rich allophonic variation found in the
contact assimilation between the aspirate [h] and the
following sound, the quality of the vowel preceding this
segment is also modified. This corresponds to a general
phonological alternation in Spanish vocalic segments in which

the mid vowels /e,o/ are commonly opened or lowered in their
vowel space in the environment of closed syllables. However,
many investigators claim that as the aspirated s. is reduced
in phonetic content to a phonetic zero {$) these vocalic
alterations are magnified and take on linguistic significance.
For example, Navarro TomSs notes:
En posicidn final, ante pausa, la a puertorriqueiia

desaparece . . . sin dejar otra huella que la de la
abertura de la vocal con que la palabra termina
(1966:73).
38
The presumed phonemicization of these vocalic differences has
led to proposals for an expanded vocalic inventory in Spanish

from the standard five to systems of seven, eight or even ten
phonemic segments (Resnick and Hammond 1975:79).
This view of compensatory phonemic change is adopted by
many structuralists who underscore the importance of word-
final £ as a morphological marker of plural on nouns and in

second person verb endings (e.g., Canfield (1962), Alarcos
Llorach (1968), Zamora Vicente (1979)). They propose that

the audio signal which functions to convey this grammatical
information may not be lost without an alternative cue being
created elsewhere in the system in order to maintain effective

communication. A slightly different approach to functional
considerations of ^-aspiration will be outlined in section

2.2.3.
Robert Hammond observes that while this functionalist

hypothesis of compensatory vowel opening for a weakly
aspirated or deleted word-final a. is often repeated among

Spanish linguists, it is not based on empirical evidence nor
has it ever been experimentally tested (1978:96). He tests
this hypothesis by instrumentally measuring the quality
(formant values) of vowels preceding a reduced & in order to
see if any phonetic differences exist, and then examining

whether listeners are capable of using these differences as
a perceptual basis for distinguishing minimal pairs. He

reasons that positive results in listening tests designed to
differentiate test vowels from controls would uphold the
hypothesis that an expanded phonemic inventory of Spanish
vowels is warranted in such circumstances. On the other hand,
if there is an acoustic difference which proves to be an

insufficient perceptual cue of distinctness or no acoustic
difference at all, then the standard five-vowel system would
prove sufficient and listeners must consequently rely on other

linguistic cues to "recover" the information lost by extreme
^.-aspiration and deletion (Hammond 1978:96-97).
The results of Hammond's study show little phonetic
change in the vowel preceding a reduced s., and these slight

modifications of vowel frequencies did not provide reliable
acoustic cues in the discrimination of test vowels from

controls. These findings lead Hammond to reject the common
hypothesis that ^-aspiration and deletion lead to compensatory

vowel modifications in word-final position which result in new
phonemic contrasts in open and closed vowels (1978:123).
Thus, the traditional five-vowel phonemic system should be
maintained and person and number information lost from the
disappearance of the -a, morpheme must be conveyed by other

means in context (Resnick and Hammond 1975:87).
Hammond's studies represent a useful attempt at verifying
a frequently posited phonological explanation relating to £-

aspiration. Although the results were not supportive of this
hypothesis, they nonetheless advance our knowledge of this
aspect of the phenomenon and help us direct our energies to
40
other areas of interest. If one knows what does not happen
in conjunction with or as a result of 2,-aspiration then this

limits the variables to be further considered.
One interesting finding of Hammond's work relates to the
importance of segment length in the perception of ^-aspiration

and deletion. Resnick and Hammond find a 36% average increase
in vowel length preceding an elided s. in word-medial position
(1975:87). This proved to be a reliable perceptual cue (91.6%
accuracy) for listeners in distinguishing minimal word pairs
(Hammond 1978:124). Based on these findings, Hammond later
formulates a general phonological rule of ^.-aspiration and

deletion known as compensatory vowel lengthening (1986:37).
I examine matters of segmental duration in Chapter 3, not as
a result of ^.-aspiration, but as a possible cause of its

inception.
2.2.2.2 Generative Accounts of_srAspiration

While structural accounts of ^-aspiration describe the
extensive allophony present in speech, generativists examine
how this surface variation is consigned a unified meaning at

a deeper level of understanding in speakers' consciousness.
At a theoretical level this means that the phonological rules
which each orientation employs in their descriptions of £-
aspiration do not have the same meaning (even though the
formalistic shorthand used is often very similar). The
structuralists' rules of distribution describe the conditions
41
under which a psychological unit such as /s/ yields a variety
of pronunciations. The phonological processes invoked in a
generative account depict the linking of surface level
redundancies to an underlying phonemic representation which
a speaker/hearer will correctly interpret for meaning.

Essentially, a generative model of ^-aspiration claims
that linguistically unimportant features of speech that
transform an /s/ into an [h] may be sifted out by hearers

through their knowledge of the rules of grammar (or the
phonological subcomponent therein) in order to derive the true
meaning of the intended signal. In this case, "knowledge of
grammar" refers to a body of phonological rules which every
speaker/hearer has internalized and which permit all and only

those pronunciations deemed acceptable to the native ear. For
the purist this is strictly a characterization of speakers'
competence of the pronunciation norms of their language or

dialect, and should not be taken as a production model
reflecting performance5.
5 In practice, however, this distinction is often

blurred in the application of different versions of the model.
For example, autosegmental analyses of ^-aspiration require
that certain physiological operations be suppressed in order
to account for the production of breathy sound. Guitart
(1978) states that proponents of natural generative phonology
such as Terrell use rules of ^-aspiration essentially as
mechanisms for generating (producing) phonetic forms. But
even Guitart, who claims to offer a standard account of &-
aspiration which is impartial to the speaker/hearer, relies
on notions closely related to the production domain (ease of
articulation/perception) to motivate these purely
psychological rules.
42
Generative investigations of ^.-aspiration thus profess
to study the psychological aspects of this phenomenon. These

include descriptions of how ^.-aspiration is (or may be)
processed in the mind of the speaker and explanations for why
it is stored the way it is. The majority of research h«_s
focused on the former as a direct reaction to perceived

weaknesses in structuralist descriptions of ^-aspiration.
Since there are numerous ways in which ^-aspiration might
be conceptually represented there have naturally arisen
numerous competing descriptions. Terrell states that dialect
studies of ^-aspiration which incorporate a generative model

embody a weak extension of the theoretical movement under
development (1978:220). Issues within the standard model such
as rule ordering, rule operation and degree of abstraction,

as well as the formulation of ^-aspiration within alternative
frameworks such as Metrical Phonology, Lexical Phonology and
Autosegmental Phonology have yielded a rich variety of
notations from different perspectives.

For example, based on the observation that a weakened &
first leads to aspiration and subsequently to complete

reduction, rules governing a-aspiration were assumed to be
linked in a synchronic grammar in an intrinsic order such that
s — > h, h — > JS. However, Terrell has found that for many
dialects where s.-deletion is generalized to wider contexts,
this occurs (variably) with a proportional decrease in
sibilant realizations and not at the expense of the aspirate
43
as would be predicted from the intrinsic model (1981:119-20).
Terrell concludes that a more accurate representation of s.-
aspiration is a no-order system of the type s — > h, s — >^T
in which deletion does not feed off of the output of the

aspiration rule, but instead is linked directly to the
underlying /s/ (1981:123, 1983(a):137). Cedergren and

Rousseau (1979) examine the fit of these two possible rule
orders for the Panamanian dialect and find both systems to be

descriptively adequate for the data**.
As noted in 2.2.2.1 an empirical study of ^-aspiration
in Cuban Spanish prompted Hammond to postulate a phonological
rule of compensatory vowel lengthening (AVC) to account for

the perceptually important increase in vocalic duration
preceding a deleted in word-medial position (1978). In a
later analysis Hammond (1986) examined the mental machinery
required for the correct application of this rule in a
generative grammar and suggested that AVC must be assigned the
status of global rule. While recognizing the theoretical
caution that is usually taken in employing a rule which may
look back to the derivational history of previous forms, he

argues that this type of mechanism is necessary for minimal
descriptive accuracy of the phenomenon.
0 Another possibility of course is that for some

dialects /s/ may no longer be the underlying form, but rather
a relexification has taken place with /h/ (or in extreme cases
J&) at a deep level and rules of SL insertion to map to the
surface. Arguments for this analysis will be explored later
in this section.
44
According to Nuftez-Cedefto (1988) the tenuous compulsion
to adopt a dangerous theoretical device such as global rule

in the analysis of AVC is a direct consequence of the limited
vision that the standard segmental framework offers for

phonological processes. He asserts that an autosegmental
treatment of this phenomenon provides a much cleaner analysis
without recourse to the "powerful and suspect global rule" and
has the added benefits of collapsing the two steps of

aspiration/elision and AVC to a single process of suppression
of features at the oral stratus and simultaneous reassociation

of prosodic skeleton lines motivated by universal principles
(1988:99-100).
Since a variety of representations may adequately
describe the psychological processes involved in the surface-
to-deep mapping of ^-aspiration, preference is given to those

analyses which provide some sort of explanation for the
phenomenon. This is entirely consistent with the current
focus of phonology as an explanatory discipline, as mentioned
in section 2.2. While some serious efforts have been made in

recent years to look for explanations of ^-aspiration within
generative models, much of the earlier work mechanically
applied the generative notational shorthand to the phenomenon,
thus providing a more elegant description without attempting

any explanation. For example, in Becerra's study of Colombian
Spanish he lists the rules needed to generate the surface
45
allophones of an aspirated £ and presumes that things have
been "explained":
Presentamos en seguida las reglas fonoldgicas que
emliean los procesos de aspiracidn, de asimilacidn,
y de p£rdida de la -s. . . . Con estas reglas
emlleamoa la conversidn de s en St en el dialecto
de Cartagena (emphasis mine) (1985:80).
The quest for phonological explanations within the

generative framework has been influenced by the basic tenents
of this philosophy. Among the overriding principles are that

speakers seek to construct a mental grammar which captures
the greatest amount of generalizations (surface redundancies)
in a maximally efficient way (simpler, easier to process) and

that language change (or sound change) is the same as grammar
change. From this perspective, generative accounts of £-
aspiration not only examine why speakers process and retain

the pattern in one fashion or another, they also address other
issues typically treated outside the psychological realm, such

as matters relating to the origin and spread of aspiration.
For example, Guitart adopts the standard generative

stance that the origin of sound change stems from universals
of speech processing which prefer certain natural sequences

over others. He believes that ^-aspiration began due to the
principle of "relative markedness", wherein an element which
is less complex (unmarked) in the production domain but more
complex (marked) perceptually may still represent a plus to
the speaker without negatively affecting the listener under
46
certain special circumstances (1978:87). The reasoning
involves a variation of the "Functionalist Hypothesis" that
for morphemes such as plural and verbal perceptual clarity
of the phonic signal is not a high priority since the listener
can easily recover this information from other clues in the
syntax, semantics, discourse, etc. (more will be said on
functionalism in 2.2.3).
Goldsmith (1981) points out that a segmental explanation
of the type offered by Guitart can only address in a static
sense the origin of ^.-aspiration without mentioning the

dynamism inherent in its directionality. In other words, if
^.-aspiration represents a natural tendency towards the

specification of a less complex, unmarked representation for
/s/, why should this necessarily be something like [h] when

there are a number of equally worthy sounds which share the
phonetic characteristics of [s]? According to Goldsmith, the
only natural derivative of /s/ in an autosegmental analysis

is [h] since this represents the laryngeal residue of
breathiness (reassociated with the preceding vowel) once the
supraglottal tier of features has been deleted and left

unspecified (1981:7-9). Guitart later acknowledges the
usefulness of the autosegmental approach in a reexamination
of the "universal tendency to back syllable-final consonants"
in Spanish (1982(b)).
Generative analyses suggest that sound change is
generalized by rule simplification and/or rule reordering.
47
For example, when ^-aspiration spreads from syllable-final
(always preconsonantal) to word-final, prevocalic position the
rule governing a-aspiration must either be reordered to appear
before the general prosodic rule of resyllabification or it
must be reformulated to include a wider context of

application. Lipski proposes that the latter possibility is
more logical since the new form of the rule will be simpler
and reduce surface allomorphy of lexical items, thus yielding

a transparent link between phonological and phonetic forms
(1986:150-52).
Until recently, all studies of a~aspiration have assumed
/s/ to be the underlying form with rules of aspiration and
deletion to map to the surface. This analysis is sufficient

for the majority of a~aspirating dialects today which are
still undergoing stages where the phenomenon is being adopted

and generalized. However, Terrell (1983(b)) has shown that
among uneducated Dominican speakers final a rarely appears in
speech, except sporadically in hypercorrections. He suggests
that such extreme subsystems reflect the death of phonological
rules governing a~aspiration, whose application has reached

categorical frequency and which have been replaced in the mind
of speakers by restructured lexical forms without final a and

accompanying rules of ^a (or jJi) insertion for stylistic
purposes (1983(b):70).
Arguments in favor of the above analysis proposed by
Terrell are based on the descriptive and explanatory
48
superiority of the model and on meta-theoretical grounds. For
example, Terrell notes that the near complete absence of word-

final a in familiar speech, difficulty in identifying written
-s while reading, the frequent appearance of hypercorrect a
in formal situations, and the correspondence of spelling

pronunciations with a minimal level of reading ability all
constitute overwhelming evidence that /-s/ may not be a
naturally acquired part of the lexicon, but rather a learned
element from experience in formal settings (1983:70-71). In
addition, he asserts that a correct theoretical formulation

of lexical representations and phonological rules should
provide for a transparent link between underlying and surface
forms and allow only those rules which are independently

motivated (1986:126). Both of these criteria favor the
restructuring hypothesis posited for Dominican speakers of
lower education levels.

Nufiez-Cedefio (1987) accepts Terrell's claim that for the
group of speakers in question an analysis without underlying

/-s/ in the lexicon more accurately describes and explains the
available data. He disagrees, however, that insertion does

not follow any phonological principles and is governed by
purely stylistic constraints. He suggests that the rule of
-s insertion obeys general properties of epenthetic rules and

operates normally within the lexical module of phonology
(1987:327). The occurrence of hypercorrect £ strictly in

rhyme position producing sequences which are well-formed for
49
syllable structure and stress placement suggests that &
epenthesis is a structure preserving rule (1987:320). This
independent formulation of & epenthesis adds support to

Terrell's hypothesis of lexical restructuring and serves to
describe and explain a pattern emerging from hypercorrect
speech.
The various generative claims regarding ^-aspiration
provide new insights into how this phenomenon may be more
accurately described and possibly explained. There is,

however, a certain danger in offering wholesale mentalistic
explanations for every aspect of this or any phonological
problem when other domains of linguistics offer alternative

solutions. For example, the explanation given in this section
regarding the spread of ^-aspiration should be compared with
those arguments to be outlined in the next subsection (2.2.3)
in which social factors are included in the analysis. The
thesis of this dissertation is that a phonetic analysis which
incorporates greater acoustic detail presents a viable
alternative to generative accounts of the directionality of
s-aspiration.
Even the hypotheses concerning the storage and retrieval
of the components of ^.-aspiration should be tested by
psycholinguistic methods external to the generative framework
to examine their relevancy. This constraint is necessary
since, as Ohala states, it is possible that "many linguists
50
vastly overestimate the average speaker's knowledge of sound
patterns" (1974(a):254). Terrell puts it another way:

. . . el comprobar que le es mds fdcil al linguists
analizar los datos de cierta manera o con cierto
modelo no comprueba necesariamente que asi los
analizan los hablantes al aprender un idioma
(1978:223).
2.2.3 Quantitative Studies of s-Asoiration

As was noted in 2.2.2, traditional analyses of £-
aspiration examine the wealth of phonetic variation available
from earlier geographic-dialectal studies and classify these

variants according to observed patterns in the language.
These approaches employ substantial descriptive machinery in
order to account for as much variation considered meaningful
within a homogeneous system7. Deviations from the established

norms are considered unsystematic aberrations which result
from the (linguistically) uninteresting details of speech

which come out during performance, or operation at the parole
level. In the case of ^-aspiration there is a great deal of

variation which is not predictable from the rules governing
its usage (such as formulated in the traditional models), and
all of this may come from the same speaker in the space of a
single utterance.
7 For structuralists this homogeneous system refers to

the uniform set of signs and oppositions shared in the
linguistic consciousness of a speech community (langue). The
uniformity in a generative framework is a theoretically
imposed assumption that interesting generalizations can be
made of linguistic competence only given the expedient
simplification of an ideal speaker/hearer of the language.
Traditional analyses show little interest in low-level
phonetic detail, describing it either through optional rules

or as free variation, which in the words of Longmire has
evolved into "a wastebasket category for inexplicable phonetic
variables" (1976:6). Proponents of traditional phonological
models (e.g., Guitart 1978) claim that these phenomena are not
closely examined because they are outside the scope of
theoretically important questions, while opponents (e.g.,
Longmire 1976, Terrell 1978, Lafford 1982) maintain that it

is the limited perspective of the approach itself which does
not allow for an adequate treatment of the data and makes them
less appealing. A closer look at the data for ^-aspiration
reveals a great deal of variation "in practice" which does not

respond to the simplified categorical (obligatory)
generalizations intended to reflect linguistic competency "in
theory", such that virtually all allophonic variation might
end up in the random or unordered "wastebasket" of free
variation.
During the late 60's and early 70's a new linguistic
model emerged which proposed to address these theoretical

issues regarding variation in language. This orientation,
championed by Labov, takes the position that most if not all
variation in speech is ordered and regular if one looks close
enough (and in the right places) for the conditioning factors.

In addition, it is suggested that language should not be
artificially isolated from its social context and that social
52
variables work together with purely linguistic factors to
condition variation. More importantly, the standardized code
itself is felt to be variable and exploited by speakers as
part of their competence, which now reflects their knowledge

of linguistic rules plus their awareness of social values
expressible through manipulation of the rules (Lafford
1982:15-16).
The central notion of the Labovian model is the variable
rule whose frequency of operation is determined from a

probabilistic calculation of conditioning factors. This
contrasts sharply with the all or nothing approach of rule
application in the traditional models. Since this approach
is clearly based on production it is not subject to the

methodological limitations of generativists who rely on the
intuitions of a few informants. The examination of a wider
range of linguistic (and social) factors affecting variation

calls for more rigorous techniques of data gathering and
analysis than previously practiced by dialectologists8. The
° Structuralist analyses were generally based on

material already gathered from the geographic-dialectal
studies popular in Spain and Latin America during the earlier
part of this century. These used traditional field survey
techniques with a number of limitations including: 1)
informant type - NORM (native, glder, nural male), 2)
elicitation techniques - isolated words from an artificial
social context, 3) number of interviews - small sample, and
4) method of recording - data transcribed by hand, very little
tape recording. Variationists rely on a much more
sophisticated data base such as that offered through the
"Norma Culta" project or personal adaptations of the same (see
Lafford 1982:63-67 for a brief synopsis of the methodology
employed in the "Norma Culta" project and chapter four of the
(continued...)
53
result is a more precise description of ^.-aspiration in
practice and clearer theoretical formulations since these are

drawn on an empirical base.
Terrell asserts that the variable rule model is ideally
suited for dialect research in Spanish because nearly all of
the interesting phonological phenomena belie categorical
description (1982:48). The Labovian philosophy has found many

adherents in Spanish dialectology including Cedergren,
Terrell, Longmire, Poplack and Lafford9, all of whom have made
significant contributions to the field over the past 20 years.

The overwhelming amount of research of these and other
"variationists" has dealt precisely with the issue of sr
aspiration, perhaps due to the significant role that zS. plays
in the morpho-syntax of the Spanish language.

Dialectologists have long felt that aspiration may serve
to characterize certain elements of society and carries with
it social connotations for its users (Cedergren 1978:37).

