Chapter published in:
Spanish Phonetics and Phonology in Contact: Studies from Africa, the Americas, and Spain
Edited by Rajiv Rao
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 28] 2020
► pp. 16–31

Equatorial Guinea Spanish non-continuant /d/

More than a generic L2 trait

| The Pennsylvania State University
In Equatorial Guinea, the only sub-Saharan African nation in which Spanish is widely spoken, prevocalic /d/ frequently receives a short occlusive articulation that approximates [ɾ]. A similar pronunciation occurs in some contemporary Afro-descendant populations in Latin America, and Afro-Hispanic literary stereotypes also include the /d/ > [ɾ] shift. Based on an acoustic analysis of naturalistic speech, this study proposes that non-continuant realizations of /d/ are part of a cluster of traits that include an alveolar realization of /t/ and /d/, partial neutralization of /ɾ/-/r/, and prominent svarabhakti vowels. A combination of incomplete L2 acquisition, L1 carryovers, and structural re-alignment emerges as the most likely account of Equatorial Guinean /d/ > [ɾ], which may partially extend to other Afro-Hispanic speech communities.
Keywords: Equatorial Guinea, Afro-Hispanic language, prevocalic flapping, language contact
Published online: 06 August 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.28.01lip
References

References

Barrantes, D. V.
(Ed.) (1886) Recopilación en metro del bachiller Diego Sánchez de Badajoz, tomo II. Madrid: Librería de los Bibliófilos.Google Scholar
Barrena, N.
(1957) Gramática annobonesa. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Africanos.Google Scholar
Bibang Oyee, J.-B.
(2002) El español guineano: Interferencias, guineanismo. Malabo: n.p.Google Scholar
Bibang Oyee, J.-B., & Riquelme Pomares, J.
(1990) Curso de lengua fang. Malabo: Centro Cultural Hispano-Guineano.Google Scholar
Blecua, B.
(2001) Las vibrantes del español: Manifestaciones acústicas y procesos fonéticos (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Blecua Falgueras, B., Poch, D., & Palmada Félez, B.
(2001) Las vibrantes del español. Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D.
(1999–2005) Praat: Doing phonetics by computer [Computer software]. Retrieved from http://​www​.fon​.hum​.uva​.nl​/praat/ (18 February, 2020).Google Scholar
Bolekia Boleká, J.
(1991) Curso de lengua bubi. Malabo: Centro Cultural Hispano-Guineano.Google Scholar
(2003) Aproximación a la historia de Guinea Ecuatorial. Salamanca: Amarú.Google Scholar
Bradley, T.
(2002) Gestural timing and the resolution of /Cɾ/ clusters in Romance. ROA 529-0702.
(2004) Gestural timing and rhotic variation in Spanish codas. In T. Face (Ed.), Laboratory approaches to Spanish phonology, 7 (pp. 197–224). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
(2006) Spanish complex onsets and the phonetics–phonology interface. In F. Martínez-Gil & S. Colina (Eds.), Optimality-theoretic studies in Spanish phonology (pp. 15–38). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Bradley, T., & Schmeiser, B.
(2003) On the phonetic reality of Spanish /ɾ/ in complex onsets. In P. Kempchinsky & C.-E. Piñeros (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 6th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 1–20). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Bradley, T., & Willis, E.
(2012) Rhotic variation and contrast in Veracruz Mexican Spanish. Estudios de Fonética Experimental, 21, 43–74.Google Scholar
Braschi, J.
(1928) La ironía que pasa. In C. Carreras (Ed.), Florilegio de cuentos puertorriqueños (pp. 33–37). San Juan: Editorial Puerto Rico Ilustrado.Google Scholar
Cásseres Estrada, S.
(2005) Diccionario lengua afro palenquero-español [Spanish-Afro-Palenquero language dictionary]. Cartagena de Indias: Ediciones Pluma de Mompox.Google Scholar
Cathcart, C.
(2012) Articulatory variation of the alveolar tap and implications for sound change. UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report, 76–110.Google Scholar
Cotarelo y Morí, E.
(Ed.) (1911) Colección de entremeses, loas, bailes y mojigangas desde fines del siglo XVI a mediados del XVIII, t. I. Madrid: Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Españoles.
Cuba, M. del C.
(1996) El castellano hablado en Chincha. Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Escuela de Posgrado.Google Scholar
Cuervo, R. J.
(1907) Apuntaciones críticas sobre el lenguaje bogotano (5th ed.). Paris: A. & R. Roger and F. Chernoviz.Google Scholar
Derrick, D., Gick, B., & Stavness, I.
(2010) Two phonological segments, one motor event: Evidence for speech-motor disparity from English flap production. Canadian Acoustics, 38(3), 128–129.Google Scholar
Fegley, R.
(1989) Equatorial Guinea: An African tragedy. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Fukaya, T., & Byrd, D.
