Chapter published in:
Hispanic Contact Linguistics: Theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives
Edited by Luis A. Ortiz López, Rosa E. Guzzardo Tamargo and Melvin González-Rivera
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 22] 2020
► pp. 116–136

The acento pujado in Yucatan Spanish

Prosodic rhythm and the search for the yucateco accent

| North Carolina State University
| North Carolina State University
Previous research has indicated that the accent of Yucatan Spanish (YS) differs from that of other dialects, in particular standard Mexican Spanish from central Mexico. These studies attribute the YS accent, described as halting/staccato (pujado), to contact with Yucatec Maya, suggesting that yucatecos speak Spanish with a Mayan accent. This claim has never been addressed explicitly in the literature, however. The present study applies several metrics of prosodic rhythm (%V, Cdev & PVI) to spontaneous speech samples from bilingual and monolingual yucatecos. Results show a changing rhythm, with younger speakers moving away from more traditional, possibly Maya-influenced patterns in apparent time. Connections between rhythm and segmental features of YS are discussed, along with possible social implications.
Keywords: Yucatan Spanish, prosodic rhythm, rhytmic timing, language contact, language change
Published online: 14 February 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.22.05mic
References

References

Abercrombie, D.
(1967) Elements of general phonetics. Edinburgh: University Edinburgh Press.Google Scholar
Alvar, M.
(1969) Nuevas notas sobre el español de Yucatán. Iberoromania, 1, 159–89.Google Scholar
Arvaniti, A.
(2012) The usefulness of metrics in the quantification of speech rhythm. Journal of Phonetics, 40, 351–73. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2009) Rhythm, timing and the timing of rhythm. Phonetica, 66, 46–63. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Barrera Vásquez, A.
(1937) Mayismos y voces mayas en el español de Yucatán. Investigaciones Lingüísticas, 4, 9–35.Google Scholar
Barrera Vásquez, Alfredo
1945 El idioma español en Yucatán. In Enciclopedia Yucatanense. Mexico City: Gobierno de Yucatán.Google Scholar
Benet, A., Gabriel, C., Kireva, E., & Pešková, A.
(2012) Prosodic transfer from Italian to Spanish: Rhythmic properties of L2 speech and Argentinean Porteño. In Q. Ma, H. Ding, & D. Hirst (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Speech Prosody (pp. 438–441). Shanghai, China: Tongji University Press.Google Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D.
(2015) Praat: Doing phonetics by computer [Computer program] Version 5.4.22. http://​www​.praat​.org/
Burnett-Deas, A.
(2009) VOT of ejectives, implosives, and plain stops in Yukateko, Mopan, and Itzaj Maya (Unpublished MA thesis). Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.Google Scholar
Carter, P. M.
(2005) Prosodic variation in SLA: Rhythm in an urban North Carolina Hispanic community. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 11(4).Google Scholar
Carter, P. M., & Wolford, T.
(2016) Cross-generational prosodic convergence in South Texas Spanish. Spanish in Context, 13, 29–52. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Colantoni, L.
(2011) Broad-focus declaratives in Argentine Spanish contact and non-contact varieties. In C. Gabrie & C. Lleó (Eds.), Intonational phrasing at the interfaces: Cross-linguistic and bilingual studies in Romance and Germanic (pp. 183–212). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Coupal, L., & Plante, C.
(1977) Las oclusivas sordas yucatecas: /ptk/: ¿Fuertes, aspiradas, glotalizadas? Langues et Linguistique, 3, 129–76.Google Scholar
Cristia, A., Seidl, A., Vaughn, C., Schmale, R., Bradlow, A. & Floccia, C.
(2012) Linguistic processing of accented speech across the lifespan. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 479. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Face, T. L.
(2003) Intonation in Spanish declaratives: Differences between lab speech and spontaneous speech. Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 2, 115–31. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Frazier, M.
(2009) Tonal dialects and consonant-pitch interaction in Yucatec Maya. New Perspectives in Mayan Linguistics, 59, 59–82.Google Scholar
Gabriel, C., & Kireva, E.
(2014) Prosodic transfer in learner and contacts varieties. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36, 257–81. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
García Fajardo, J.
(1984) Fonética del español de Valladolid, Yucatán. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Grabe, E., & Low, E. L.
(2002) Durational variability in speech and the rhythm class hypothesis. In C. Gussenhoven & N. Warner (Eds.), Papers in laboratory phonology, 7 (pp. 515–546). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hualde, J. I.
(2005) The sounds of Spanish. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. E.
(2009) Getting off the GoldVarb standard: Introducing Rbrul for mixed effects variable rule analysis. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(1), 359–383. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kerswill, P.
(2002) Koineization and Accommodation. In J. K. Chambers, P. Trudgill, & N. Schilling-Estes (Eds.), The handbook of language variation and change (pp. 669–702). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Klee, C. A.
(2009) Migrations and globalization: Their effects on contact varieties of Latin American Spanish. In M. LaCorte & J. Leeman (Eds.), Español en Estados Unidos y otros contextos de contacto: Sociolingüística, ideología y pedagogía (pp. 39–66). Frankfurt & Madrid: Vervuert & Iberoamericana. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lipski, J. M.
(2004) El español de América. Cátedra: Madrid.Google Scholar
Lope Blanch, J. M.
(1987) Estudios sobre el español de Yucatán. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Low, E. L., Grabe, E., & Nolan, F.
(2000) Quantitative characterizations of speech rhythm: Syllable-timing in Singapore English. Language and Speech, 43, 377–401. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Low, E. L., & Grabe, E.