Quantitative studies have sought to confirm these impressions
by searching for the specific social correlates that accompany
^.-aspiration. Within the sociolinguistic framework these
8(...continued)
same reference for her adaptation of this approach to
Cartagena Spanish).
9 At the same time, most of these researchers
incorporate these newer concepts (variable rules, quantitative
research, linguistically significant social factors) into an
overall generative framework, albeit usually the more concrete
"natural" brand. Thus, their line of investigation actually
represents a kind of a hybrid approach to phonology.
54
social factors are not mere coincidences of occurrence, but
rather meaningful components of speakers' phonological
knowledge which may contribute to their propensity to aspirate
(Guitart 1978:81-82).
In addition, the rich data base compiled by quantitative
investigators permits a closer examination of the linguistic
factors involved in ^.-aspiration. This goes beyond the

strictly phonological criteria analyzed in traditional studies
and includes phonetic, morphological and syntactic forces

often carefully excluded from an autonomously functioning
phonology. By detailing both social and linguistic criteria,
quantitative studies of &-aspiration reveal a systematicity
often hidden in the rich variation of this speech habit. As
Terrell states:
. . . only after the advent of quantitative ar?:»lysis
with the variable rule model was it shown that the
rules of aspiration and deletion are applied
consistently following a well-defined system of
conditioning factors (1982(a):50).
A variable rule model of ^-aspiration examines the

correspondence of the allophonic variants of /-s/ with any
and all linguistic and extra-linguistic (social) factors that

may bear relevance on the phenomenon. Not all studies
encompass the same set of variables, but the linguistic
factors typically explored include position of in the word

(internal vs. final), word length (# of syllables),
phonological context (type of segment that precedes, e.g.,
55
consonant, vowel, pause), morphological function (lexical,
marker of plural in nouns, verbal desinence), grammatical

category (noun, adjective, determiner), etc. Social variables
usually examined in relation to 2,-aspiration include age, sex,

place of origin, level of education, socio-economic class,
discourse style, etc.

Probabilities are calculated from standard mathematical
formulas in order to determine the variable effect that each
factor has on the operation of phonological rules governing
aspiration. Such formulations not only describe ^-aspiration
more precisely for a particular group of speakers (cf.

Cedergren 1978:40), they also allow for uniform comparisons
with speakers from other s-aspirating dialects and often lead

to interesting generalizations about the overall sound
change*0.
Cedergren has found that for Panamanians aspiration and
deletion of zS. is more common at the lower socio-economic

levels and much less so among the upper classes. However,
while it is primarily the younger generation and women who
aspirate, older males are more inclined to delete the zS.

altogether in this dialect (1978:41). Terrell notes that for
Puerto Rican Spanish a much higher incidence of ^.-deletion
10 Since variationists often adopt the variable rule

model into the existing framework of Natural Generative
Phonology, these generalizations take the form of constraints
governing rule application. Different rules are believed to
exist for aspiration, deletion, and retention/insertion, each
containing a separate set of conditioning factors.
56
corresponds to speakers without higher education (1982:53) and
at younger ages, with age being the more important of the two
constraining forces (1983(a):143). In the case of Dominican

speech, which reflects the most radical system of fi-
aspiration, deletion of ^ is very common among all speakers
while the sibilant pronunciation is heard more among women and
speakers at higher levels of education (Terrell 1986:120-21).

In general, the use of more conservative forms (whether it be
[s] for Dominicans or [h] for other Caribbean dialects)
corresponds highly to women and educated speakers since these

are the ones most likely to monitor their speech in accordance
with learned pronunciation norms (Terrell 1986:120).
Although both social and linguistic factors are
considered constraining forces in a variable model of &-
aspiration, researchers have found that higher probabilities
of incidence are found within the linguistic domain. For this
reason, most studies of ^-aspiration have focused their

descriptive analyses on the linguistic components of the
phenomenon-1’1. However, not all linguistic determinants carry
equal weight in the variable rule. Terrell has repeatedly
11 Perhaps another reason for this imbalance is the

orientation of the investigators themselves: most are
linguists first and social scientists second. This bias
favors the continuation of the type of classificatory
descriptive work inherited from linguists in the traditional
mode and inhibits the discovery and explanation of the social
forces active in the spread of aspiration. This latter issue
might be considered the most theoretically important question
to be addressed by a sociolinguistic model of 2,-aspiration.
57
claimed that in the case of ^-aspiration and retention
phonological context still exerts primary pressure while the
rule for elision has gone beyond this stage and is now
governed principally by grammatical and lexical criteria

(1978, 1979, 1982, 1983(a), 1986).
^-aspiration is strongly conditioned by the presence of
a following consonant in all dialects and this context is
generally accepted as the necessary if not sufficient
condition for the original movement. Interestingly, the type
of consonant that follows final £ may bear some influence on
the sound shift. For example, both Longmire (1976) and M€ndez
Dosuna (1985) note that a following dental stop generally
retards a-aspiration. For the Panamanian dialect Cedergren

observes a strong correlation between word-internal position
and aspiration (1978:41), which is logical since the always
appears before another consonant at the syllabic margin. In

this same position aspiration is clearly the norm for speakers
from Cartagena, Colombia (Lafford 1982:315-17) and Cuba
(Terrell 1979:601). For the more advanced dialects of the
Caribbean, word-final position generally favors aspiration,

although in cases where the following word begins with a vowel
there is some incidence of a sibilant pronunciation (Terrell
1979:608). This is generally taken as evidence that a-
aspiration is not original in this context, but rather has
spread and is becoming more general there.
58
In most dialects where final a appears in rapid speech
as a sibilant pronunciation it is assumed that this sound is
retained through purely phonological conditioning although,
Terrell has proposed that for more radical dialects such as

Dominican Spanish this [-s] may not derive from the original
lexical item. An important phonological factor conditioning
a sibilant pronunciation is the presence of a pause in speech
immediately after the (Terrell 1979:602). Terrell states

that a high correspondence between formal speech styles and
frequent pauses suggests that pause may actually function as
a monitoring technique by which speakers correct their normal

tendencies to aspirate due to the extra time it affords them
for introspection (1979:609, 1983:141). Accent or stress is

another feature conditioning the appearance of the sibilant
sound. Alba shows that for speakers of Dominican Spanish

there is an increased incidence of [-s] in word-final position
when the following word begins with a stressed vowel and in
word-internal position when included within a tonic syllable

(1982:23-26).
The two most often cited correlates of srdeletion are
word length and syntactic position (Guitart 1983:158-59).
Terrell demonstrates that when word-final a represents an

integral part of the lexical base or a verbal desinence, the
more syllables the word has the more likely a-deletion is to
occur (Terrell 1982:50). Supposedly, monosyllabic forms are
immune to such reductions since deletion of any phonetic
59
material represents a substantial loss which endangers the
integrity of the word. In the case where ^s. is the
morphological marker of plural in noun phrases deletion is
much more frequent in redundantly marked adjectives and nouns
(Terrell 1979:606). For first position or non-redundant
plural markers (usually determiners) ^.-deletion is much lower

in Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican Spanish (Terrell 1982:51;
1986:118).
While quantitative analyses of s.-aspiration provide a
more complete description of the constraining forces at work
in this phenomenon, they regrettably stop short of offering
meaningful explanations for the change. Guitart notes this
theoretical imbalance prevalent throughout the 70's when he
states:
. . . many Spanish language variation studies seemed
mainly concerned with quantifying the surface
manifestation of a score of phonemes and rather
mechanically correlating them with a number of so-
called extralinguistic [and linguistic] factors.
. . . In addition there seemed to be little interest
among variationists in providing extensive
theoretical explanations for their results
(1983:153).
The value of including explanatory hypotheses in the
largely descriptive accounts treating the social spread of &-

aspiration earned recognition in the late 70's. For example,
following a detailed descriptive study of ^-aspiration

variation in Cuban Spanish, Terrell states:
However, a description of the phenomenon is not
really enough; we should try to use the data to
60
develop an explanation as to how this system
evolved" (1979:607).
In recent years interest has continued in this direction as

many variationists "have gone beyond quantification and
description to provide explanations for variability" (Guitart
1983:153).
According to Longmire, the object of variation research
is the study of sound change in progress (1976:9), or more
precisely, the generalization of a change already initiated.

She asserts that the measurement of phonetic variants and
their increased probability of acceptance by different
societal groups reveals the manner in which a sound change is

popularized and modified to become a permanent part of a
language system (1976:9). For example, a synchronic analysis
of the variation associated with a-aspiration occurring in any
given dialect will tell us something about the degree to which
this sound change has spread in the area. In addition, by
comparing dialects with different sets of constraining forces
and probabilities governing ^.-aspiration one obtains an

overall perspective of the diachronic transmission of the
change as reflected in these synchronic states (Terrell
1983(a)).
The challenge of researchers studying these
sociolinguistic aspects of ^-aspiration is to explain why the
change generalizes the way it does. Since Spanish
variationists generally adopt Labovian principles within a
61
(Natural) generative framework, they assume that the spread
of sound change is governed by modification of the variable
rules which speakers use to produce the pattern. It would be
of interest to determine what social or linguistic forces
motivate speakers to adjust their rules of grammar, thus
leading to the spread of ^-aspiration.

Even though the sociolinguistic model of variation
includes both social and linguistic factors in the formulation
of rules describing ^.-aspiration, the reasons explaining the

spread of the phenomenon have focused entirely on the latter.
Perhaps this precaution is necessary in order to avoid the

type of extra-linguistic explanations that have given
linguists a bad reputation (e.g., change due to climate,
racial origin, etc.). On the other hand, it may simply
reflect a theoretical practicality: explanations for the
popularization of a sound change based on prevalent social

norms, mores or trends are more difficult to formulate in an
empirically testable way. In any case, explanations for the

spread of ^-aspiration have without exception revolved around
the central linguistic notion of functionality in language.
The functionalist view of language change has taken many
forms over the years as it has been reworked by variationists
attempting to obtain a closer fit with the data. The basic
principle is that speakers are aware of the communicative
meaning assigned to grammatical elements and when sound change

presents a danger to these meaningful units, then functional
62
considerations constrain the way that this change is adopted
by speakers, thus shaping the pattern of its spread. With
respect to ^-aspiration in Spanish, researchers have

recognized the morphological value of zSL as the marker of
plural in noun phrases and indicator of person in verbal
desinences. The original suggestion was that ^.-aspiration

(and especially deletion) would occur less with morphemic -s
than with lexical /-s/.

The reasoning behind the functional hypothesis of £-
aspiration is that the phonetic erosion of a strong sibilant
noise to a less salient breathy sound potentially endangers

the communication of semantically relevant information as
larger groups of speakers aspirate and as the phonetic

substance of aspiration is reduced towards complete absence
of sound (Terrell 1979:607-09). This phonetic reduction is
partially checked as speakers adopt constraints in certain

grammatically important contexts. Eventually a rule of §,-
deletion evolves which is principally governed by these

functional constraints and independent of the original
phonological conditioning. While structuralists claim that
functional criteria operate to repair the damage already done
by sound change, as in the modification of vowel quality to

compensate for loss of final s. (cf. section 2 .2 .2 .1),
variationists suggest that this unconscious strategy is

preservatory and exerts a restraining influence on the
popularization of the change.
63
Upon reviewing the data from Cuban and Puerto Rican
Spanish, Terrell found that the division of morphemic vs.
lexical zS. was insufficient in reflecting significantly

different rates of deletion (1978:231). The hypothesis was
then reformulated to state that the forces which constrain s.-
deletion are the grammatical function of the word and its

syntactic arrangement within a higher order phrase. Only non-
redundant (first position) adjectives in Noun Phrases and
verbal forms were felt to functionally constrain the loss of
za-
Subsequently, researchers have questioned whether it is
really the non-redundant nature of morphemic z§. which results

in a lower rate of ^-deletion. For example, Terrell asserts
that for verbal zS. it is actually the (redundant) pronoun

'you' which is functionally constrained and now appearing much
more frequently to disambiguate verbal forms where the ^,§. has
been dropped (1987:20). Alba argues that first position
modifiers resist elision of final & not because of their

syntax or grammatical classification, but rather due to their
proclitic, unaccented nature which requires support from the

following tonic unit (1982:21). This inherited stress is
claimed to be a physiological deterrent to any reduction of

[s]. Terrell himself admits that for Noun Phrases word-final
S. is probably reduced less in non-redundant contexts only
coincidentally: in the majority of these instances the words
are monosyllabic and any loss of phonetic material would
64
greatly endanger their lexical integrity [this, o£ course, is
another type of functionalism] (1987:23). The most recent
attempt to salvage the functionalist theory of language spread
as it applies to ^-aspiration was made by Terrell, who states
that "a more general sort of functionalism does indeed operate
at a morphosyntactic or discourse level" (1987:27).
Linguistic accounts which attempt to explain how and why

language innovations are popularized throughout society have
traditionally employed teleological notions. Structuralists
claim that the spread of sound change is motivated either

through system internal pressures in order to create/preserve
structural symmetry in a language or due to speakers’ natural
inclination to reduce allomorphy where possible for reasons
of economy. Generativists also appeal to speakers' intentions
when they attribute the generalization of new patterns to a
subconscious desire to capture the greatest amount of surface

redundancies in the most efficient (formally simple) way.
Functionalists propose that speakers' knowledge of grammatical
meaning constrains the way a new sound change such as &-
aspiration may be popularized.
It is possible that speakers' intentions may play a
significant role in the transmission of ^-aspiration. As
Ohala states:
There is no denying that teleology (choice,

intention) can underlie the spread of a phonetically
natural sound change (emphasis mine) (1990:39).
65
This does not necessarily mean that the generalization process
involves the rewriting or adjusting of mental rules as claimed

by the generativists and variationists. In any event, it is
far less clear that this same type of speaker-controlled
explanation should be accepted when dealing with other aspects

of s-aspiration.
My thesis is that the initiation of ^.-aspiration is much
better understood on phonetic grounds independent of the
purposes speakers may have or how their desire to regularize

the pattern may subsequently affect its spread. I propose
that if appropriate detail is given to the acoustic and
perceptual characteristics of the sounds involved in a-

aspiration, then the original shift may be best explained as
a phonetically natural sound change. In the next section I
highlight the phonetic properties which are generally
associated with s.-aspiration ancj underscore the need for

further research in this area.
2.3 The Role of Phonetic Information in s-Asniration Research

In the previous section I surveyed how s.-aspiration has
been variously studied from different angles. Investigators
with diverse research strategies have brought information to
bear which is relevant in addressing particular aspects of the

phenomenon. As a result, there is now greater information
about such facets of ^-aspiration as its historical origin,
the social and linguistic factors affecting its widespread
66
acceptance and generalization among Spanish speakers, and the
psychological operations active in processing and storing this
pattern. These contributions represent how Spanish phonology
has advanced in providing improved descriptive and explanatory

analyses for common sound patterns through an integration of
findings from the various sub-disciplines of language. Yet,

in the case of s.-aspiration, there is still a piece of the
puzzle which has yet to be properly addressed.
One aspect of ^-aspiration not included in the above

evaluation is the issue of what direction this sound change
originally takes and why. In other words, what is the

mechanism by which the change is initiated and for what
reasons should the change occur in the prescribed fashion and
not in some other way? I did not review this question in the
previous section because there are no full-scale studies into
the original causes of ^-aspiration as there are for the other
aspects of the phenomenon. Scant attention has been given to
the mechanism which initiates ^-aspiration, usually in the

form of preliminary or parenthetical remarks before getting
to the real issues of interest. I believe that this area of
^-aspiration has been neglected due to a limited vision of

what phonetics is and what place it has in phonological
analyses.
In section 2.2 I stated that in order to explain the
movement a sound shift initially takes one might look at

grammatical and cultural information if the change is felt to
67
be language specific. If, on the other hand, the change
corresponds to a universal tendency manifest in many other

languages, information from the phonetic realm will probably
offer the most insight. It is generally believed that the
optimal syllabic structure for languages of the world is open
(CV) and that the tendency to weaken consonants in syllable

and word-final positions may be universal.
In the case of Romance languages this syllable-final
weakening tendency is present and exemplified by a parallel

development of 3 -aspiration in different times and language
systems (Seklaoui 1986). In addition, a rather uniform
evolution of 3 -aspiration throughout the diverse dialectal
regions of the Spanish speaking world in the face of cultural

isolation and autonomous existence suggests that the origin
of this sound change is best motivated by natural phonetic
principles shared by all speakers. As Terrell states:
. . . the development of this sound change is due

more to universal constraints on sound change in
general than on the specific situation of the speech
communities which have participated in the change.
. . . An explanation for such universal tendencies
will no doubt be found from articulatory and
acoustic phonetics (1981:116-17).
However, since the original shift is assumed to have

taken place several centuries ago (cf. section 2 .2.1),
affecting all but the most conservative of dialect zones, this

aspect of ^-aspiration is often viewed as a fait accompli with
little or no bearing on the current state of affairs. The
68
majority of ^.-aspiration studies today focus on the diffusion
of this speech habit as variants are reduced in phonetic
content and respond to more general phonological environments,
thus severing the link to the physical domain. Consequently,
investigators take less interest in the now mostly irrelevant
phonetic characteristics of ^.-aspiration and instead consider

the higher level constraining forces which govern its usage
today. This, of course, is merely a research preference and
does not lessen the need for precise phonetic details to

describe and explain the original shift.
^-aspiration is generally considered a phonologically
natural sound change. However, not all agree that this
naturalness responds to phonetic causes: some argue that the

universal tendencies affecting its directionality are not to
be found in the physical domain, but rather correspond to
psychological constraints. For example, generativists look

for the causes of ^.-aspiration in the underlying cognitive
operations specific to language programming independent of any
general rules which may trigger low-level variation. They
propose that the naturalness of ^.-aspiration is due more to

the unique organizational capacity of the language acquisition
device than to any downstream effects imposed by physiological

limitations or aerodynamic principles. Their claim is that
higher level criteria motivate the initiation of ^.-aspiration
by their very nature and position within the phonological
subcomponent of grammar.
69
At the heart of this argument is the view that phonetic
information may be useful in addressing some marginal areas
of this (or some other) phonological problem, but resolution

of the key issues must ultimately appeal to psychological
operations unique to language processing. As Stephen R.

Anderson states:
. . . there is some essentially linguistic faculty
not necessarily observable or even deducible purely
in extra-linguistic terms (1981:495).
While few linguists would object to this notion in principle,
there are at least two points of common dissent.
The first is a matter of terminological definitions. It

seems quite arbitrary to decide what is and isn't linguistic
and this often results in theoretical infighting over turf or

domain. On a practical level, all information from phonetics,
psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, or any source
which contributes to a better understanding of a phonological

problem should be accepted whether it is considered peripheral
or not.
The second objection revolves around how this philosophy
is adopted in practice. Some tend to exclude any mention of

extraneous systems in their search for the autonomous set of
principles which govern the unique mental activity of
Language. Others concentrate their investigations in
precisely those fringe areas believed to have only marginal
relevancy to the central phonological problem. Anderson
70
claims that these views have led to a polarization among
linguists who have taken extreme positions in an attempt to

reduce linguistic phenomenon to either form or substance
(1981:536). In addition, he states that these approaches

represent nothing more than research strategies whose relative
merits may be judged by their capacity to provide satisfying

and detailed explanations of phonological problems (1980:123).
Since the domain of uniquely linguistic behavior is a
rather nebulous area, research in the periphery serves an
important purpose in helping define the limits. It is not
easy to decide what problems must involve purely linguistic

criteria if one does not subject the phenomena to in-depth
analyses in those related ("extralinguistic") fields which may

offer explanations. Ohala states that phonetics should be the
first recourse in phonology for the simple reason that our

knowledge of the physical domain places much greater
constraints on our explanations than those put forth on the

psychological side, and this may limit the range of plausible
hypotheses for a given phenomenon. (1974(a):268).

Phonetic approaches to ^.-aspiration preceded current
mentalistic formulations. Most researchers agree that the
original shift was phonetically based and, even though no one

has examined this question in much detail, many have offered
brief comments to either describe or explain how physical
considerations may relate to the initiation of this sound

change. In sections 2.3.1 and 2.3.2 I survey these efforts
71
incorporating phonetic information in order to describe and
explain the origin of ^-aspiration.

A basic weakness in present phonetic accounts of s.-
aspiration is the exclusive attention given to articulatory
motions without regard for other physical issues associated

with this sound change. These incomplete treatments have
yielded an inaccurate picture of how phonetic properties may
interact in a meaningful way to condition fi-aspiration. It
may be with some justification then that researchers look for
"more satisfying and detailed" answers to this aspect of s.-

aspiration in psychological approaches. I suggest that the
phonetic approach to ^.-aspiration need not be abandoned, only

revised and expanded to include acoustic and perceptual data.
2.3.1 Articulatory Descriptions of s-Aspiration

In diachronic linguistics the expression weakening
process is strictly a terminological convenience referring to
the path a sound takes as it is reduced to phonetic zero.
However, in synchronic analyses Spanish linguists claim that
weakening reflects actual phonetic erosion and underlies most

of the interesting variation in speech. For example, Malmberg
states that articulatory weakening is linked to the syllable-
final position where the implosive element is associated with
decreasing energy, tension, strength, etc. (cited in Caravedo
1983:62). The assumption is that ^-aspiration comes about as
72
these physiological correlates transform the articulatory
habits of speakers such that an [s] is converted into an [h].

Articulatory descriptions of ^-aspiration vary greatly
in detail and sophistication. Many merely connect
phonological context with end result without specifying the
exact procedure of the change. For example, Rodriguez-
Castellano and Palacio observe that for the dialect of Cabra

there is a great tendency towards ^-aspiration in the "relaxed
position" where [s] is articulated "with very scant muscular
tension" (1948:574). In a discussion of Dominican speech

Terrell concludes that the phonological rule of ^-aspiration
evolved out of an earlier articulatory relaxation of the

sibilant in syllabic distension which produced a weak glottal
sound (1986:133).
In his treatment of Cuban Spanish Terrell gives a much
more detailed account of how "aspiration can result
phonetically from a relaxation of the sibilant articulation"

(1979:607). To paraphrase, he suggests that aspiration comes
about as the articulatory organs are relaxed in rapid speech
thus missing their target positions. This undershoot of the
tongue blade presumably results in a mixed fricative with

turbulence coming from both the glottal opening and the
weakened alveolar constriction. He conjectures that further
weakening eliminates the effectiveness of the alveolar
squeeze, at which point the friction in the laryngeal region

predominates and the shift is complete (1979:608). The idea
73
of articulator undershoot is also embraced by Seklaoui who
claims that the weakened reflexes of /s/ come about as the
tongue is lowered during the production of the sibilant sound
(1986:11).
This type of description typifies the traditional concept
of sound change as a series of incremental modifications in
articulation which connect the original and final forms. The
challenge of this interpretation is to attest the intermediate
pronunciations among those speakers who are experiencing the

change in its incipient form. Terrell claims that "these
mixed phones are still heard quite frequently in many areas"

(1979:608), yet other investigators rarely report them. In
fact, it is not apparent how a trained linguist could detect
these mixed fricatives during careful field observations, nor

whether it is perceptually possible for the human ear to
factor out audible noise coming simultaneously from the
glottis and alveolar region.

Other uncertainties arise upon closer examination of the
type of physiological account of s.-aspiration given above.
For example, it is generally assumed that articulatory
relaxation or weakening is a natural consequence of rapid,

unmonitored speech, a necessary condition for ^-aspiration.
However, Klatt suggests that articulation may actually become
strengthened as the rate of speech increases, since less
variability in minimally shortened segments requires more
74
precision in the formulation and timing of gestures (1974:59;
1976:1210).
One way to circumvent the problem of intermediate
pronunciations is to suggest that ^.-aspiration began as a
physically abrupt change. Longmire states that ^.-aspiration
occurs as [s] loses its position and "takes the form of a

consonant with no articulator contact in the mouth" in
imitation of the previous vocalic segment (1976:115).
Similarly, the autosegmental account of ^.-aspiration posits

an all out lowering of the tongue in the buccal chamber. It
is generally presumed that a complete suppression of all oral

articulation will result in laryngeal frication as the primary
feature of a spread glottis persists. However, it may be a
dangerous simplification to assume that one may produce

aspiration by merely lowering the tongue blade while
articulating an [s].
S -aspiration corresponds to an abrupt shift in
pronunciation, but I contend that the causes for this are not
directly explainable through an appeal to movements of the
phonating organs. Guitart states that "a precise description

of the articulatory events connected with "aspirated" /s/ is
not available" (1981:23). More importantly, however, is how

relevant this information would be in explaining the original
causes of ^-aspiration even if it were available. I believe
that articulatory reasoning is not the right phonetic tool to
75
address this issue and that acoustic and perceptual data offer
much greater potential.
I have shown that descriptive accounts based on
articulation either posit a series of unattested intermediate
stages or propose a one-step leap which is questionable in its

physiological reality. As an alternative I propose that s.-
aspiration came about due to the auditory similarity of the
acoustic signals of the sounds involved. Ohala states that
sound changes with drastic shifts in articulation

"necessarily are based on the acoustic similarity of two or
more sounds" such as "the frequent changes of fricative to
fricative, e.g., . . . [x,s,g] — > [h]" (1974(a):268).
Many of the descriptive inadequacies associated with
phonetic approaches to ^-aspiration are overcome by
recognizing that the physically relevant properties of speech
are not limited to the various positions that the articulators
may assume. The focus on articulation has also limited the

value of phonetic explanations of ^-aspiration, as I
demonstrate in the next section.
2.3.2 Articulatory Explanations of s-Aspiration

Since researchers focus their descriptions of s.-
aspiration on the articulatory events which transform the

sibilant pronunciation into an aspirate, their explanations
logically seek to resolve why this "weakened articulation"

occurs during a more "relaxed mode of speech". Typically
76
appeals are made to such teleological notions as ease of
articulation and the like. It is often claimed that syllable-
final s. is aspirated because it makes pronunciation easier and

more consistent with a less careful speaking style. For
example, Guitart refers to the impressionistic notion of
articulatory energy when comparing [s] and [h] and concludes
that "the production of [h] is obviously a less complicated

affair" and "it is easier to aspirate all those ([s]) sounds
than not to aspirate them" (1975:52). He also claims that §.-
aspiration occurs as speakers reduce effort in syllabic
distension because they know that segments in this position

are often redundant for communicative needs and thus
expendable in spite of the listeners' demands of maximal
perceptual clarity (1978:88).

An obvious problem with such explanations is defining
what is meant by articulatory energy and then measuring it.
Not enough is currently known about the complex interaction

of the internal muscles controlling the speech organs to
verify that an overt combination of movements actually

represents a more efficient sequence than some alternative
series. Indeed, it may take just as much or even more effort
to reorganize motor commands and effectuate compensatory
muscular movements in order to aspirate or suppress an [s] as

it would to produce this sound in the first place.
More abstract explanations of ^.-aspiration claim that the

simplifying forces which motivate the phenomenon are removed
from the physical domain and controlled instead by speakers'
desire to streamline the rules of grammar. However, the
substance of these formalisms is still expressed in terms of
the elements involved in the production of the sounds and the
main criterion continues to be overall articulatory
complexity. For example, standard generative explanations of
^-aspiration attribute this pattern to a desirable reduction

of (articulatory) features needed to specify /s/ in contexts
where the unspecified information may be recovered through
surface redundancies and hearer expectations. Autosegmental

explanations ascribe the modification of [s] to [h] to a
calculated command sent from the neural center to the speech
apparatus in order to simplify articulation of post-nuclear

segments in accordance with universal principles of syllable
formation.
It is quite possible that ^.-aspiration comes about as a
natural consequence of physical forces which constrain the

speech chain and need not be explained by any higher-order
desire of the speaker or language system. Seklaoui proposes

that the occurrence of ^-aspiration originates from common
coarticulatory assimilations in which the weakening of
articulation results from the influence of nearby segments

(1986:62). However, this explanation takes the rather
improbable position that the adjustment is preservatory as the
implosive [s] loses its oral articulation in imitation of the
previous syllabic nucleus. This notion was first developed
78
by Longmire who asserts that [s] is weakened as it assimilates
to the preceding vowel in order to ease transitions

(1976:117).
In a complete reversal of his view on teleology in sound
change, Guitart states that ^-aspiration is undoubtedly

constrained by "certain physiological inevitabilities in human
pronunciation" (1982(a):69). He attributes the phonetic
erosion that takes place in ^.-aspiration to the normal
distribution of articulatory energy throughout an utterance
(1983:159). Thus, elements that come later in a syllable,

word, utterance, etc. are more commonly aspirated since less
energy is available over these longer stretches of speech.
Nevertheless, the emphasis is still on the modification of

pronunciation brought about by the nebulous notion of
articulatory energy.
I suspect that a non-motivated, physical explanation of
^.-aspiration will yield better results if the analysis is not
limited exclusively to the articulatory domain. There are
undoubtedly natural physiological forces which modify an [s]
under certain conditions. However, it may not be the actual

articulation which is changed but merely the signal which is
deformed. If there is not a good match between the acoustic
signal and the perceptual standards that are used to decode

the sound then apparent aspiration may be heard where it was
not intended. This hypothesis is developed further in the
79
next chapter in conjunction with a more refined vision of how
sound change begins.

It should be noted that ^-aspiration studies which take
into account listeners' perception of aspiration are fairly
rare. In general, these are limited to impressionistic
observations that [h] has low auditory saliency (in comparison

to [s]) and listeners thus have more difficulty in perceiving
these segments (Terrell 1983:145). In a full length study
which tested listeners' perception of ^-aspiration by

experimental means, Uber (1985) confirmed that the aspirate
[h] is less salient than [s] and is not used consistently by
listeners as a means of identifying the mark of plurality on
nouns. Terrell suggests that the unstable perceptual nature

of [h] is an important factor influencing the spread of s.-
aspiration (1983(a), 1987).
2.4 Summary of Chanter Two

In this chapter I have examined s.-aspiration as a sound
change in progress whose many different aspects need to be
addressed in order to give a full account of the systematic
pattern present in speech. I have shown how different areas

of the phenomenon have been analyzed by research orientations
focusing on a particular set of facts. Some aspects of &-
aspiration which have received great investigative attention

include its historical origin, the transmission process, and
the psychological representation of this pattern. These
80
treatments generally contribute to a greater descriptive
knowledge of ^-aspiration and in some cases offer
theoretically interesting explanations for it.
I have argued that the directionality of ^.-aspiration is
one aspect that has yet to receive sufficient attention and

that a model appealing to the physical facts of speech holds
the highest potential for fulfilling this need. Present
analyses using a phonetic approach contain arguments

formulated entirely in articulatory terms which limits their
descriptive and explanatory value. I uphold that much better
results are obtainable from a method which incorporates
acoustic and perceptual data into a concept of sound change

which concedes these factors equal importance in the
communication process.
Specifically, I assert that aerodynamic limitations on
the speech apparatus activated by the conditioning variables
operative in ^.-aspiration modify important features of the
acoustic signal of [s]. If these modifications are great
enough misperceptions may occur since this unintentional

distortion may appear like aspiration or a sound with these
characteristics even though articulation has not significantly
changed. This would explain the production of [h] for [s]
under certain conditions, or why ^-aspiration occurs the way
it does.
In order to give greater detail to this assertion I will
examine more closely the physical properties of the sounds
81
involved in a-aspiration and see how they are affected in the
contexts in which this change begins. This will allow me to

formulate an hypothesis which explains the directionality of
^-aspiration by reference to the causal elements which lead
to listener error in perception. This will be the focus of

the next chapter.
This approach to describing and explaining the origin of
3,-aspiration entails theoretical advantages over previous,
articulatory-based accounts and other non-physical models.
Unlike prior explanations of a-aspiration the proposed

methodology is not motivated by unquantifiable teleologies
such as ease of articulation, system simplification, and the
like. In addition, the results of the analytical work in

Chapter 3 will yield a concrete hypothesis that may be
subjected to empirical falsification tests in the laboratory
(Chapter 4). In contrast, abstract explanations for this

aspect of a-aspiration may only be evaluated by their fit with
the data and their formalistic elegance based on
considerations of economy. Ultimately, since the physical
limitations which constrain a-aspiration are universal in all

speakers and hearers, I hope that the results of this
particular phenomenon lead to generalizations about similar

sound change in other languages or to related weakening
processes in dialectal Spanish.
C H A P T E R T H R E E
THE ACOUSTIC CORRELATES OF £-ASPIRATION
3.0 introduction
In the previous chapter I examined the place of phonetic
analysis in A-aspiration research, noted some shortcomings of
articulatory accounts of the phenomenon,, and offered
alternative means by which its origin might be explained. In

this chapter I provide greater detail in support of the notion
that acoustic and perceptual factors underlie the initiation

of the sound change [s] — > [h]. The ultimate objective is
to use the phonetic data gathered in this chapter to formulate
an experimentally testable hypothesis regarding the origin of
A-aspiration.
In section 3.1 I outline the basic tenents of a view of
sound change which emphasizes the importance of the listener
in the communication process. This new framework will

motivate the phonetic analysis which follows. In section 3.2
I examine the acoustic signals of the sounds involved in £-
aspiration ([s] and [h]) and determine what value the listener
places on the various features therein. Next in section 3.3
I explore how these isolated acoustic properties are modified

in the particular circumstances surrounding A~aspiration and
how such a degraded signal might affect perception. Finally,
in section 3.4 1 use inductive reasoning to arrive at a formal
statement of how and why A~aspiration might have begun.
82
83
3.1 Sound Change Based on Perception
As noted in section 2.3, the traditional view of sound
change with its emphasis on production presents various
problems in accounting for the original shift [s] — > [h].
The jump in articulation is too large to be attributed to any
natural assimilatory pressures and does not evidence any well
attested intermediate pronunciations that might bridge the

gap. Articulatory descriptions and explanations of s.-
aspiration are unsatisfactory because they do not incorporate
the full range of phonetic details surrounding the issue. For
example, it is generally claimed that rapid speech leads to
articulatory weakening and tongue undershoot, thus
transforming [s] into [h]. However, it is not certain that
there is a simple relationship between rapid speech and

relaxed articulation (Klatt 1974 and Shockey 1987). And even
if there were, there is no reason why the tongue tip would
undershoot a close constriction when the next segment is
necessarily an occlusion. Furthermore, constructs invoked to

explain this speaker controlled change, such as ease of
articulation, system simplification, lack of expiratory energy
or functionalist constraints, suffer the usual weaknesses and

criticisms associated with teleology and language change (cf.
Ohala 1974(b) and 1991).
84
Quite different from this traditional view of sound
change is the theory developed by John Ohala1 and adopted
here. While linguists commonly focus their interest on

speakers, Ohala recognizes the importance of listeners in the
communication process. In fact, with regards to sound change,

he proposes that it is listeners who play the crucial role as
initiators of change rather than speakers (Ohala 1991:16-18).

In other words, sound change does not come about as the
message is encoded but rather as it is decoded.

The type of sound change considered under this analysis
must be qualified as that which is phonetic-based, "natural"

or universal. In other words, change which may be attributed
to a mechanistic, non-teleological cause. The universal

nature of this type of change means that it or the
preconditions which give rise to it are potentially manifest
in all languages and commonly observed in some form or another
cross-linguistically. This excludes sound change unique to
specific languages such as hyper-correction, analogical
extensions, spelling pronunciations, etc. (Ohala 1974(b):356).

As noted in Chapter 2, it is likely that the origin of £-
aspiration responds to universal limitations on speech
perception.
1 The most complete exposition of this theory is found

in "The Listener as a Source of Sound Change" (Ohala 1981) to
which the reader is referred for more detail. Many of these
same principles also come through in other articles by the
same author, e.g., Ohala 1980, 1983, 1988, 1991, etc.
85
A great deal of variability in speech is not actively
controlled by the speaker. This variation comes across as

extra noise or distortion in the acoustic signal created by
the inherent limitations of the transmitter or speaker. Since
these surface-level redundancies are unavoidable consequences

of the speech act they are usually disregarded. The mechanism
which monitors this variation is under the active control of
the listener.
In speech perception the listener receives multiple cues
for deciphering a given signal. These cues are weighed and

ranked according to their usefulness and reliability in
identifying the incoming stream of sounds. However, even the
best of cues are sometimes degraded due to unwanted

interference. Ohala asserts that the listener's task is to
take an acoustic signal filled with such unwanted disturbances
and factor them out to arrive at the speaker's real intentions

(1981:180-181).
The corrective procedure that listeners use to clean up
speech is based on their accumulated experience and usually
operates to prevent sound change from happening (Ohala

1981:187). However, listeners are not infallible and
circumstances beyond their control or experience may cause

this repair process to break down. For example, listeners may
misapply this corrective strategy (hyper-correction) or

inappropriately omit it altogether (Jjypg-correction). The
result is that listeners may misinterpret a side effect of
speech as an intended pronunciation feature, thus setting the
stage for sound change to occur. If listeners cannot
reconcile this "mispronunciation" with their own internal
knowledge of pronunciation norms, then they will duplicate the
same error in their own speech, only this time intentionally.

This is what Ohala terms a "mini” sound change (1981:184).
Of course, subsequent contact with other listeners/speakers
provide more opportunities for error correction, which

effectively limits the spread of such innovations. A new
pattern is formed only when the mini-sound change evades peer
amendment and is passed on as a new norm.
It is within this general framework of sound change which
I propose to analyze the initiation of a-aspiration in

Spanish. I suggest that originally ^.-aspiration began as a
case of hypo-correction due to listeners' failure to factor
out distortions in the signal of [s] which mimic the breathy

effect of [h]. Listeners misjudged this aspiration as
purposeful and copied it in their own speech, at which time
articulation radically changed from the original sibilant

segment to a sound produced in the pharyngeal region. In the
remainder of this chapter I examine the acoustic properties

of [s] and [h] and the modifications they undergo due to the
circumstances surrounding a-aspiration in order to state more
precisely the nature of such misperceptions.
87
3.2 The Acoustic Make-up of Tsl and Thl
The phonetic analysis which I apply to ^-aspiration no
longer questions how articulation shifts from [s] to [h], but
rather how the acoustic saliency of [s] is altered to appear

more like [h]. In what follows, I first examine the
similarities and differences in the spectral properties of [s]

and [h] (section 3.2.1) and then explore the perceptual value
of these acoustic cues, especially on the identification of
[s] (section 3.2.2).

This emphasis on the acoustic and perceptual factors of
^.-aspiration does not exclude articulatory factors. Implicit
in this analysis is the fact that physical movements of the
speech organs translate into an acoustic signal, certain parts
of which listeners attend to for sound recognition. Where
appropriate I comment on how the physiological details of
phonation affect the acoustic signals of [s] and [h].
As stated in section 1.1.2, the representation of s.-
aspiration as [s] — > [h] is just a notational convenience and
does not reflect in any absolute sense the precise physical
nature of the sounds involved. The essential quality of
aspiration is breathy phonation near vowel margins with some
optional turbulence in the vocal tract, not necessarily in the
glottalic region (Kim 1970 and Lehiste 1964). Thus, [h]
represents a cover term for a wide range of low-level phonetic
events that occur variably.
88
Since ^-aspiration originally involves a postvocalic [h],
which is not simply a mirror-image of initial [h] (Lehiste
1964:184), the acoustic properties of [h] (studied always in

initial or intervocalic position in the literature) may serve
only as a first approximation to the real characteristics of
aspiration2. What this means for my analysis is that I need
not show how an [s] might be confused with [h], only what
”[h]-oid" properties might come out in the acoustic signal of
[s].
3.2.1 The Spectral Properties of Tsl and Thl

Some properties shared by [s] and [h] include those
general for all fricative sounds, such as the presence of
random, aperiodic noise, weak or absent in the low frequency
ranges and strong in the mid and high frequencies. This
turbulence is generated during the moment of articulatory
constriction which, in a simplified way, is often referred to
as the "steady-state" portion of the fricative. The
attributes of this turbulent noise associated with the various
fricative sounds depend on physical forces which influence:
1) the source spectrum, or how the noise is produced; 2) £ha
filter function, or how it gets shaped; and 3) the intensity

of the signal (Strevens 1960:33). In articulatory terms,
2 For example, P6tursson found that the breathy moment

before Icelandic preaspirated stops, which corresponds to
postvocalic [h], does not share the same physical qualities
with true aspiration (1972:66).
89
these are often referred to as manner, place, and intensity
respectively.
It is generally believed that the source noise of
fricatives originates at the point (or region) where air
rushes past the constriction in the mouth. However, the

principal noise is actually created somewhat downstream of the
buccal narrowing where the air expands and/or strikes against

some impeding structure. In the case of [s] this noise is
generated by what Shadle terms an obstacle source, as the
incisors present a rigid barrier to the airflow (1990:187).
The type of noise heard with [h] responds to a much different
mechanism as the jet of air collides with a wall at an oblique

angle (Shadle 1990:208).
This difference in the source generation of noise is one
of the primary traits distinguishing the frication of [s] from

[h]. Shadle notes that the noisier [s] is probably due to the
obstacle source being a more efficient means of sound
production (1990:204). The physical apparatus which produces

these two types of fricative noise yields the classical
division by Chomsky and Halle of strident vs. non-strident
sounds.
The quality of the fricative sounds depends on how this
noise is filtered through the resonating chamber anterior of
the source. Basically, the larger this cavity the lower the
frequencies. For [s] this means a concentration of energy in
the higher ranges with energy peaks at 5 and 8 kHz. Energy
90
shows up for [h] along the lower end of the scale, although
the exact size of the filtering tract varies due to natural
assimilations which alter the place of articulation. For this
reason peaks of energy appear for [h] near the 2nd or 3rd
formant of the following vowel and again at around 4 kHz. In
more traditional terms, the strong, high frequency noise
associated with [s] corresponds to a sibilant and the weaker,
low frequency [h] to a non-sibilant.