(1995) Prosodic patterns in Singapore English. In ICPhS 95(3), 636–639.Google Scholar
Mairano, P. & Romano, A.
(2010) Un confronto tra diverse metriche ritmiche usando Correlatore. In S. Schmid, M. Schwarzenbach, & D. Studer (Eds.), La dimensione temporale del parlato, (Proc. of the V National AISV Congress, University of Zurich, Collegiengebaude, 4–6 February 2009) (pp. 79–100). Torriana (RN): EDK. http://​phonetictools​.altervista​.org​/correlatore/
Martín Butragueño, P., Mendoza, E. & Orozco, L.
(2015) Aproximación a la prosodia del español de Mérida: Datos del COEM (Corpus oral del español de México, 2010–2015). Presented at AMLA, XIII Congreso Nacional de Lingüística, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, 7–10 October.
Martín Butragueño, P., Mendoza, E., & Orozco, L.
(2016) Nueva visita al prealineamiento del español yucateco de Mérida. Presented at the 8th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, San Juan, PR, 13–16 April.
Mediz Bolio, A.
(1951) Interinfluencia del maya con el español de Yucatán. Mérida, Mexico: Editorial Zamná.Google Scholar
Michnowicz, J.
(2006) Final – m in Yucatan Spanish: A rapid and anonymous survey. In J. P. Montreuil (Ed.), New perspectives on Romance linguistics, Vol. 2: Phonetics, phonology, and dialectology: Selected papers from the 35th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL) (pp. 155–166). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
(2007) El habla de Yucatám: Final -m in a dialect in contact. In J. Holmquist (Ed.), Selected proceedings of The Third Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (WSS3) (pp. 38–43). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
(2008) Final nasal variation in Merida, Yucatan. Spanish in Context, 5, 278–303. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2009) Intervocalic voiced stops in Yucatan Spanish: A case of contact induced language change? In M. LaCorte & J. Leeman (Eds.), Español en Estados Unidos y en otros contextos de contacto (pp. 67–84). Frankfurt & Madrid: Vervuert & Iberoamericana. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2011) Dialect standardization in Merida, Yucatan: The case of (b d g). Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana, 18, 191–212.Google Scholar
(2012) The standardization of Yucatan Spanish: Family case studies in Izamal and Mérida. In K. Geeslin, & M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium 2010 (pp. 102–115). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
(2015) Maya-Spanish contact in Yucatan, Mexico: Context & sociolinguistic implications. In S. Sessarego, & M. González Rivera (Eds.), New Perspectives on Hispanic contact linguistics in the Americas (pp. 21–42). Madrid & Frankfurt: Iberoamericana & Vervuert. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Michnowicz, J., & Barnes, H.
(2013) Pre-nuclear peak alignment in Yucatan Spanish. In C. Howe, S. E. Blackwell, & M. Lubbers Quesada (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium 2011 (pp. 221–235). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Michnowicz, J., & Carpenter, L.
(2013) Voiceless stop aspiration in Yucatan Spanish: A sociolinguistic analysis. Spanish in Context, 10, 410–437. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Michnowicz, J., & Kagan, L.
(2016) On glottal stops in Yucatan Spanish. In S. Sessarego & F. Tejedo-Herrero (Eds.), Spanish language and sociolinguistic analysis, 8 (pp. 219–239). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mosely, E. H.
(1980) From conquest to independence: Yucatan under Spanish rule, 1521–1821. In E. H. Mosely & E. D. Terry (Eds.), Yucatán: A world apart (pp. 83–121). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Nykl, A. R.
(1938) Notas sobre el español de Yucatán Veracruz y Tlaxcala. In P. Henríquez Ureña (Ed.), El español en Méjico, Los Estados Unidos, y la América Central, (pp. 207–225). Buenos Aires: La Universidad de Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
O’Rourke, E.
(2008) Speech rhythm variation in dialects of Spanish: Applying the pairwise variability index and variation coefficients to Peruvian Spanish. In Proc. Fourth Conf. on Speech Prosody, May 6– 9, 2008, Campinas, Brazil.Google Scholar
Pfeiler, B.
(1992) Así som, los de Yucatán: El proceso fonológico Vn>m/___(#, C) en dos lenguas en contacto. Memorias del Primer Congreso Internacional de Mayistas (pp. 110–122). Mexico: San Cristóbal de las Casas.Google Scholar
(1995) Zur Prosodie des Spanischen in Yucatán, Mexiko. In K. Zimmerman (Ed.), Lenguas en contacto en Hispanoamérica: Nuevos enfoques (pp. 119–134). Frankfurt: Vervuert.Google Scholar
Pike, K. L.
(1945) The intonation of American English. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Ramus, F., Nespor, M. & Mehler, J.
(1999) Correlates of linguistic rhythm in the speech signal. Cognition, 73, 265–92. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Shousterman, C.
(2014) Speaking English in Spanish Harlem: The role of rhythm. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 20, 18.Google Scholar
Suárez, V. M.
(1979) El español que se habla en Yucatán: Apuntamientos filológicos. Mérida, Mexico: La Universidad de Yucatán.Google Scholar
Thomas, E. R., & Carter, P. M.
(2006) Prosodic rhythm and African American English. English World-Wide, 27, 331–55. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Uth, M.
(2016) Prosodic realization of contrastive focus in Yucatecan Spanish. Romanistisches Jahrbuch, 67, 255–283. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
White, L. & Mattys, S. L.
(2007) Calibrating rhythm: First language and second language studies. Journal of Phonetics, 35, 501–22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Yager, K.
(1982) Estudio del cuadro consonántico del español de Mérida, Yucatán con consideraciones de posible influencia maya (Unpublished MA thesis). University of California-Santa Barbara.Google Scholar
(1989) La -m bilabial en posición final absoluta en el español hablado en Mérida, Yucatán (México). Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica XXXVII, 83–94. CrossrefGoogle Scholar