The intensity of the fricative sound is affected by the
rate of airflow and by the distance between the constriction
and the obstacle (Shadle 1990:191). [h] has a high airflow
rate because of its low impedance in the vocal tract, which

means the phonating air is expended very quickly and the
intrinsic duration of this sound is brief3. However, this
rapid flow of air does not translate into much acoustic energy
in the spectrum of [h] precisely because of the more wide open
constriction and the less effectual wall source mechanism

downstream. The [s] on the other hand is a much more intense
sound with a rather long duration.

In addition to these properties of [s] and [h] which
appear during the quasistatic portion of the signal, there are
other characteristics which change over time. These dynamic

features are the transitions between contiguous sounds.
3 Even so, the constriction interval for [h], as well as

for all other fricatives, is longer than for stops because the
articulatory movements required to produce such sounds are
more controlled and non-ballistic.
91
Stevens notes that the auditory response is quite different
for two distinct types of transitions: those which vary slowly

over a 50-100 ms. range (vocalic transitional elements), and
those which demonstrate abrupt spectral changes over a very
brief time frame of 10-30 ms. (transients) (1971:100). The
rapidly changing spectrum is an acoustic correlate of all
optimally consonantal sounds and not just a property of stop
bursts (Stevens 1971:98).

Both [s] and [h] have the longer type of transitional
element which generally distinguishes fricative sounds from

stops (Pickett 1986:131). However, in the case of [s] the
slower transitional movement is preceded by a rapid shift in
spectrum produced by the noisy release of the constriction.
No such transient is apparent in the signal of [h], whose
gradual glide-like transitions create little modulation of the
carrier signal (Stevens 1971:98).

The presence of energy at certain frequencies during the
stable portion of frication gives each sound a unique quality
which roughly coincides with place of articulation. The
direction that transitions move into adjacent vowels provides
similar information about each fricative. In general, both

[s] and [h] have relatively flat or even transitions with
little upward or downward movements (Pickett 1986:156).
However, natural coarticulatory forces may alter [s]
transitions, such as the downward sweep which occurs before

high back (rounded) vowels (Pickett 1986:159).
92
3.2.2 The Perception of Tsl and Thl
The above analysis of [s] and [h] reveals a number of
acoustic cues which combine to characterize these sounds.
These include details found in the frication as well as in the

transitory stages regarding the frequency, amplitude, and
duration of the energy present in the signal. While all of

this information is available to listeners, not all may be of
equal significance in sound recognition. Some cues
undoubtedly serve a primary function in decoding the signal

while others offer secondary support. However, all cues are
necessarily integrated in speech perception since supporting
criteria may help disambiguate a sound whose principal cues
either conflict or have been degraded.

Most agree that a long interval of intense noise at a
higher frequency scale are the distinguishing features which

set off an [s] from an [h] (Krieg 1980:52). Some have argued
that these primary cues come through during the stable period
of frication and that the transitional moments provide only

secondary support. For example, Katherine Harris combined the
steady-state portions of some English fricatives with the

vocalic transitions of others to see how listeners would
perceive these hybrid sounds (1958). She found that for

sibilant sounds (such as [s]) the frication noise "provides
the necessary and sufficient cues for identification, and
overrides whatever cues may be provided by the vocalic
portions" (1958:5). On the other hand, she found that while
93
the moment of frication is also necessary in uniquely
identifying non-sibilant sounds (such as [h]), it is not
sufficient and must work together with cues found in the
vocalic transitions (1958:6).
However, not all research on the perception of fricatives
coincides with the findings of Harris. Similar cross-splicing
experiments carried out by Manrique and Massone (1979) and
Repp and Mann (1980) present evidence to show that vocalic
transitions play a larger role in fricative identification

than formerly thought. Furthermore, in a study of Spanish
fricatives Manrique and Massone (1981) have shown that when

transitions are removed altogether the perceptual reliability
of the cues found during frication generally declines. In

such cases, the onset of the second formant of the following
vowel (steadv-state portion) provides additional perceptual
support in disambiguating the fricative sound (1981:1151).
In the above discussion it is generally assumed that the

frequency ranges of the energy are the crucial cues to be
found during frication. Confusions of fricatives based purely
on the static noise are more likely to occur when the
frequencies of the two sounds are relatively close, e.g.,
[f] ~ [0], [s] ~ [J], etc. It is precisely with these finer
distinctions that vocalic transitions are claimed to obtain
greater importance. The frequency peaks of [s] and [h] are

sufficiently separate so that such transitional considerations
94
are not usually of great import in distinguishing the two
sounds.
Another acoustic cue important in the perception of
fricatives is the intensity of the noise, whether this be
during frication or in the transitional period. For example,
intense noise during the stable constrictive interval
generally serves to distinguish strident from non-strident

types. Also, [s] is characterized by a noisy release
transient and intense transitions, while for [h] the burst is
absent and its transitions very weak (Stevens 1971).
Generally, the intensity is measured as amplitude of the
fricative signal relative to the adjacent vowel.
The perceptual value of relative amplitude in fricative
recognition has also been tested by experimental means.

George McCasland (1980) began with English fricative segments
whose frication and transitional intervals had been

interchanged a la Harris 1958. He then modified the amplitude
of these mixed fricatives and found that relative intensity
was a strong factor in listeners' perception. When the
spectrum of sibilant constrictions was attenuated in intensity
these sounds were generally perceived as non-sibilants,

differentiated by the formant transitions which were present.
Similarly, when the intensity of non-sibilant sounds was
increased they were overwhelmingly perceived as [s],
regardless of the transitions (reported in Krieg 1980:79).
95
Jorge Gurlekian (1981) used the same experimental
procedure as McCasland, but used exclusively synthetic
fricatives and vowels based on Argentine speech. The tokens

he prepared were limited to the frication and transitions
corresponding to [s] and [f]. Like McCasland he found that

the stimuli with weakened noise amplitude were perceived as
[f] even though the frequencies in the noise spectrum were

closer to [s], and that a more intense signal overrides the
labial transitions to consistently cue an [s] (1981:1625).
He also notes that at the lower levels of amplitude vocalic
transitions increase in importance due to the reduced

effectiveness of the overall noise level (1981:1626).
Gurlekian observed that the perception of fricatives was

influenced not only by the relative amplitude of the fricative
vis-a-vis the vowel, but also by the overall intensity of the
carrier syllable (1981:1625). This observation seems logical

since fricatives embedded in louder syllables will sound more
salient even though the relative amplitude remains fixed4. In

other words, fricatives whose relative amplitude level places
4 Speech sounds in tonic syllables show an increase in

intensity due to the increment in volume airflow. Therefore,
fricatives in loud environments not only sound noisier for the
reasons given by Gurlekian, they actually are noisier because
of the increased intensity. In other words, loud (tonic)
syllables enhance the saliency of fricative signals for both
perceptual as well as physiological reasons.
As noted in Chapter 2 there is a correlation between
stressed syllables and ^-aspiration. This correspondence will
be explored further in the next section (3.3), which examines
the modifications of [s] by natural coarticulatory forces.
96
them in the ambiguous region where listener perception crosses
over between sibilant and non-sibilant classification will
more often be heard as the former in tonic (louder) syllables.

It was noted in section 3.2.1 that [s] bas a longer
intrinsic duration than [h]. However, since duration is
usually held constant in research on perception, it is
difficult to estimate the value of this cue in fricative

identification. For example, researchers generally study the
perception of fricatives in isolated conditions and fix the
length of [s] at anywhere from 200 to 500 ms. By varying the

duration of the fricative noise, especially by shortening it,
it is possible to evaluate the effect (direct or indirect)
that length has on the perception of these sounds.

Directly, the length of frication may contribute to some
inherent distinction between [s] and [h] similar to
differences between fricatives and affricates, or voiceless
and voiced fricatives (cf. Denes 1955). Fricative duration

may also have an indirect effect on the efficiency of other
cues: the perceptual value of the cues mentioned above
(frequency, intensity, transitions, etc.) might change with

the length of the segment. For example, McCasland (1980)
finds that, with regard to intensity, "a shorter, more intense
noise has the same value as a longer, less intense noise" in
the perception of English [s] (reported in Krieg 1980:79).
In other words, at a given intensity level a shortened [s]

results in a weakened cue.
97
In this section I have reviewed how the cues available
in the signals of [s] and [h] affect the perception of these
sounds. The features which characterize [s] and [h] are
sufficiently unique so that in isolated conditions these
sounds are easily distinguished. Inthe next section I
examine how this perceptual distinctiveness may be weakened

by the forces of coarticulation at work in the conditions
which accompany ^.-aspiration.
3.3 Coarticulatorv Effects in s-Asnirated Syllables

Two necessary conditions for the initiation of §.-
aspiration are a rapid, unmonitored style of speech and the
appearance of [s] in syllable-final position (before another
consonant). In addition, some have noticed a correspondence
between syllable stress and ^-aspiration and posit that accent

plays an important conditioning role (Alba 1982). However,
the mechanism or reason behind these cause and effect

relationships has never been satisfactorily explained.
Guitart seems to hint at thismechanism when he
attributes ^-aspiration to "distributions of energy that are
beyond the speaker's control in unguarded speech"

(1982(a):68). However, he is referring to the articulatory
energy needed to produce a good [s], the reduction of which
supposedly results in an aspirate pronunciation. Arguments

against such a direct articulatory account of ^-aspiration
were presented in the last chapter.
Nonetheless, the idea o£ uncontrolled distributions of
energy corresponds nicely to the concept of coarticulation.
In other words, the conditions for ^-aspiration set into
motion coarticulatory forces which naturally arise in speech
through no intent of the speaker. These coarticulations do
not translate directly into a transformation of [s] into [h],

but rather alter key features in the acoustic signal of [s].
As a result, degraded perceptual cues may inhibit listeners
from unequivocally hearing an [s] and actually give the

impression of something more [h]-like. Within the present
discussion I would append Guitart's statement to read that £-

aspiration occurs due to "distributions of energy that are
beyond the speaker's control in unguarded speech" (i.e.,

coarticulations) . . . and beyond the listener's experience
or capabilities in uncorrected perception.

As I have mentioned, the most obvious effects of
coarticulation appear as modifications in the signal of [s].
In section 3.3.1 I explore how these effects lower the

perceptual saliency of [s] by weakening certain cues and
eliminating others altogether. In addition, the [s] itself

conditions changes in adjacent segments, particularly in
preceding vowels. In section 3.3.2 I examine the impact that
this lesser studied anticipatory effect may have in explaining
the origin of ^-aspiration.
99
3.3.1 Modifications of Tsl
Coarticulatory effects combine to alter both the quantity
and the quality of an [s] signal. In general, rapid speech

is a sufficient but not a necessary cause for reductions to
occur (Shockey 1987:223). A fast speech rate has a direct

affect on the duration of [s] and places higher perceptual
demands on the quality of [s] by restricting the range of
variability acceptable in the signal (Klatt 1974:59). The
occurrence of syllable-final [s] before another consonant

causes profound modifications in both the quantity and the
quality of [s]. Likewise, the physiological correlates of
stress influence the length of the segment as well as its
"sound" (intensity).
3.3.1.1 The Quantity of the Tsl Signal
There is a strong correlation between ^-aspiration and

forces which alter the duration of [s]. Polysyllabic words,
prestressed position, fast rate of speech and clustering are
all factors which systematically shorten the [s]. These are

precisely the conditions which show the highest incidence of
^.-aspiration. On the other hand, monosyllables, tonic

position, careful speech and intervocalic or word-initial
position all combine to lengthen the [s] and retard
aspiration. Klatt observes that "some of these factors are

physiologically conditioned and thus likely to operate as
universal tendencies in language" (1974:60).
100
Quantitative studies show dramatically higher percentages
of [s] reductions (aspiration and deletion) as word length
increases. Functionalists attribute this to the increased

semantic redundancy of [s] in longer words and thus its
expandability^. From a phonetic point of view, Crystal and
House confirm that the duration of [s] decreases as the number
of syllables increases (1988:1572). Klatt claims that for

English this shortening of [s] (on the order of 5-20%) is much
less than for vowels because vowels are longer to begin with
(they can give more away) and consonants carry more
information (1974:56). However, the reverse may be true in
Spanish since vowel reductions are rare beside consonantal
modifications.
Alba (1982) has shown that the occurrence of [s] in
unstressed environments is consistent with higher rates of
aspiration and deletion while the presence of stress acts to

refrain such reductions. According to Klatt there is a clear
tendency for the [s] in stressed syllables to be longer than
its unstressed counterpart (1974:62). He shows this
difference to be around 15%, all things being equal (1974:53).
Klatt further states:

It seems likely that unstressed syllables are not
only spoken more rapidly, but also with a reduced
muscle tonus or relaxed criteria for the attainment
of target configurations (1974:62).
5 Yet if this were true, why not get rid of any other
equally dispensable segment?
101
Thus, it seems likely that not only the quantity, but also the
quality of [s] is affected by the presence or absence of

stress. Shockey suggests that rapid speech may result in a
speech strategy which leads to phonological reductions unless

extra effort is consciously exerted (1987:223). Klatt claims
that the differential shortening of [s] (and other segments)

may accommodate a faster speaking style (1976:1210), but this
effect is small and limited, beyond a certain minimal duration
(1974:59).
S-aspiration rarely occurs in slower, more careful
speaking styles where the duration of [s] is lengthened. This

might explain why utterance-final [s] is usually conserved,
since the huge durational effect (+ 60-100 ms) known as

prepausal lengthening may be attributed to a general slowing
down of articulatory movements near the end of the speech act
(Klatt 1976:1211-1212). McCasland (1980) found that less than
usual intensity was needed to produce an [s] percept in

prepausal position, undoubtedly because there was
corresponding lengthening of the segment6 (reported in Krieg
1980:79).
Since ^-aspiration begins crucially in syllable-final
position the [s] always appears in consonant clusters, most
often with stops although other combinations are not uncommon.
0 McCasland states that a much longer, weaker segment

has roughly the same value as a shorter, more intense one (cf.
section 3.2.2).
102
Both Haggard (1973) and Klatt (1974) have shown that there is
substantial abbreviation of consonants in clusters. According
to Klatt, the case of [s] followed by a stop presents "the

most striking example of a cluster-induced durational change"
(1974:58). He asserts that this clustering effect produces

the largest durational shortening of [s] (1974:60), reducing
the original segment by 30-40% (1976:1219).

This shortening of [s] brought on by the abutting
consonant contrasts sharply with a much longer sound in

syllable-initial position (either word-initially or
intervocalically). Klatt has suggested that the durational
shortening of consonants in clusters may respond to physical
(universal) constraints on phonation (1976:1214). He explains
the reduction of [s] in consonant clusters in the following
way:
The production of a fricative such as [s] or a vowel
requires a controlled articulatory gesture toward
a target configuration. In a stop, the articulatory
gesture is more ballistic in nature, the rapid
closing motion ceasing abruptly when closure has
occurred. In an intervocalic [s], the tongue tip
must make two controlled movements in opposite
directions, and synchronization of laryngeal
activity is also required. When [s] is followed by
a stop, the second movement is ballistic and does
not involve laryngeal coordination. These factors
permit an earlier onset of closure motion and a more
rapid cessation of frication if [s] is followed by
a stop. (Klatt 1974:62)
Other correspondences involving ^-aspiration have

appealed to similar factors which determine the degree of
coarticulation taking place. These factors include such
103
aerodynamic restrictions as articulator speed, distances to
be traveled, and the measure of gestural overlap made possible
by the degree of articulator independence (Klatt 1976:1214).
For example, Haggard argues that significant shortening of [s]
before nasal segments is tied to anticipatory velar opening

due to the limited speed with which this organ can move
(1973:18).
There is evidence that clusters of [s] + dental stop
([t]) show significantly less aspiration than other
combinations (Terrell 1979:608, Longmire 1976:102, and M6ndez

Dosuna 1985:650-51). Studies by Haggard (1973) and Borden and
Gay (1979) report greater durational reduction in clusters

where the two members are heterorganic. Borden and Gay found
the combination of [s] + bilabial stop ([p]) particularly
brief (1979:29). They argue that the durational differences
between homorganic and heterorganic clusters correspond to the
degree of autonomy that the articulating organs have in

producing the two sounds^ (1979:29).
Based on the above findings, M6ndez Dosuna asserts that
the general order of diffusion of ^-aspiration in Spanish
^ The idea is that for the sequence (-sp-) the lips are
free to close during the articulation of the [s] and this
anticipatory action shortens the constriction time and
eliminates transitions. For (-st-) and (-sk-) the tongue is
involved in both gestures so the transition between
constriction and closure is more gradual and delayed. Yet for
(-sk-) some independent movement between tongue tip and back
is possible, which might explain its shorter length than
homorganic (-st-) (Borden and Gay 1979:30).
104
proceeds according to the length of [s] in clusters, that is:
first (-sp-), next (-sk-) and lastly (-st-) (1985:648).

Apparently, the same order of positional spread of aspiration
holds for the series of voiced approximants ((-sp-), (-s$*-),
and (-sS-)) (Alvar 1975:86).

While none of the systematic shortening forces affecting
[s] discussed thus far are very large, their cumulative effect
is notable. For example, in conversational speech the
duration of [s] may be as little as 50 ms or less (Klatt
1976:1210). This may be significant since according to Klatt
"there may be a lower bound on the duration of an acceptable

[s] (1974:59). It is doubtful that such shortening will ever
cut into the critical rise time needed to produce [s]

frication above some threshold, but a maximally shortened [s]
creates greater perceptual pressure on those qualitative cues
in the signal.
3.3.1.2 The Quality of the Tsl Signal

A reduction in the quantity of the signal alone is
probably not enough to cause confusion of [s] for [h].

However, a short window of time leaves less room for error in
accurately perceiving those cues which uniquely characterize

[s]. Therefore, under these circumstances any coarticulatory
forces which degrade the quality of the signal may seriously

weaken the saliency of the sibilant sound.
105
The transitions of [s] are affected by the following
consonant in two important ways. First, the longer type of
transitions into the following sound are much shorter due to
the ballistic nature of the anticipated closure (Klatt 1974).
The abbreviation of these transitions will be greatest in

heterorganic sequences where coarticulatory overlap allows for
beginning of stop closure during the constrictive phase of [s]
(Borden and Gay 1979). Second, the brief, transient element
of a noisy [s] into a smooth, periodic vowel is eliminated

altogether. In effect, the [s] is unreleased much like the
initial stop in a cluster.
The supporting perceptual information lost in this

reduction of transitions increases listeners' reliance on the
cues available during frication. However, Manrique and
Massone (1981) have reported that for a short, transitionless

[s] the value of the spectral information during frication
also declines. Any coarticulatory effects which additionally
weaken the acoustic cues during the stable period of
constriction would further reduce the distinctiveness of [s].
It has been shown that a substantially weakened amplitude
causes an [s] to sound less sibilant and more fricative
(Gurlekian 1981), especially when the duration of [s] is short

(McCasland 1980). There are a number of factors which
adversely affect the loudness of the [s] noise. For example,
a lowered velum in anticipation of a nasal stop would
106
attenuate the amplitude by "bleeding" the pressure buildup
needed for [s] (Ohala - personal communication).
The greater incidence of ^-aspiration in unstressed
environments (Alba 1982) may, in part, respond to the reduced
intensity of the [s] in such cases. The relative amplitude
of [s] in atonic syllables is much less than in stressed
position because of the decreased rate of airflow. According

to Shadle, one of the key spectral properties of [s] (and
other fricatives generated by the obstacle source mechanism)
is a maximal rate of change of amplitude with flowrate
(1990:204). In addition, the lowering of intensity for [s]

in response to airflow rate is greatest at the higher
frequency ranges where the characteristic (peak) noise occurs
(Shadle 1990:204).
Also, the very way in which an [s] is produced
contributes to the relative amplitude of the sound. Shadle
has found that the intensity of [s] is inversely related to

the distance of the source location from the constriction
(1990:204). Since the source location (teeth) is fixed, any
variation in the intensity of [s] is due to coarticulations
which modify the point of articulation. For example, a

dentalized sibilant (-st-) should not sound as loud as the
normal alveolar variety.

Antonio Quilis is in general agreement with Shadle when
he observes:
Cuanto m&s posterior sea la realizacidn, tanto m&s
estridente es la consonante. Las articulaciones
107
alveolares presentan un grado de intensidad mayor,
asi como mayor desorden en la distribucidn de sus
frecuencias. Este mayor desorden, la estrldencia,
en una palabra, se debe a la presencia de una
barrera, de un obst&culo suplementario a la salida
del aire, que son los dientes. A medida que el
lugar de articulacidn va avanzando y se sittia en la
proximidad dental, la estridencia va dlsminuyendo,
dejando paso a la cualidad mate . . . (1981:235-
236).
In the above passage Quilis is referring to the different
types of [s] articulations common in the Spanish speaking

world. He states that the apicoalveolar [s] used in Castile
and parts of Latin America is inherently louder than the

dentoalveolar [s] (either flat or convex) predominate in all
other areas (1981:234). Curiously, this may help explain why
^-aspiration has taken such a great hold in dialects with the

so-called Andalusian traits while Castilian speech has
remained conservative with regards to the phenomenon.
The relationship between noise frequency and the quality
of fricative sound is well established (Strevens 1960, Fant

1962). Frequency level is part of the spectral component of
[s] distinguishing it from [h] and other non-sibilant sounds
(Harris 1958). Thus, coarticulatory forces which lower the
frequencies of [s] will cause a further deterioration in the

distinctiveness of the acoustic signal.
Lip rounding during the production of [s] has a major
effect on the frequency range. First, because rounded lips
effectively enlarge the resonating chamber forward of the

constriction, thus dropping frequencies (Quilis 1981:235).
108
Also, this secondary constriction in the labial region
coincides with a velocity maximum in the standing wave pattern

of all resonances (anti-node) which causes a lowering of
frequencies (Ohala 1985:236). In addition, the obstruction
of the rounded lips forward of the obstacle source dampens the
fricative noise being generated. In a sense, lip rounding

acts as a low-pass filter by not only lowering the higher
frequencies of [s], but also attenuating the intensity of the
overall signal.
Coarticulatory lip rounding in s-aspirating environments
may be either preservatory or anticipatory. Quilis notes the

lowest frequencies for [s] when the adjacent vowels are
rounded ([o,u]) (1981:235). Ensuing labialized consonants
([p,|3,f,m]) exert a similar influence. Maximal effect is

achieved when [s] finds itself in both of these environments.
Like lip rounding, raising of the tongue back in velar
environments during production of the [s] produces a secondary
constriction which affects its signal. This may be residual
from a preceding back vowel ([a,o,u]) or, as Borden and Gay
(1979) have shown, a simultaneous overlay of the following
velar consonant ([k,x,if,r®] ) . A concurrent velar constriction
9 Although the Spanish trill ([r]) is classified as an

alveolar sound, it is produced with a partial constriction in
the velar region. The aerodynamics of a trill require the
tongue back to be raised and held tense while the tip rests
loosely near the alveolar ridge. Then high airflow is
expelled over the tongue body causing multiple alveolar taps
as the tongue apex vibrates much like a flag in the wind.
109
has no effect on the frequencies of [s] since it occurs behind
the noise source and thus outside the range of the resonances.
However, the raised tongue back presents greater acoustic
impedance, which decreases the airflow reaching the forward
constriction and lowers the intensity of the fricative noise.
I have examined various coarticulatory effects which
alter the acoustic shape of [s]. Many of these factors are

not mutually exclusive, and when combined may have a
significant impact on the perception of this sound. Yet, I
have only shown what makes an [s] less auditorily distinct

from other fricative sounds. There is still no clue why this
modified sound should be perceived as something approaching

aspiration. In the next section I address this question.
3.3.2 Modifications by Tsl

While the conditions for s.-aspiration greatly reduce or
eliminate the distensive phase of [s], transitions into [s]
from the preceding vowel remain fully intact. Klatt (1974)
has explained that the vocalic transitions before fricatives
(e.g., [s]) are much longer and smoother than before a stop
for physiological reasons. Visual inspection of waveforms for
Vowel + [s] sequences reveals that this extensive transitional

movement is comprised of periodic vibrations of lowered
amplitude with signs of increasing airflow throughout. Near
the end is a brief portion of semi-regular wave patterns with
incipient random noise prior to onset of [s] frication.
110
In purely physical terms, this last stretch of sound
represents the moment in which the vocal bands have pulled
apart in anticipation of the following voiceless segment.
This results in a surge of air which is filtered through the
same vocal tract configuration held by the previous vowel.

Some weak cavity noise in the vicinity of the vocalic
narrowing may occur since the oral constriction for [s] has
not yet been attained. Essentially, the final portion of this
transitional noise might be characterized as a devoiced or
whispered vowel.
The above description only accounts for the last 2-3
cycles of the vocalic transition and does not address the much
longer portion which precedes it. Smooth, regular wave
patterns over the entire transitional period are evidence that

the vocal cords are still vibrating and thus producing voiced
glottal pulses. However, there is reason to believe that the
glottis begins to open at least partially in anticipation of
[s] well into the preceding vocalic formation.
There are two aerodynamic reasons why vowels before [s]

should show anticipatory widening of the glottis. The first
is due to what Ohala (1988) terms "elasto-inertial
constraints” on the articulating organs. The glottis is not

merely a binary switch that can be instantly turned on and off
by some higher command ([+/- voice])9. Even if the neural
9 In fact, this is possible in synthetic speech but the

results are far from human-like.
Ill
message is prompt, the state of the glottis can change only
gradually. This means considerable lag time (into the
previous vowel) is required for devoicing to occur before [s].
Studies of airflow during speech confirm this assertion:

. . . when a vowel is followed by a voiceless
fricative consonant, the airflow traces suggest that
the abduction of the vocal cords is initiated well
before the end of the vowel, so that a substantial
glottal opening is achieved before the supraglottal
constriction appropriate to the consonant is
produced. (Klatt, et al. 1968:53)
Secondly, the wider glottis needed to produce the
characteristic high airflow of [s] may spread partially to the

previous vowel as an anticipated effect. Ohala states:
. . . there is strong evidence that consonants
having greater than normal airflow have a more open
glottis and thus that, through assimilation, vowels
adjacent to these consonants will be produced with
a slightly open glottis, although still sufficiently
close to allow vibration. (1980:88).
Sawashima (1969) and Ohala (1976) provide supporting evidence
for this claim.

In sum, laryngeal air leakage during vowel production is
a consequence of the temporal constraints on devoicing plus

the overlaid effect of anticipated glottalic opening for [s].
The vowel margins thus described coincide closely with
Ladefoged's description of murmured sound. He defines murmur
or breathy voice as a state of the glottis in which the vocal
cords vibrate at one end while air rushes through the other,
112
and this vibration continues in spite of gradual separation
of the vocal bands (1982:128).
Conceptually, one might view this transitional effect
which goes from Vowel [+ voice] to Consonant [- voice] as a
reversal of the more traditional VOT (voice onset time) which
occurs in the movement from Consonant [- voice] to Vowel
[+ voice]. This voice "offset" time produces a breathy effect
on the vowel, similar enough to the stop burst to bear the

same name and symbol: aspiration ([h]). However, this analogy
should not be taken too far since Pfitursson (1972) has shown
that on a purely physical level ^-aspiration (or preaspiration

as he calls it) is not merely a mirror-image of the transient
produced at the release of stops.
Notwithstanding terminological limitations, it is

presumed that this breathy effect on vowels preceding [s]
produces an acoustic signal close to that which is heard in
Spanish s.-aspiration. As examples of murmured sounds
Ladefoged gives the intervocalic pronunciation of [h] as in
ahead and behind (1982:129). This is precisely what one hears
in cases where ^-aspiration has generalized to word-final
position, e.g., loh egujpoh ’the teams', mih aroh 'my earrings,
etc. Ladefoged gives no examples of a murmured sound before
another consonant, but all indications are that this is the
sound which Lehiste (1964) terms "post-vocalic [h]", P6tursson
(1972) "preaspiration", and what Spanish linguists commonly
call "a-aspiration". Thus, approximately the last third of
113
the vowel prior to [s] is produced with a breathy voice
quality which is very similar both in form and substance to
the aspirate [h].

In the previous section I examined the coarticulatory
effects which phonological conditions exert on [s]. Here I
have shown what influence the [s] itself has on the preceding
vowel. This analysis allows me to formulate an hypothesis
which explains the origin of ^.-aspiration within the new
framework of sound change outlined earlier in this chapter.
3.4 An Hypothetical Account of s-Asoiration

As mentioned above, vowels before [s] acquire a breathy
voice effect which offer listeners a perceptual cue very
similar to that for [h]. Normally this cue is consigned a

redundant role as a physiological inevitability of the
anticipated fricative and is completely drowned out by the
long, intense, high frequency noise which follows. The result
is that listeners disregard this "hidden" cue for [h] and

correctly perceive a sibilant sound.
However, I have demonstrated how coarticulatory forces
may weaken the signal of [s] by modifying the primary cues

beyond unambiguous recognition. When these dominant cues for
[s] are maximally attenuated listeners will look to supporting

information for help. Under these circumstances, the murmur
which occurs naturally in the vocalic margin may drop its
114
redundant status and take on added importance in the task of
sound identification.
Moreover, there is reason to believe that this portion
of breathy vowel will actually gain greater perceptual
saliency as the camouflaging effect of [s] frication is
reduced (cf. Kawasaki 1986 for a similar proposal for vowel
nasality). In such cases listeners may take this long stretch
of murmured sound for what it appears to be: an [h]-like
sound. Furthermore, listeners may presume this aspiration to
be intentional if there's not enough of the [s] left to take

the blame for the distortion.
This account of ^-aspiration presents a couple of
theoretical refinements to the accepted theory. It is now
clear that [s] is not physically transformed (properly
speaking) into an [h], nor does [h] magically appear in the

void of a suppressed [s]. I propose that the [h] is always
"there" in the environment of [s], but is only detected when

essential attributes of the [s] are degraded beyond some
minimal value. In this respect, [s] serves more of a role as
conditioner than conditionee.

Under the present analysis, the traditional formulation
for ^-aspiration as seen in (1) would change to (2).
(1) s --> h / C
(2a) V — > Vh / ____ s

(2b) When s --> X, Vh = V + h
115
In representation (2) the notation V*1 is intended to reflect
a breathy voiced vowel rather than a sequence of two distinct

segments. In part (2b) the aspiration becomes meaningful to
listeners' ears as the signal for [s] is lost. While (2)

increases the isomorphism between ^.-aspiration and the
notation which models it, it nevertheless incorporates
formalistic simplifications which reduce the accuracy of this
representation. For example, contrary to reality, the

phenomenon is still portrayed in a very discrete fashion and
there is no explicit mention of the interaction of speaker and
listener.
Ohala (1991) has argued that (3), below, is more accurate
than (2) because it reduces the sound change to a single step.
(3a) /Vs/ — > [Vh]

(3b) [Vh] — > /Vh/
Rather than claiming that a vowel becomes aspirated and then
the [s] drops, (3) reflects different aspects of a single
communicative act which take place in essentially the same

moment. Part (a) represents the physical reality of speech,
while part (b) corresponds to the (faulty) cognitive act

attributing lexical importance to this "side-effect" in the
absence of a good [s].

Although the formalism is different, I believe that the
reasons which I have given for (2) do not vary from the
116
principles in (3) in any significant way. For this reason,
I will retain (2) as the descriptive shorthand to be used in
representing my hypothesis.
Earlier I discussed the problems of an articulatory
account of ^.-aspiration and have since adopted the thesis that

the change was based on the auditory similarity of the sounds
involved. However, a careful acoustic analysis has revealed

[s] and [h] to be very distinct sounds. While severe
alterations in [s] occur due to coarticulations, these effects

apparently reduce the distinctive qualities of [s] without
necessarily making it more [h]-like. Formulation (2) above,
and especially step (2b), resolves these issues. Since (2a)
is a given fact of physics (universal tendency), the question

is not how [s] is confused with [h], but rather how [V*1] is
interpreted as /V/ + /h/, where [h] continues to be a cover
symbol for aspiration. Step (2b) represents a reasonable
assumption and one well within the range of possibilities

given certain limitations in speech perception.
Up to this point, the hypothetical scenario outlined
above for ^.-aspiration has only been maintained through the
force of logic. In the next chapter I provide a stronger
empirical foundation for these ideas by submitting the
proposed hypothesis to experimental tests.
C H A P T E R F O U R
EXPERIMENTAL TESTS OF PERCEIVED ASPIRATION
ON VOWELS BEFORE [s]
4.0 inErsflwUan
In this chapter I discuss the experiments designed to
test the hypothetical account of ^-aspiration proposed in the
previous chapter. Specifically, I examine whether acoustic
effects on vowels preceding [s] are perceptually similar to
those features associated with aspiration ([h]). I provided
evidence in the previous acoustic analysis that such vocalic

alterations are physiologically conditioned by the sibilant
environment. I suggested that this transitional portion of
the vowel closely matches the phonetic description of breathy

voice. What remains to be seen is whether listeners place
any significant value on this murmured vocalic effect when the
following [s] is attenuated.
I have suggested that the origins of ^-aspiration are not
directly linked with issues involving sound production, and

instead believe that probes into listeners' perception of
aspiration are more pertinent. Both Hammond (1978) and Uber
(1981) have carried out important perceptual studies relating
to s.-aspiration. However, both authors deal with issues that

accompany "true" aspiration once this quality is manifested
as an intentional feature of speech. The purpose of this
chapter is to explore how listeners are led to perceive
117
118
something like aspiration in the first place when this is
clearly not the intent of the speaker. I propose that what

later gets repeated and generalized as speaker controlled
aspiration comes in imitation of this naturally occurring
perceived event.
In section 4.1 I address procedural questions common to
both experiments and outline the methodology used. Next, I

present the details of each test independently in sections 4.2
and 4.3. These sections include a description of design
features unique to each test, plus a synopsis of results and
a brief discussion of their relevance. In section 4.4 I
summarize the findings of these experiments as they relate to
my hypothesis regarding the origin of ^.-aspiration.
4.1 Methodology
Within the domain of phonetics there is a natural
research bias towards articulatory, and more recently,

acoustic analyses because these areas are easily accessible
through kinesthetic introspection and instrumental
examination. Since there is no such direct approach to
studying the perception of ^.-aspiration, the discovery process

is not so straightforward nor the professional interest so
great. Uber notes this gap in 3,-aspiration studies in the
concluding remarks of her 1981 dissertation and calls for
"more work to be done on perception, so that we can better
assess what a native user of Spanish hears” (1981:229).
119
It is possible, nevertheless, to examine listeners'
perceptual abilities by experimental means and inductive

reasoning. The basic method is to present subjects with
auditory stimuli which have key test features carefully

manipulated (along with control items) and then ask listeners
to respond in some well-defined way. Observation of the
elicited behavior allows one to draw certain conclusions about
the relative importance of the test features in the percept
of that sound.
The methodology and objectives of perceptual tests are
quite different than studies which focus on production.

Stimuli for perceptual experiments often come from a small
number of informants or may even be derived from synthesized

speech, unlike the more traditional field research method.
Since the sample is regulated by the investigator, it is
possible to minimize any peculiarities which come out in the
speech of a limited number of individuals. In any case, what
is of interest is how a large group of subjects react to a

standardized signal.
I obtained the auditory material which serves as a basis

for my experiments from an adult male informant (32 years of
age) from the conservative central valley dialect of Mexico.
At the time of the experiment he was living in the United
States and doing graduate work at the University of California
at Berkeley. Since I was trying to isolate in the laboratory

the acoustic effects which mimic aspiration I needed a speaker
120
who showed no signs of incipient aspiration in his own
speech'1’. The pronunciation of the informant included the
production of tense, well-articulated sibilants typical for
speakers of that dialect.
I asked the informant to read a list of Spanish words in
his most natural pronunciation without giving special emphasis
to any word, syllable or sound. The word list consisted of

minimal triplets contrasting the canonical forms (C)VCSij>gp^ :
(C)Vs : (C)VsCSTOp (e.g., roca 'rock' : rosa 'rose' : rosea

'coil') as well as distractor items unrelated to the problem
at hand. I selected groups of test words which contained a

variety of vowel and consonant types. The words on the list
appeared in random order to avoid any contrastive
pronunciation due to physical proximity on the written page

and I asked the informant to number each item in order to pace
himself. The recording work was completed in two separate

sessions, each done from a sound-proof room onto cassette tape
using a high quality Technics tape recorder. At no time did
1 This is no easy task given the vast extension of &-

aspiration among contemporary speakers of Spanish. While a
speaker who aspirates might be instructed to suppress this
tendency during the recording, this would create an artificial
restriction which might influence the naturalness of the
material. In addition, there is the danger that the
informant's instinctive tendency to aspirate might show
through if his attention were temporarily diverted from the
instructions.
^ This includes nasal stops for the purposes of the
experiments in this dissertation.
121
the informant receive any pertinent details regarding the
purpose of the recordings or the experiments.

Preparation of the perceptual tests required the
manipulation and resequencing of appropriate items from the
original recordings. I used HONDAS, a waveform editor, to

digitize the speech and generate waveform files for further
analysis and modification. Test tokens for both experiments
were created using functions of HONDAS to make quantitative
measurements of the waveform display and precise alterations
of portions of the segment. Subsequently, other programs were

used to randomly enumerate files to be used in the perceptual
tests, establish the appropriate tempo of the test, and

transfer this new sequence of words to the demonstration tape.
All programs ran on the RT-11 micro computer system at the
Phonology Laboratory of the University of California at
Berkeley.
The crucial test was to see whether vowels before [s]
sound aspirated when the camouflaging sibilant environment is
reduced. Test tokens were created in the following way.
First, I removed the vocalic portion of a (C)VCSTOp sequence
(e.g., cf^lpa 'layer'). Then I filled this empty vocalic slot
with the "same" vowel gaited out of a (C)Vs context (e.g.,
c (alsa 'house'). Test vowels thus derived are transcribed as
"Wicklegren phones", with a subscript s. (e«9 •/ fVJ$)

indicating the context from which they originated. The
splicing procedure may be represented as:
122
STEF 1 - c_pa (< c(^)pa) Create test

environment
STEP 2 - [a]s (< c[a]sa) Isolate test

vowel
STEP 3 - c[ajgpa (< c_pa + [a]s) Test token =

Steps 1 + 2
The separation of vowels from initial consonants in steps

1 and 2 was fairly straightforward for voiceless stops, but
less so for other consonantal types. For stop consonants the

cut was made after the burst transient, and the vowel was
extracted where periodic sound waves began. The waveform of
initial trills indicates a sequence of brief vocalic segments
interrupted by momentary occlusions. Trills were spliced at

the end of the last "mini-vowel" pertaining to the consonant,
prior to the onset of the "true" vowel which followed.
Initial [m] and [1] exhibit a rather smooth wave pattern into
the following vowel, which made distinctive segmental division

problematic. For these words I detached the vowel where
discontinuities in the wave amplitude and formant frequencies
indicated a break between the weaker consonantal noise and the

stronger vowel harmonics. In all cases I used the same
criteria for splicing the different words in steps 1 and 2 to
avoid peculiarities in the composite token formed in step 3.
My auditory impression was that there was no significant
difference in the pitch of vowels coming from distinct
utterances (e.g., cfalna vs. c(a)sa).
123
During the splicing in step 2, I was careful not to
include any portion of the following sibilant when removing

the test vowel. This procedure was not difficult given the
striking difference in the.waveform display between vowel and

sibilant noise, and was aided by the playback function which
allowed me to double check each cut. The idea was to insure
that any effect perceived by listeners in the test token be
attributable solely to the weakened, breathy voice murmur
created over the vocalic transition and not to any vestige of
intentional frication.
Figures 4.1-4.3 show waveform displays which illustrate
the before and after stages of token preparation for words

beginning with a voiceless stop, trill, and nasal
respectively. Waveform a) represents the original (C)VCSTOp
sequence used to create the test environment in step 1 above.
Waveform b) shows the (C)Vs word from which the test vowel
[V]s is extracted in step 2. As noted in Chapter 3, the

waveform display of vowels in a) and b) is quite different due
to the breathy murmur in the vocalic margin of the latter.
Displays a) and b) reflect the original state of stimuli

before manipulations were made to arrive at waveform c), which
represents the test token derived in step 3. A comparison of
Figures 4.1-4.3 graphically reveals the challenges faced in
segmenting vowels from their consonantal environments as
discussed above.
124
b a, -t . 3
pa s a.
P TsQ* t a
Figure 4.1a-c. Waveform displays of sample

tokens beginning with a voiceless stop,
a) pata (original); b) pasa (original);
c) p[a]sta (composite).
*>)
r e s &
r Te3s •£ &
tokens beginning with a trill,
a) reta (original); b) reza (original);
c) r[e]sta (composite).
126
II. __ _ i
a .)
m o k o
m o s o
m Cols k O
tokens beginning with a nasal.
a) moco (original); b) mozo (original);
c) m[o]sco (composite).
127
I also took precautions to control for vowel quality and
length. Hammond (1978) has shown that weak aspiration (or
complete ^-deletion) does not trigger compensatory
modifications in the quality of preceding vowels. However,
in Spanish, regular vocalic alternations in the mid series
(/e,o/ > [£,0]) do occur in any closed syllable, whether the
final segment is [s] or [h]. This means that for these vowels
listener judgments of test tokens might be influenced by the
FI value of the vowel as well as by the acoustic effects of
breathy voice.
In order to control for this added variable, test words
were not obtained by merely attenuating the sibilant from a
(C)VsCgjgp sequence (e.g., pe_co < pe(s)co 'I fish'), but
rather by inserting into the test environment (e.g., p_co <
pf^lco 'I sin') the "same" vowel taken from an open syllable
(fejs < pTelso 'I weigh')* On the phonemic plane, the

vowels from p(e)co and p(e)so are identical. In their
physical realization, both vowels are closed variants ([e])
and thus have roughly the same FI value. However, I propose

that one potentially important phonetic difference which
exists between these two sounds ( f e v s . fejs) is the longer,
murmured transition hidden in the second vowel'*.
5 The directional movement of the vocalic formant

transitions into the following consonants (e.g., velar [k] vs.
alveolar [s]) is another acoustic cue which contributes to
perceptual differences in the two vowels. This matter will
be addressed following the first experiment.
128
In the experiments the FI value of the test vowel (closed
[e]) matches the canonical test context (open syllable) and

thus, judgments concerning the nature of the test word should
not be influenced by this factor. In other words, if the test
token pfeJjjCO is heard as pe^co it is not because listeners
are being cued by a more open vowel realization. To the

contrary, if FI were the predominate perceptual variable in
identifying test words, such classifications would never
occur. I added this additional restriction to the perceptual

tests to insure the integrity of the results*.
The results of Hammond's (1978) study suggest that vowel
length may provide an important perceptual cue in marking
vowels which derive from closed syllables where word-internal,

syllable-final £ has been reduced. He claims that vowels in
such environments are 36.3% longer than in open syllables and
that listeners are successful in using this cue to distinguish

minimal pairs of words with 91.6% accuracy (1978:124). For
my experiments I did not wish that any durational differences
in the test vowel influence judgments concerning the test
4 Of course, pe^co really does come from pesco where the

[s] is reduced and the preceding vowel remains opened or
lowered in its acoustic space. This might give listeners in
the historical reality an added psychological edge denied
subjects in this controlled, hypothetical pretext. If
listeners in real life hear pe(s)co, where the signal for [s]
has been degraded beyond recognition, then they will likely
be more attuned to any phonetic cue which helps explain the
openness of the vowel [£]. Since the breathy voiced vocalic
effect is already more apparent without the camouflaging cover
of [s], it becomes a natural suspect.
129
token. During my analysis, I noticed that in most cases the
duration of test vowels extracted before [s] was nearly the

same as the original vowel gaited out from the (C)VCgijQp
sequence. In the few cases where the test vowel was somewhat
shorter or longer than the original vowel the proper
adjustments were made to minimize this difference. This was
done by adding or subtracting a period or two from the middle
of the test waveform so as to not alter the transitional

breathy effect which I was trying to isolate.
The test tokens thus created were used in both perceptual
tests to be described in sections 4.2 and 4.3. Table 4.1
provides a listing of these words along with the gloss

corresponding to the original (C)VCgij>Qp sequence.
Table 4.1. Test tokens used in perceptual tests.
Token Gloss Token Gloss
p[a]sta 'paw' p[i]sta 'string'

c[a]spa 'layer' m[i]sma 'he spoils'
[a]jna 'he loves' r[o]sca 'rock'
r[a]spa 'he shaves' c[o]sto 'pasture'
p[e]sco 'I sin' m[o]sco 'mucous'
r[e]sta 'he scolds' b[u]sque 'large ship'
p[i]sco 'beak' L[u]scas 'Luke'
L[i]sto 'Lito' (from Alberto)
130
4.2 Perceptual Test #1
4.2.1 Design
The objective of the first experiment was to see whether
the acoustic effect isolated in test vowels is strong enough

to influence the perceptual classification of test tokens away
from the expected (CjVCgijop category. In order to investigate

this hypothesis I designed a listening test consisting of the
15 tokens shown in Table 4.1 plus 30 control items from the
corresponding sequences (CjVCgifQp (e.g., pata 'paw'

(untouched)) and (C)VsCSTOp (e.g.- pasta 'paste'). These 45
words were randomized and rerecorded one by one onto the
demonstration tape. Tokens were not numbered®, but the pace
was set by a constant inter-stimulus interval of 3 seconds.
In addition, I included a low-toned "beep" followed by a

longer pause of 5 seconds after groups of 5 words to allow the
listeners a break and to further establish a rhythm.
The ratio of test tokens to control words was 1:3 in this
first experiment. The 15 test words were distributed randomly

throughout the listening test, occurring 9 times after an item
® I suspected that the pronunciation of numbers before

the stimuli might interfere with the perceptual task. For
example, if a test token happened to appear at number two
(dog), three (treg), etc., this might confuse listeners with
apparently incongruent signals within the same utterance: a
well articulated syllable-final [s] for the item number
followed immediately by (what is postulated to be) a sound
similar to syllable-final aspiration in the test token.
The numbers which appear on the subject response sheet
and answer key in the appendices were not heard on the tape.
They were merely a visual convenience for listeners and serve
as points of reference in the present analysis.
131
with a well articulated [s] ((C)VsCSTOp, e.g., pasta), 4 times
following a control without [s] ((C)VCSTOp, e.g., pata) and
twice after another test token. In no instance was a test
word preceded by the same control word without [s] (e.g., pata
followed by p[a]sta), which might have allowed listeners an

added contrastive cue for discrimination from short term
memory.
This recorded material was presented to subjects as a two
alternative, forced-choice identification task. They heard

single tokens from both the test and control files and were
asked to indicate the word which corresponded to their percept
by circling the appropriate item on the answer sheet. The
position of the response options, (C)VCgTOp (pata) and

(COVsCgTop (pasta), varied on the answer sheet between the left
and right columns to avoid any possible response bias.

Subjects were further instructed to mark only one response per
stimulus and to not leave any items blank. Before beginning
the test, listeners heard a brief set of instructions recorded

on the tape and repeated on the written page. A sample of the
instructions, subject response sheet and answer key for the

first perceptual test are found in Appendices I-III.
I administered the test at the Universidad del Bio-Bio,
Chill&n campus, located in central Chile. A total of 25

listeners participated in this test during the first week of
January 1991. All subjects were university students from

surrounding provinces and native speakers of Spanish with
132
little or no formal linguistic training. They heard the tape
over headphones in the quiet setting of the language
laboratory. Total test time, including instructions and a

short personal survey at the end, was approximately 10 minutes
per subject.
4.2.2 Results and Discussion

Out of a sample size of 375, subjects identified a total
of 122 test tokens as (C)VsCgipgp sequences (e.g., p[a]sta =

pasta), even though none of the audible frication
characteristic of [s] was present. The overall identification
rate of test items in the [s] + stop category shows some

variation among tokens. Table 4.2 breaks down the overall
number and rate of such classifications by test word. Varying
figures of "misperceptions" may correspond to a combination
of factors including test vowel type and consonantal context.
In general, it seems that perception of the high front vowel

[i] is least affected by the acoustic effect of breathy voice
occurring in the transitions.
133
Table 4.2. Number and percentage of test tokens
identified as (C)VsC sequences (e.g., p[a]sta = pasta).
Stimulus Test (C)VsC responses

Number token (#) (%)
2 c[a]spa 11 44%
9 p[i]sta 1 4%
11 l[i]sto 1 4%
12 p[i]sco 3 12%
18 p[e]sco 8 32%
21 m[i]sma 3 12%
23 p[a]sta 14 56%
25 r[e]sta 10 40%
28 c[o]sto 6 24%
32 m[o]sco 13 52%
34 l[u]scas 15 60%
37 r[o]sca 3 12%
40 r[a]spa 15 60%
41 b[u]sque 5 20%
43 [a]sma 14 56%
TOTAL:122 32.5%
Under my analysis I take the categorizations summarized

in Table 4.2 as "errors" in identification. The null
hypothesis for this experiment is that there is no meaningful
difference between the test vowel [V]s and the corresponding

vowel in the control sequence (C)VCSTgp. Therefore, one would
expect equations of the type p[a]sta = pata and further
predict that any deviation in the classification of test words
should not differ significantly from the error rate of the

other two control groups (C)VCSij0p and (C)VsCSTOp. Table 4.3
134
compares the Incidence of incorrect identifications for the
three groups of words used in this test.
Table 4.3. Error rate of independent variables.
Word Token Incorrect responses

group type (#) (%)
Control #1 (c) VCoijqP 4 1 .1%

Test (C)[V]gCSTOp 122 32.5%
Control #2 (C)VsCgipgp 1 0.3%
The number of control words incorrectly identified is

predictably low. When listeners heard items from the second
control group (e.g., pasta (untouched)) they correctly

classified these words in all but one instance. Undoubtedly,
subject inattention or some other distraction precluded
listeners from recognizing [s] in this instance since, as
noted in 4.1, the informant produced intense, salient [s]'s
in his speech. The number of errors from the first control
group was slightly higher (4), but still a rather small
percentage of the total (1.1%). In this case, listeners are
imagining an [s] (or something like it) when presented with
an original control word without it. This type of mistake
might be due to some sort of hyper-correction, analogical to
135
the perceptual strategy listeners are using with test words6.
Three of these four control errors came from nasal
environments: mima "he spoils' heard as misma 'same' (twice)
and moco 'mucous' heard as mosco 'fly' (once). In a study on
"spontaneously” nasalized vowels, Ohala and Amador (1980) have
shown that the acoustic effects of open glottis on vowel

margins adjacent to high airflow fricatives coincides with
some of the cues for nasalization on vowels (cited in Ohala
1983:233). While the above errors do not reflect any

significant trend in the present experiment, they do suggest
that the acoustic effect mentioned by Ohala and Amador may
lead to symmetrical alternations, i.e., not only [Vs] — >

/Vs/, but also [\r] — > /Vs/.
As seen in Table 4.3, errors in the classification of
test words are much more frequent than with control groups.
It seems apparent that subjects do not perceive test tokens
in the same way as other groups of words. In particular, the

32.5% error rate of test words is much higher than would be
expected if there really were no difference between these
words and control group #1 (i.e., if p[a]sta = pata). Still,

it is possible that the incidence of mistakes committed in the
6 Subjects who committed these control errors were among

those who scored highest on test word "misperceptions". In
other words, these listeners were more successful at making
the fine distinctions set up by the test variable (breathy
voiced vowel) and had "caught on" to the task at hand.
Control mistakes of this type might be a consequence of a
highly sensitive ear over-generalizing to non-test
environments.
136
test group may fall within the accepted variance in error
between word groups or is perhaps due to chance.

In order to see whether the behavior of the test group
differed significantly from that of the control groups I ran
a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the data. This
experiment was based on a single-factor within-subjects design
in which one group of subjects received all of the treatment

conditions, including the manipulated variable (addition of
breathy voiced vowel to the composite word (C)[V ]sCgTOp) and

the control words. The purpose of the ANOVA is to compare the
variability between conditions to the variability of subjects
within conditions (the F ratio) to determine if there is a

significant difference in the perception of aspiration among
the three conditions. Table 4.4 presents the results of the
omnibus ANOVA for this first experiment.
Table 4.4. ANOVA for differences among conditions

(Control group #1 : Test group : Control group #2).
Source SS df MS F
Conditions (3) 380.99 2 190.49 75.59*

Subjects (25) 73.95 24 3.08
Residual 121.01 48 2.52
Total 575.95 74
*p < .01
R eproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
137
The variance between word groups, SScohjitions• reflects the
difference in behavior attributable to the experimental
manipulation of the different word groups. The variance
within subjects, SSSUBJECTS' indicates variance due to

differences among subjects receiving the same treatment
condition. The residual sum of squares, is the

portion of the error term that can be discounted due to
systematic performance within subjects. The average variance
of each source of deviation (MS) is obtained by dividing the

total variance for each source (SS) by the degrees of freedom
(df) for that source. The degrees of freedom is simply the

number of different items in each source group minus 1.
The omnibus F test indicates whether response differences

among word groups are greater than what might occur by chance.
The F ratio, W®C0NDITI0Ns/^®SDBJECTS = 75.59, for this test was

highly significant (p < .01). This suggests that there are
differences in perception among treatment groups. However,
the omnibus ANOVA does not specify which of the three
conditions exhibits the unusual behavior, only that their
response patterns are not similar. Based on the figures

presented in Table 4.3, it seems obvious that the group of
test words stands out as different from the control groups.

The validity of this observation may be tested by analytical
comparisons of word groups designed to localize the deviant

condition.
138
A comparison of the two control groups yielded an FcOMP
ratio of .07, which is not significant at p < .05. This means
that there is no significant variance between these

experimental variables. Since listeners responded to the two
control groups in a virtually identical fashion, the controls
were collapsed to form a single unit of comparison opposite

the test condition. This second analytical test shows a high
degree of difference between the two word groups with FC0Hp =
151.11, which is also highly significant (p < .01). I thus

conclude that the error rate of the test group is not
comparable to that of the control groups and, in particular,

to control group #1. In other words, the perception of
p[a]sta is not the same as pata, and this leads me to reject
the null hypothesis that the test vowel [V]s and the original
vowel from the (C)VCSTOp sequence are identical.
The results of this first experiment support the proposed
hypothesis that acoustic effects of high airflow fricatives
spread to the previous vowel and that listeners attend to

these when the more dominant cue of frication is eliminated.
I am confident that it was this effect created in the vocalic

margin which caused differences in the perception of test and
control vowels in the experiment, since I took care to hold

constant other important vocalic cues (cf. token preparation
in section 4.1).
I have demonstrated that in a significant number of cases
subjects link this breathy vocalic effect to phonemic /s/ at
139
some higher level of perception. This is essentially the same
association that speakers of ^-aspirating dialects make when
they relate the (intentional) aspiration they hear to what
they have internalized as morphemic or lexemic z S 1• However,

it is not clear from the experiment whether this spillover
effect of [s] onto the previous vowel leads subjects to

perceive something like an aspirated sound or merely some kind
of low-grade [s]. The latter possibility seems unlikely since
the frication cues for [s] are absent and one would have to
claim that the transitional cues alone are sufficient in

recognizing this sound. While previous studies cast doubt on
such a claim (cf. Harris 1958, McCasland 1980, Gurlekian 1981,
etc. and discussion of same in Chapter 3) it nevertheless

represents a potential interpretation of the test results and
should not be automatically discarded. The second experiment

was designed to resolve this ambiguity.
4.3 Perceptual Test #2

4.3.1 Design
The first test has demonstrated that the acoustic effect
found in test vowels often leads subjects to perceive lexical

items with /s/. The purpose of this second test is to see
^ For this same reason, I believe that the orthographic

representation of the words on the answer sheet did not affect
subject response to any significant degree, since educated
Spanish speakers make this same correspondence (i.e.,
aspiration = {s} or {c/z}) in writing.
140
whether the perceptual value of such judgments corresponds to
[h] (i.e., something like aspiration). Since the average

Spanish speaker is not consciously aware of linguistic terms
such as aspiration, it seems that the best chance of assessing
listeners' percept of this quality will come through an
indirect methodology®.
In section 2.2.3 it was observed that ^.-aspiration is
associated with a number of social factors such as age, sex,
level of education and socio-economic class. One factor which
shows a high correlation with ^-aspiration for most dialects

is discourse style: greater incidence of aspiration in
casual, unguarded speech and less aspiration in a careful,
deliberate style. This relationship has been posited by

observation and impression (e.g., Navarro Tomds 1966:71;
Rodriguez-Castellano & Palacio 1948:581) and confirmed through
quantitative examination (e.g., Hammond 1976:137; Terrell
1983:138, 1986:117).
Lafford claims that speakers are aware of such
sociolinguistic correspondences and may monitor their speech
(e.g., aspirate more or less) in order to convey emotive
information about the social context of the conversation
(1982:330). That is, speakers often restrict their tendency
8 Obviously, a direct question like "Do you hear

aspiration in this word?" will not work. However, a direct
method which avoids the use of technical labels might be a
useful alternative to the approach taken in the experiment.
This possibility will be considered further in the discussion
following this test.
141
to aspirate to more informal situations where this style of
speech is more appropriate, while listeners who detect £-
aspiration in the speech of others interpret this as a signal
that they are functioning in a casual register. The approach

used in this experiment takes advantage of this shared
knowledge by presenting listeners with test words containing

the murmured vocalic effect from the first experiment and
asking them to judge whether the token came from a formal or

informal style of speech®. My hypothesis is that if test
vowels really mimic the effects of aspiration, then listeners
should favor an informal response on these items. On the
other hand, any kind of [s], good or poor, should elicit a

formal response since there is no evidence that Spanish
speakers actively reduce the length and quality of [s] to
convey a sense of informality in their speech*®.
s There are finer classification schemes which

characterize speaking styles, such as the common 3-way
division Formal/Semi-Formal/Informal, or Harris’s (1969)
system of Largo, Andante, Allegretto and Presto. Lafford
suggests that there is actually a continuous range of possible
speaking styles which may be defined by the percentage of
variants (e.g., aspiration) used in discourse (1982:329).
Nevertheless, the task in the present experiment is not
analytical - how much aspiration do you hear?, but rather
interpretative - do you hear aspiration (or not)? Therefore,
the categories chosen should prove sufficient in determining
if there is aspiration coming through in the acoustic signal
of test tokens.
*® In Chapter 3 I reviewed many physical forces which
combine to reduce [s]. As noted, these reflect the natural
consequences of limitations of the speech apparatus, an thus
may be seen as universal tendencies outside the active control
of speakers.
(continued...)
142
The design of the second test includes control group #2
((C)VsCSTOp) and the same test tokens used in the first

experiment. In addition, I added a set of training words in
order to establish a clear pattern of speech styles. The idea

was to provide listeners with obvious examples of words
pronounced in an informal register to accompany the crucial

test items where the decision might not be so easy. I chose
a variety of common phonological reduction processes in
Spanish which reflect a less careful mode of speech. These

include fricative deletion (e.g., hablado — > [aplao]
'spoken'), glide strengthening (e.g., hueso — > [Vweso]

'bone'), vowel raising/gliding (e.g., Pasear — > [pasiar] or
[pasjar] 'to walk around', and liguid weakening (e.g., paia

siempre — > [pa: sjempre] 'forever'). All of these training
tokens came from natural speech where the informant was
instructed to exaggerate a formal or informal style of speech.
This training set, consisting of 10 formal and 10 informal

pronunciations, is presented in Table 4.5.
^ ( ...continued)
It is true that speakers may intentionally produce very
tense, 1enathened [s]'s for contrastive purposes or in order
to signal an emphatic or hyper-correct register. While such
an emphatic [s] would undoubtedly be judged as formal, this
does not imply that anything less would be considered informal
(or not careful, as I have defined it for this study).
143
Table 4.5. Training words used in experiment #2.
Formal Pronunciation Gloss Informal Pronunciation

(Group #1) (Group #2)
soldado 'soldier' solda'o

cuhado 'brother-in-1aw' curia'o
pelado 'peeled' pela'o
1
huevo egg f giievo
bueno 'good' giieno
teatro 'theater' tiatro
peor 'worse' pior
para atrSs 'behind' pa'trSs
para alia 'over there' pa'1IS
para mi 'for me' pa'mi
The second listening test consisted of a combination of

test tokens, control words and training set for a total of 50
stimuli. The demonstration tape presented these words one by
one in random order using the same timing procedure as in the

first experiment. Listeners were asked to render a judgement
of whether the word they heard came from a formal or informal

style of speech basing their decision solely on pronunciation.
For this test, formal was defined as careful, circumspect
speech while informal was designated as unguarded, colloquial
usage. Subjects did not see a written representation of the

words, but instead were asked only to indicate (I) or (F) on
the answer sheet. Instructions appeared on the tape and again
in written form and were presented to listeners prior to
beginning the test. A copy of the test instructions, subject

response sheet, and answer key for test #2 may be found in
Appendices IV-VI.
144
I administered this test at the same time and under the
same controlled conditions described in the first perceptual
test. 25 volunteers participated in this experiment which

took roughly 12 minutes per person. These listeners were not
the same group which took part in the first test because I
felt that the added experience of taking the first test might
affect subject behavior the second time around. However, the

results of the first test may be extrapolated to the second
group of subjects (because subjects in the second test belong
to the same population from which the sample in the first was
drawn) in order to interpret subject behavior in the second
experiment.
In the first experiment I was not concerned with the
background (dialect) of subjects, since identifications were

based on certain capabilities of the hearing apparatus shared
by all. The only requirement was that subjects have some
minimal experience in hearing aspiration, since words were

presented in isolation without any other clue to their
meaning11. In fact, I ran a pretest of the first experiment
u If these experiments are to be taken as a true

reflection of how ^ “aspiration might have begun, then of
course one must insist that listeners have prior experience
with this phenomenon. However, in real life there are many
redundant cues which help listeners identify the semantic
meaning of words distorted by aspiration. This point has been
repeatedly made by functionalists (cf. Terrell, all works
cited) and applies equally if the aspiration is intended or
not (i.e., spurious). On the other hand, the correct
pronunciation of a lexical item is not so obvious and the
inexperienced listener may give the unintentional vocalic side
effect described herein undue significance (Ohala 1987:62).
(continued...)
145
in which listeners represented a wide range of dialect areas
of Spain and Latin America and found that the response pattern
of subjects was generally the same as that obtained from the
Chilean group described in 4.2. .The results of the pretest
show only a slightly higher percentage of test word

classifications of the type p[a]sta = pasta .
Since the task of this second experiment is to judge
speech style from pronunciation, this requires that listeners
associate ^.-aspiration with informal speech. As noted

earlier, this correspondence is fairly common for most
dialects. However, it has been noted in section 2.2.3 that
the generalization process causes s-aspiration to appear in

new phonological, social, and conversational contexts. This
means that for the more "radical" s-aspirating dialects the

link between informal register and aspiration is weakened.
For example, Terrell observes that Dominican speakers often

aspirate (or delete) a even in more formal settings
(1983(a):139). In order to obtain an accurate interpretation
of subject response for this experiment the test group should
**(... continued)
The controlled circumstances of the experiment eliminate
the usual conversational redundancies and make listener
identification of lexical items totally dependent on the
pronunciation of the words. This is why listeners in this
test must have some experience at relating the sound of
aspiration with its meaning. For example, test subjects with
no previous exposure to ^.-aspirated speech (if such people
exist) would have no reason to classify, say, pfaJeta as pasta
even though they hear a clear phonetic difference netween the
former and a normal pata.
146
be selected from the "conservative" end of the continuum of
2-aspirating dialects. I chose to work with speakers of

Chilean Spanish, although subjects from any of a number of
moderate dialect zones would offer equally reliable judgments.
4.3.2 Results and Discussion
The classification rates of the four groups of words used

in this test are given in Table 4.6 below.
Table 4.6. Number and percentage of

subject judgments by word group type.
Word Expected Formal Informal

group result # % #
Training #1 Formal 227 90.8% 23 9.2%

Training #2 Informal 38 15.2% 212 84.8%
Control Formal 330 88.0% 45 12.0%
Test (?) 182 48.5% 193 51.5%
For the first three groups of words in Table 4.6 there

is a close correspondence between the expected result and
subject response. The training set was generally efficient

in prompting listeners to distinguish between speaking styles.
As predicted, the control sequence (ClVsCg^p (e.g., pasta),
produced with a clear, strong [s], conditioned a high
percentage of formal responses by speakers. A small
147
percentage12 of unexpected judgments is merely a reflection of
the subjective nature of the task and indicates that the
criteria for making such assessments is not uniform across

speakers. It is likely that listeners' evaluation of speech
register is not based entirely on a single phonetic factor,
but rather on an aggregate of pronunciation features within
the word13. Thus, while I have localized influential phonetic

traits designed to elicit a particular response in subjects,
there may be other aspects of the informant's realization of
these words which bear weight in listeners' decisions. In
addition, a certain amount of unexpected results may be
attributed to subject distraction or inattention during the
task.
Subject behavior on the test group is clearly different
than the one-sided response pattern of the first three groups.
12 The training token huevo 'egg' as produced by the

informant proved to be an aberrant stimulus in both the formal
and informal realization of the word. In my opinion, there
was little evidence of intentional glide strengthening on the
informal pronunciation, while this effect came through
spontaneously to a significant degree when the speaker was
attempting a careful rendition of the word. This single token
accounts for 60% of all unexpected responses in the informal
group and nearly 50% in the formal group. If this word were
rerecorded or dropped altogether from the study the percentage
of unexpected training responses would be much lower for both
groups (6%).
13 I am only examining here those physical attributes of
the word itself which contribute to a sense of speech style.
In normal discourse there are many other higher-order cues
(intonation, speech rate, selection of morphological & lexical
forms, repetition of tags, non-verbal signals, etc.) which cue
one register or another.
148
Table 4.6 shows a nearly even split in listener judgments of
test items. Yet, because the test design does not allow
listeners' judgments to be linked with the actual words they
are perceiving, this creates some problems in interpreting the

significance of the results. Table 4.7 breaks down the
overall figure of test word judgments according to the
possible combination of variables which contribute to the sum.
Table 4.7. Possible interpretations of test word judgments.

(p[a]sta represents the aggregate of all test items).
Judgement Overall Semantic Contribution to

rendered Response equivalence jdgmt. subtotal
# % # %
1) p[a]sta = pata ? ?
INFORMAL 193 51.5%
2) P[a]sta = pasta ? ?
3) p[a]sta = pata ? ?
FORMAL 182 48.5%
4) p[a]sta = pasta ? ?
The results of the first experiment revealed that

approximately 70% of the test items are equated with a
(C)VCgijop sequence (e.g., p[a]sta = pata) corresponding to
subgroups 1 and 3, while the remaining 30% are classified as
a (C)VsCSTOp word (e.g., p[a]gta = pasta) from subgroups 2 and
4. The focus of the current experiment concerns only the
second division of words, subgroups 2 and 4. Of the 30% of
149
words classified as pfaj5ta = pasta, I would like to know how
many of these are judged to be formal (subgroup 4) and how

many informal (subgroup 2). My hypothesis is that if a
significant number of these tokens falls into subgroup 2, then
it may be concluded that listeners make the semantic
equivalence p[a]sta = pasta because they hear aspiration, and

not some remnant of an [s], in the test vowel. Unfortunately,
it is impossible to tell from this distribution how much each
subgroup contributes to the total.

However, the results of this test may still be open to
meaningful interpretation if the narrow interest in the

behavior of subgroups 2 and 4 is suppressed, and attention is
redirected to the overall response pattern of formal vs.
informal judgments and the implications that each subgroup

bears within these two divisions. For the purposes of this
experiment test tokens judged as formal represent the least
interesting case. This would be the expected response if

there were no difference between test vowels and the
corresponding vowel from the original words.
For example, words in subgroup 3 (p[a]3ta = pata) might
be judged as formal either because listeners hear the test

token as a normal (C)VCgijop sequence or because they hear some
deviation (aspiration) but consider it within the usual range
of acceptable variation for a formal pronunciation of that
word. When subjects hear p[a]sta as pasta and classify these
words as formal (subgroup 4), they probably take the
150
psychologically significant vocalic effect to be a reduced
variant of [s], not uncommon in formal speech14.
The large number of informal judgments from this test is

revealing regardless cf the percentage that subgroups 1 and
2 contribute to this total. It seems likely that the test

vowel is the key variable influencing listeners' judgments of
test tokens. As mentioned earlier, there may be other clues
in the informant's pronunciation of test words (other than the

test vowel) which instill a sense of informality. However,
these effects are probably small and should not account for
more than the 9-15% range of unexpected responses exhibited
by other groups of words used in the experiment (cf. Table
4.6).
As stated in 4.3.1, an informal judgement is a good
indicator that the vocalic effect in test words produces a

percept of aspiration for listeners and not just a poor
quality sibilant sound. Responses of the type given in
subgroup 2 (p[a]3ta = pasta, informal) indicate that the
aspirated effect on the test vowel assumes both phonological

and stylistical significance. In the case where listeners
associate p[a]sta with pata and judge test tokens to be
Another potential interpretation here is that

listeners actually hear meaningful aspiration on the test
vowel and consider this pronunciation to be acceptable in a
formal register. This possibility should not account for a
large number of total responses for subgroup 4 since subjects
come from a moderate s-aspirating dialect in which aspiration
is infrequent in formal situations.
151
informal (subgroup 1), the breathy test vowel is not different
enough to change the phonemic classification of the word, but
it does create some sense of informal pronunciation for

listeners15. In summary, the 51.5% rate of informal responses
suggests that listeners are hearing some kind of aspirated

effect on a good deal of test vowels. Sometimes this
aspiration serves as a signal of speech style, while other
times it marks a phonemic distinction.

While the findings of this experiment generally
complement the first, much stronger conclusions could be drawn
if it were known how the test words being judged are
interpreted lexically. In other words, I would like to know

the proportions of each subgroup listed in Table 4.7. Some
idea of these relationships is available from anecdotal

evidence derived from the original test. Three subjects
provided occasional transcriptions of the stimuli beside their

judgments on the answer sheet. All test words transcribed as
(C)VCg«pgp were judged formal (subgroup 3). Unfortunately,
15 In this respect the acoustic effect which is claimed

to mimic intentional aspiration coincides with what Uber has
shown to be the weak perceptual saliency of this sound.
Referring to aspiration which occurs naturally in speech, she
states that "even when there is a phonetic distinction which
is audible [. . .], it is not always sufficient to cue
grammatical or semantic distinctions" (1981:4). In the case
of subgroup 1 of the current experiment, the aspirated effect
is present to the extent that it makes the word sound odd
(informal) but it is evidently not strong enough to cause
listeners to change the semantic category of the word.
152
there were no transcriptions of test tokens in the informal
category.
These unsolicited marginal transcriptions suggest a
simple way in which the experimental task of the second test
might be modified in order to yield a more accurate portrayal

of the lexical-stylistic associations which listeners are
making. Subjects would be presented with the same material
as before and asked to indicate speech style and to write the
word they hear in the margins. A few simple examples in the
written instructions (from the training set) would reassure

subjects that they are not being asked to give a precise
(i.e., phonetic) representation of the sounds they hear, only

the normal orthographic form of the word.
I ran such a post-test trial on a small sample of
subjects in order to determine what type of clarifications
might be obtained with respect to the results discussed above.

To be consistent with the original experiment, I chose
listeners whose background matched that of the initial group
as closely as possible and administered the test under similar

conditions*6. Appendix VII contains the revised instruction
set given to these subjects. The results of this post-test
improvement of the second perceptual test are summarized in
Table 4.8.
*6 The subjects for this post-test trial were 6 Chilean

university students living in Berkeley.
153
Table 4.8. Number and percentage of semantic classifications
corresponding to each judgement for test #2 , post-trial.
(pfaJsta represents the aggregate of all test items).
Judgement Overall Semantic Contribution to

rendered Response equivalence jdgmt. subtotal
# % # %
1) P[a]sta = pata 10 18.9%

INFORMAL 53 58.9%
2) p[a]sta = pasta 43 81.1%
3) p[a]sta = pata 36 97.3%

FORMAL 37 41.1%
4) p[a]sta = pasta 1 2.7%
The results of this post-test trial provide useful data
relating to the discussion and interpretation of the second
perceptual test given earlier. Subjects judge test tokens as

informal more often when they also interpret these words as
a (C)VsC§>[iQp sequence (e.g., p[a]3ta = pasta). In other words,
the breathy effect on the test vowel is serving as a marker
of a phonologically significant segment as well as an
indicator of informal speech. In the formal category, the

overwhelming majority of judgments are made because nothing
(or not enough) is heard in the signal of test vowels to

distinguish test words from a normal (C)VCgipgp sequence (e.g.,
p[a]sta = pata) . The original aim of the second perceptual
test was to see how test tokens classified as (C)VsCgiyop in the
first experiment would be judged. The results of this trial
show that when equations of the type p[a]sta = pasta are made
154
they are nearly always related to an informal register
(subgroup 2) and rarely to formal speech (subgroup 4). I take
this as an indication that test vowels imitate the quality of

aspiration rather than a continuance of the sibilant percept.
A full scale reproduction of this post-test trial would lend

greater credence to the tendencies signaled by these
preliminary figures.
One limitation of this second experiment concerns the use
of judgments of speech style in order to infer the phonetic

nature of test vowels. Informal judgments are taken as an
indication of the presence of aspiration, even though I have

suggested several factors which might weaken the uniqueness
of this relationships [h] is not the only feature

contributing to judgments, there may be some listeners who
accept [h] (interpreted as /s/) in a formal register, some
degree of vocalic breathiness may be considered acceptable
variation in a formal pronunciation of a (C)VCSTOp sequence,

etc. As a consequence, the conclusions drawn from this test
must be carefully weighed against the potential interference
generated by the use of such labels.

Such impediments may be circumvented by the use of a
direct testing technique known as "concept formation"1'.
Rather than using labels, this approach asks subjects to
17 A full exposition on the construction and

interpretation of experiments using the concept formation
technique may be found in Jaeger 1986.
155
distinguish sounds on the basis of a particular category which
they form through inductive reasoning in a training session.
For example, listeners might be prompted to form the intuitive
category "words containing aspiration" by hearing instances
of meaningful ^-aspiration from natural speech. Following

subjects' response to these stimuli, the investigator confirms
that they belong to the new category. In the same trial
period subjects hear tokens involving sounds other than
aspiration, including good (C)VsCgirop sequences, and are later

instructed that they should be excluded from the category.
Once subjects achieve a predetermined success rate of sorting
words with respect to the aspirated category the test session
begins. In this part listeners no longer receive feedback

concerning the correctness of their response. At this point
the crucial test words are introduced (e.g., pfaj5ta) and the
investigator observes how subjects categorize them. The
significance of the results may be extracted not only from the

response pattern of test tokens, but also from the reaction
time by subjects to stimuli, the ability to give a name to the
category in a post-test interview, and the criterion used in

gauging success in the training session (Jaeger 1986:218).
4.4 swromary
The cumulative results of the experiments presented in
this chapter offer support for the hypothesized account of &-
aspiration developed in the previous chapter. The first test
156
confirms that vowels preceding [s] offer listeners sufficient
cues to identify lexical items containing Is/ when the cues

for sibilant frication are attenuated. The second test
demonstrates that this acoustic effect which spreads to vowel
margins is interpreted by a significant number of subjects as

a sign of informal speech. A modified trial of the second
test shows that when test tokens are equated with (C)VsCSijQp
sequences they are almost always classified as informal. In
the second test I assume that test vowels elicit an informal

response because they contain some physical quality which
imitates aspiration, and not because some vestige of [s] is

still heard. Finally, I proposed an alternative experimental
approach using the concept formation technique which might

avoid the problems inherent in relying on such labels as
speech style for the interpretation of data.
From these experiments I conclude that the secondary
effect of breathy voice murmur on vowel margins preceding [s]
does indeed create an [h] percept as long as the dominant

frication cues for the sibilant are absent. However, this
conclusion offers only a potential explanation of how &-
aspiration might have begun, since it is unlikely that the

systematic forces which reduce [s] (described in Chapter 3)
will ever eliminate this sound altogether. The question
remains whether this secondary vocalic effect is strong enough

to obtain perceptual dominance over the primary cues for [s]
when frication is weakened but not entirely erased. This is
157
the more likely scenario in which most of [s] is gone and
listeners receive cues from the vocalic margins as well as a
fragment of [s] frication and must weigh and process these
competing signals. It is possible to determine how listeners
react under such circumstances by devising a more complicated

version of the experiments presented in this chapter. This
revision would involve increasing the stock of test words to
include tokens which contain a portion of [s] whose frication

has been electronically attenuated in frequency and duration
by incremental steps. By using this method one would obtain
a range of categorical crossover where the breathy vocalic
effect begins to assume perceptual primacy. Such further
investigation would provide a stronger basis for evaluating
the likelihood of the proposed hypothesis for ^-aspiration.
C H A P T E R F I V E
CONCLUSIONS
This dissertation has shown that a careful examination
of the phonetic details associated with ^-aspiration offers

insight into how and why this shift began. The thesis has
been that the causes of aspiration are not so much a direct

result of articulatory adjustments, rather they are more
likely found in the acoustic and perceptual domains. The
viability of this proposal is enhanced through the adoption

of a new view of sound change (Ohala 1981) which recognizes
the active role of the listener in the communication process.
By applying acoustic and perceptual data concerning §.-
aspiration to this listener-based framework I have formulated

an hypothetical account of the origin of this phenomenon in
precise and testable terms. Experimental tests of this
hypothesis have provided greater empirical support for the
proposed account of ^-aspiration and generally confirm the

usefulness of present-day laboratory research in understanding
historical sound change.

The analysis in Chapter Three revealed that the acoustic
signal of [s] is greatly weakened by the natural phonetic
forces which originally condition aspiration. It also showed
that the [s] itself produces a breathy voice offset on the

preceding vowel which closely mimics the effects of
aspiration. These observations led to the hypothesis that in
158
159
the absence of a strong primary cue for [s] this secondary
murmured effect in the vocalic margin may be interpreted as
the principal characteristic of the sound. The implication
is that if listeners take this aspiration to be meaningful
then they tend to reproduce it in their own speech (i.e.,
/s/ — > [h]), thus setting the stage for the initiation of the
sound change.
The experiments from Chapter Four were designed to
simulate the circumstances accompanying this hypothetical
scenario in a controlled environment. Test results indicate

that the breathy effect on vowels preceding [s] changes their
perception when sibilant frication is reduced and that
listeners associate this difference in vowel quality with

aspiration. Statistical and analytical evaluation of results
shows these trends to be significant in favor of the proposed
hypothesis. In addition, there were many informal remarks

made by the subjects participating in the experiments which
lend support to this conclusion1.
It is impossible to say whether these experiments exactly
replicate the historical conditions existent at the time when

3 -aspiration began. However, I propose that the essential
features do not differ in any significant way and, thus, that
1 In brief conversations following the tests, subjects

often commented on those (test) words "with a light 3", "where
the speaker pronounced the 3 weakly", "when the 3 was
dropped", etc. These unsolicited intuitive judgments may be
taken as further evidence that listeners are hearing something
that linguists describe as aspiration.
160
the test results may be taken to be suggestive of what could
have occurred. Further tests, such as those recommended at
the end of Chapter Four, would corroborate and strengthen the
conclusions drawn here. Although experimental tests cannot
verify this account of ^-aspiration, positive results do

suggest that it remain within the realm of possible
explanations2. In any case, I believe that this explanation
of ^-aspiration, when compared with others that I have
reviewed, represents a significant improvement.
In my account of ^-aspiration I appeal to principles of
speech perception to explain its origin. This approach
presents refinements, both in logic and application, over

previous phonetic models based on production. As noted in
Chapter Two, articulatory accounts of ^-aspiration encounter
difficulty in justifying large jumps in pronunciation and rely
on questionable teleological notions in their explanations.

These formulations are often stated in vague, impressionistic
terms such that empirical examination is not possible. By
considering perception I have shown how such an abrupt change
in articulation may be explained without any motivation on the

speaker's part. Moreover, this approach has allowed me to
2 Similarly, in the physical sciences an experimental

approach yields deductive conclusions about a reality often
unverifiable by human experience. Just as astronomers'
calculations concerning the nature of celestial bodies may
(temporarily) be taken as "fact'', so my account of s-
aspiration may serve as an approximation to the phenomenon
until it is disproved or discarded in favor of a more accurate
model.
161
state the proposed explanation of ^-aspiration in a way that
is easily tested for adequacy.
On the surface, it may seem that the present account of
^-aspiration does not differ much from the autosegmental
formalization discussed in Chapter Two. Adherents of
autosegmental phonology state that ^-aspiration occurs as the
oral component of [s] is suppressed while the laryngeal

breathy feature gets reassociated with the previous vowel.
However, the autosegmental account is merely a descriptive
notation with no explanatory value beyond some higher order
desire to simplify syllable structure. It is questionable
whether an "explanation" of this type is necessary at all

since I have demonstrated in my analysis that the same
acoustic effect (perceived aspiration) which presupposes the
manipulation of the rules of grammar already occurs naturally
in speech.
As described in Chapter Three, there are many low level
physical forces which reduce the saliency of the [s] such that
it is superfluous to suppose that a central neural command be
sent to suppress it. Also, the autosegmental account
erroneously claims that the breathy voice effect appears on
the vowel as a consequence of the [s] being eliminated (i.e.,

/s/ becomes /h/). I have shown that this murmured quality is
always there, even when the [s] is fully articulated, but is
only perceived as intentional aspiration when the camouflaging
effect of [s] is reduced.
162
An understanding of the mechanism which initiates a
particular sound change such as ^-aspiration may offer

insights into similar problems both within and outside of the
Spanish language. A nearly direct application of these
findings may help explain a parallel case of syllable-final

reduction of [s] in Old French. It is likely that a
perceptual explanation may lie at the root of many sound
changes involving the switching of fricative sounds,
particularly when these involve large shifts in the place of
articulation. Thus, it would be interesting to reexamine
common historical changes in Spanish such as ft/ > /h/ and
/|$V > /*/ (°r which by and large preceded &-aspiration

and may have provided some structural support for the
integration of the aspirate sound into the phonetic inventory
of the time (Jerry Craddock, personal communication).

The idea that a breathy voiced vowel may be converted
into a fricative sound has been used to explain the shift of

Middle English /(u)x/ > /f/, as in 1augh. cough. etc.
(Nieuwint 1981). However, Nieuwint's account suggests that
the transformation was one of articulation in which the

breathiness inherited from [x] together with the lip rounding
of the labial glide [u] result in the pronunciation of a
labial fricative [f]. Gussenhoven and van de Weijer reject
the notion that this change may be the result of perceptual
error because they narrowly interpret such an approach to
imply that the auditory similarity lies directly between [x]
163
and [£] without recognizing the importance of the labial
offglide (1990:390-91). They instead propose a psychological
explanation motivated by the principles of metrical phonology.
The results of this dissertation suggest that listener
misperceptions of [f] for [x] could be caused by the breathy
offset of [u] rather than a direct confusion of fricative

noise, which means that a perceptual analysis may yet provide
an adequate explanation of this ME sound change.

With regards to ^-aspiration, Terrell has claimed that
the forces which shape its development probably respond to
universal language restrictions (1981:116). Generative

accounts of ^-aspiration assume that these natural tendencies
reflect constraints on how language is organized and processed
in the mind. I have shown that the origin of ^-aspiration

may alternatively be explained on the basis of inherent
limitations in the human capacity to perceive potentially
ambiguous sounds. The validity of such competing accounts

must be measured by empirical tests designed to evaluate their
effectiveness, such as those carried out in the current
dissertation. Unfortunately, it is not always feasible to
apply psychological tests to generative theories of language

change3. Likewise, other common syllable-final reductions in
Spanish may lend themselves to an approach similar to that
3 However, Derwing and Nearey (1986) insist that this is

necessary and suggest novel ways in which psycholinguistic
tests may be applied to generative theories based on their
research at the University of Alberta.
164
taken here for s.-aspiration4. Where possible, natural
phonetic explanations of these phenomena would provide
potential alternatives to the various mentalistic accounts
currently proposed.
The focus of my interest has been on the directionality
of ^-aspiration, that is, to explain how it may have begun and
why it is manifest in precisely this way. I have identified
what Ohala (1988) terms the pre-conditions which contribute

to the potential development of this sound change. However,
other issues regarding the origins of ^-aspiration, such as
the "actuation problem", are clearly beyond the scope of this
study. For example, the current approach does not allow me
to discern what caused this innovation to be initiated when

it was, nor am I in a position to explain why it originally
took root in Andalusia and not in Castile. These are problems
that may never be answered with any degree of certainty.
In Chapter Two I outlined the various aspects of &-

aspiration which require examination. The phonetic-based
analysis presented here addresses only a single facet of this

phenomenon. As already mentioned, issues relating to the
spread and generalization of ^-aspiration have been
effectively studied within sociolinguistic and generative
research frameworks. As a result of this dissertation the
4 Similar in orientation and methodology but not in

detail, since the particular features and conditions of other
"weakening processes" are obviously different than those
involved in inspiration.
165
advances being made in these other areas of ^.-aspiration may
now be complemented by a greater knowledge of the phonetic
details which help explain its origin, thus improving our
overall understanding of this sound change.
166
APPENDICES
167
Appendix I
Instructions: Test #1
Instrucciones
A continuacidn oirA una lista de palabras leidas una por

una. Escuche atentamente e indique en la hoja de respuestas
cuAl de las dos palabras oye Ud. Anote una sola respuesta
cada vez y no deje ninguna respuesta sin marcar. HabrA una
breve pausa despuAs de cada palabra y se oirA un suave sonido
entre grupos de 5 palabras para mantener el ritmo.
******************************
Translation
You will now hear a list of words read one at a time.

Listen carefully and mark which word you hear on the answer
sheet. Mark only one word each time and don't leave any item
blank. There will be a brief pause after each word and every
5 words you will hear a beep to keep pace.
168
Appendix II
Subject response sheet: Test #1
Grabaci6n *1
1) pita pista 14) pita pista
2) capa caspa 15) pico Pisco
3) mima misma 16) resta reta
4) moco mosco 17) costo coto
5) Lucas luzcas 18) pesco peco
6) busque buque 19) rosea roca
7) listo Lito 20) pasta pata
8) costo coto 21) mima misma
9) pista pita 22) ama asma
10) luzcas Lucas 23) pata pasta
11) Lito listo 24) mima misma
12) pico Pisco 25) reta resta
13) pata pasta 26) raspa rapa
169
Appendix II (con't)
Grabacidn «1
27) asma ama 37) rosea roca
28) costo coto 38) caspa capa
29) pesco peco 39) rosea roca
30) resta reta 40) raspa rapa
31) rapa raspa 41) buque busque
32) moco mosco 42) capa caspa
33) buque busque 43) ama asma
34) Lucas luzcas 44) Lito listo
35) pico Fisco 45) moco mosco
36) pesco peco

****************************************
Datos Personales (confidenciales)
Nombre -
Ciudad de origen -
Edad - __________
iGRACIAS!
Appendix III
Answer key: Test #1
1) pita 24) misma
2) c[a]spa 25) r[e]sta
3) mima 26) rapa
4) mosco 27) asma
5) Lucas 28) c[o]sto
6) buque 29) peco
7) Lito 30) resta
8) costo 31) raspa
9) p[i]gta 32) m[o]sco
10) luzcas 33) busque
11) l[i]sto 34) l[u]scas
12) p[i]sco 35) Pisco
13) pasta 36) pesco
14) pista 37) r[o]sca
15) pico 38) capa
16) reta 39) rosea
17) coto 40) r[a]apa
18) p[e]sco 41) b[u]sque
19) roca 42) caspa
20) pata 43) [a]sma
21) m[i]3ma 44) listo
22) ama 45) moco
23) 1?[a]gta
171
Appendix IV
Instructions: Test #2
lagtrussipneg
A continuacidn oirA una lista de palabras leidas una por

una. Algunas de ellas son de un estilo mAs formal mientras
que otras vienen del habla coloquial o informal. Seg&n su
opinidn personal, y basAndose puramente en la PRONUNCIACION,
clasifique cada palabra como formal (F) o informal (I).
Formal quiere decir que se pronuncia de una manera esmerada
o cuidadosa. Una pronunciacidn Informal implica un uso mAs
cotidiano o descuidado. HabrA una breve pausa despuAs de cada
palabra y se oirA un suave sonido entre grupos de 5 palabras
para mantener el ritmo.
******************************
Translation

Some words come from a more formal speaking style while others
are from informal or every day speech. Give your opinion of
each word, based on pronunciation only, by classifying them
as formal (F) or informal (I). Formal means the word is
pronounced carefully and deliberately. An informal
pronunciation implies a more colloquial or unguarded usage.
There will be a brief pause after each word and every 5 words
you will hear a beep to keep pace.
Appendix V
Subject response sheet: Test #2
P = "Formal" (pronunciacidn esmerada/cuidadosa)

I = "Informal" (pronunciacidn cotidiana/descuidada)
1) P I 16) F
2) P I 17) F
3) P I 18) F
4) F I 19) F
5) F I 20) F
6) P I 21) F
7) F I 22) F
8) F I 23) F
9) F I 24) F
10) F I 25) F
11) F I 26) F
12) F I 27) F
13) F I 28) F
14) F I 29) F
15) F I 30) F
Appendix V (con't)
gofeacifal 12
F = "Formal" (pronunciacidn esmerada/cuidadosa)
I = "Informal” (pronunciacidn cotidiana/descuidada)
31) F I 41) F
32) F I 42) F
33) F I 43) F
34) F I 44) F
35) F I 45) F
36) F I 46) F
37) F I 47) F
38) F I 48) F
39) F I 49) F
40) F I 50) F
****************************************
Datos Personales (confidenciales)

Nombre - _______________________________________
Ciudad de origen - _______________
Edad - __________
iGRACIAS!
174
Appendix VI
Answer key: Test #2
1) solda'o (I) 26) luzcas (F)
2) pesco (P) 27) listo (F)
3) 1[u]scas [test] 28) p[a]sta [test]
4) pior (I) 29) peor (F)
5) p[i]sta [test] 30) tiatro (I)

6) pelado (F) 31) caspa (F)
7) misma (F) 32) para alii (F)
8) p[e]sco [test] 33) bueno (F)
9) pa' mi (I) 34) rosea (F)
10) para atrds (F) 35) cufia'o (I)
11) gueno (I) 36) pela'o (I)

12) p[i]sco [test] 37) pa' trds (I)
13) resta (F) 38) l[i]sto [test]
14) Pisco (F) 39) para mi (F)
15) b[u]sque [test] 40) pista (F)
16) pasta (F) 41) [a]sma [test]
17) c[o]sto [test] 42) pa* lid (I)

18) cufiado (F) 43) mosco (F)
19) m[i]sma [test] 44) huevo (F)

20) costo (F) 45) r[a]spa [test]
21) busque (F) 46) teatro (F)
22) c[a]gpa [test] 47) giievo (I)

23) r[o]sca [test] 48) m[o]sco [test]
24) asma (F) 49) r[e]sta [test]
25) raspa (F) 50) soldado (F)
175
Appendix VII
Instructions: Post-test #2
IngtJUPPi.pngs
A continuacidn oird una lista de palabras leidas una por

una. Algunas de ellas son de un estilo m&s formal mientras
que otras vienen del habla coloquial o informal. Segfin su
opinidn personal, y basdndose puramente en la PRONDMCIACION,
clasifique cada palabra como formal (F) o informal (I).
Formal quiere decir que se pronuncia de una manera esmerada
o cuidadosa. Una pronunciacidn Informal implica un uso mds
cotidiano o descuidado. Habrd una breve pausa despuds de cada
palabra y se oird un suave sonido entre grupos de 5 palabras
para mantener el ritmo.
Ademds de hacer lo pedido arriba, favor de escribir la(s)
palabra(s) que oye al lado.
ej. - Ud. ove en Ud. marca en

la gEahas.i.6n- la hoia de respuestas:
"espaRda" F esnalda I (X)

"a'onde" F aflonde I (X)
******************************
Translation
Some words come from a more formal speaking style while others
are from informal or every day speech. Give your opinion of
each word, based on pronunciation only, by classifying them
as formal (F) or informal (I). Formal means the word is
pronounced carefully and deliberately. An informal
pronunciation implies a more colloquial or unguarded usage.
There will be a brief pause after each word and every 5 words
you will hear a beep to keep pace.
Besides the task described above, please write the

word(s) you hear in the space provided on the answer sheet.
e.g. - If you hear: You would mark:
"espaRda" F esnalda I (X)
"a'onde" F adonde I (X)
176
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177
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INDEX
194
Index of Authors
Alarcos Llorach, E., 38 Gussenhoven, C., 162
Alba, 0., 58, 63, 97, 100, Haggard, M . , 102, 103
106 Hammond, R.M., 38-40, 43,
Alvar, M., 104 117, 127, 128, 140
Anderson, S.R., 69 Harris, J.W., 10, 141
Becerra, S., 44 Harris, K.S., 92-94, 107,
Borden, G.J. , 103, 105, 108 139
Boyd-Bowman, P., 29 House, A.S., 100, 121
Canfield, D.L., 29, 31, 38 Hyman, L.M., 11
Caravedo, R., 71 Jaeger, J.J., 154, 155
Cedergren, H. J., 9, 43, 53, Jimenez Sabater, M.A., 30
55, 57 Kawasaki, H., 114
Crystal, T.H., 100 Kim, C., 6, 87
Denes, P.B., 96 Klatt, D.H., 73, 83,
Derwing, B.L., 163 99-105, 109, 111
Pant, C.G.M., 107 Krieg, L.J., 92, 94, 96,
Fern&ndez, J.A., 8 101
Gay, T., 103, 105, 108 Ladefoged, P., Ill, 112
Goldsmith, J., 10, 46 Lafford, B.A., 13, 22, 23,
Guitart, J.M., 11, 14, 41, 29, 30, 32, 51-53, 57,
45, 46, 51, 54, 58-60, 140, 141
74, 76, 78, 97, 98 Lapesa, R., 29, 30
Gurlekian, J.A., 95, 105, Lehiste, I., 6, 87, 88, 112
139 Lipski, J.M., 47
Longmire, B.J., 14, 35, 51, Sawashima, M., 111
53, 57, 60, 74, 78, 103 Seklaoui, D.R., 5, 7, 11,
Mann, V.A., 93 14, 18, 23, 35, 36, 67,
Manrique, A.M.B., 93, 105 73, 77

Massone, M.I., 93, 105 Shadle, C.H., 89, 90, 106
McCasland, G.P., 94-96, Shockey, L., 83, 99, 101
101, 105, 139 Stevens, K.N., 91, 94
MSndez Dosuna, J., 57, 103 Strevens, P., 88, 107
Navarro Tom&s, T., 6, 29, Terrell, T.D., 5, 7, 9, 11,
31, 37, 140 14, 17-19, 23-25, 28-30,
Nearey, T.M., 163 34, 41, 42, 43, 47-51,
Nieuwint, P.J.G.M., 162 53-60, 62-64, 67, 72,
Ohala, J.J., 3, 23, 25, 26, 73, 79, 103, 140, 144,
49, 64, 70, 75, 83-86, 145, 163
106, 108, 110, 111, 115, Torreblanca, M., 29, 31
135, 144, 158, 164 Uber, D.R., 6, 9, 79, 117,
Palacio, A., 29, 36, 72, 118, 151
140 van de Weijer, J., 162
P6tursson, M., 88, 112 Zamora Vicente, A., 5, 38
Pickett, J.M., 91
Quilis, A., 8, 106-108
Repp, B.H., 93
Resnick, M.C., 38-40
Rodriguez-Castellano, L.,
29, 36, 72, 140
Rousseau, P., 43

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The phonetic basis for s-aspiration in Spanish

Widdison, Kirk Allen, Ph.D.

Copyright © 1991 by W iddison, Kirk A llen. A ll rights reserved.

B.A. (Oregon State University) 1980

Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of

HISPANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA at BERKELEY

Kirk Allen Widdison

This dissertation examines the phonetic principles which

of the sibilant causing listeners to perceive a sound similar

speech perception and parsing.

perceptual cues for [s] are degraded in the original

quality whose auditory properties mimic the effect of post

vocalic [h]. It was hypothesized that in the absence of a

which triggered ^-aspiration in Spanish.

1.1.2 The Phonetic Variants of s-Aspiration ... 6

1.2.2 Sociological Analyses of s-Aspiration . . . . 13

1.2.3 Physio-Psychological Analyses of

1.3.2 Effects of s-Aspiration on the Morpbosyntax . 17

2.2.2.2 Generative Accounts of s-Aspiration ........ 40

2.3.2 Articulatory Explanations of s-Aspiration . . 75

2.4 Summary of Chapter T w o .................... 79

3.2.1 The Spectral Properties of [s] and [h] ... 88

3.3 Coarticulatory Effects in s-Aspirated

3.3.1 Modifications of [ s ] ...................... 99

3.4 An Hypothetical Account of s-Aspiration . . 113

4.0 Introduction................................ 117

Chapter 5. Conclusions ............................. 158

Appendix 5. Subject Response Sheet: Test #2 172

Appendix 7. Instructions: Post-test #2 ........... 175

Bibliography S-Aspiration Studies of Spanish ....... 177

Index A u t h o r ......................................... 194

I wish to thank all those who have helped in the

preparation of this dissertation. Thanks go to my advisor and

in making the text more readable. Liz Shriberg provided

helpful comments on the statistical portion of my experiments.

and assistance in the development of ideas behind this

Berkeley, which provided travel funds through the Center for

the University Predoctoral Humanities Fellowship. Thanks to

the many students who participated in experiments at the

thanks for their sacrifices and unending love and support

1.0 Introductory Remarks

Professional interest in this phenomenon reflects not only its

pervasiveness at many levels of society throughout the Spanish

structure of the language itself. The focus of these studies

modified over the years and in accordance with the particular

knowledge of the physical mechanism underlying the original

descriptions based almost solely on the production aspect of

2 -aspiration, i.e., the articulatory motions involved. The

the phonetic details surrounding 2 -aspiration by including

phenomenon, it may also lead to an explanation of its origin.

Since principled linguistic explanations of language behavior

significantly contribute to our knowledge of ^-aspiration.

the generalization of the phenomenon.

contrast, I believe that a thorough analysis of a phonological

intend to inspect the acoustic characteristics of the sounds

a brief overview of ^-aspiration with regards to the range of