(2005) An articulatory examination of word-final flapping at phrase edges and interiors. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35(1), 45–58. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Garnica, R.
(2004) La pregunta. México: Nueva Imagen.Google Scholar
de Granda, G.
(1977) Estudios sobre un área dialectal hispanoamericana de población negra: las tierras bajas occidentales de Colombia. Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo.Google Scholar
(1984) Fenómenos de interferencia fonética del fang sobre el español de Guinea Ecuatorial: consonantismo. Anuario de Lingüística Hispánica, 1, 95–114.Google Scholar
Harris, J.
(1983) Syllable structure and stress in Spanish. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Herd, W., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J.
(2010) An acoustic and perceptual analysis of /t/ and /d/ flaps in American English. Journal of Phonetics, 38(4), 504–516. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hualde, J. I., & Nadeu, M. M.
(2012) Lenition and phonemic overlap in Rome Italian. Phonetica, 68(4), 215–242. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hualde, J. I., Shosted, R., & Scarpace, D.
(2011) Acoustics and articulation of Spanish /d/ spirantization. In Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 906–909).Google Scholar
Hualde, J. I., Simonet, M., & Nadeu, M.
(2011) Consonant lenition and phonological recategorization. Laboratory Phonology, 2(2), 301–329. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kingston, J.
(2008) Lenition. In L. Colantoni & J. Steele (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp. 1–31). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Lewis, A. M.
(2003) Continuancy and the aerodynamics of /r/ production in Spanish. In Proceedings of the XV International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 423–426). Barcelona, Spain.
Lindau, M.
(1985) The story of /r/. In V. Fromkin (Ed.), Phonetic linguistics: Essays in honor of Peter Ladefoged (pp. 157–168). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Liniger-Goumaz, M.
(1988) Brève histoire de la Guinée Équatoriale. Paris: Harmattan.Google Scholar
Lipski, J.
(1984) The Spanish of Malabo, Equatorial Guinea and its significance for Afro-Hispanic studies. Hispanic Linguistics, 1, 69–96.Google Scholar
(1985) The Spanish of Equatorial Guinea. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1990) El español de Malabo: procesos fonéticos/fonológicos e implicaciones dialectológicas. Madrid/Malabo: Centro Cultural Hispano-Guineano.Google Scholar
(1992) Pidgin English usage in Equatorial Guinea (Fernando Poo). English World Wide, 13, 33–57. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2000) The Spanish of Equatorial Guinea: Research on La Hispanidad’s best-kept secret. Afro-Hispanic Review, 19, 11–38.Google Scholar
(2002) Epenthesis vs. elision in Afro-Iberian language: A constraint-based approach to creole phonology. In T. Satterfield, C. Tortora, & D. Cresti (Eds.), Current issues in Romance languages (pp. 173–188). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2004) The Spanish of Equatorial Guinea: Research on La Hispanidad’s best-kept secret. Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, 8, 115–130.Google Scholar
(2005) A history of Afro-Hispanic language. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2007) El cambio /r/ > [d] en el habla afrohispánica: ¿un rasgo fonético “Congo”? Boletín de Lingüística, 19(27), 94–114.Google Scholar
(2008) El español de Guinea Ecuatorial en el contexto del español mundial. In G. Nistal Rosique & G. Pié-Jahn (Eds.), La situación actual del español en África (pp. 79–117). Madrid: Casa de África/SIAL.Google Scholar
(2013)  ¿Qué diciendo nomás? Tracing the sources of the Andean Spanish gerund. Spanish in Context, 10, 227–260. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2014a) ¿Existe un dialecto “ecuatoguineano” del español? Revista Iberoamericana, 248–249, 865–882. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2014b) Syncretic discourse markers in Kichwa-influenced Spanish: Transfer vs. emergence. Lingua, 151, 216–239. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016a) “Toned-up” Spanish: stress → pitch → tone(?) in Equatorial Guinea. In C. Tortora, M. den Dikken, I. L. Montoya, & T. O’Neill (Eds.), Romance Linguistics 2013: Selected papers from the 43rd Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (pp. 233–255). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016b) On the tenacity of Andean Spanish: Intra-community recycling. In S. Sessarego & F. Tejedo-Herrero (Eds.), Spanish language and sociolinguistic analysis (pp. 109–134). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Magnuson, T.
(2010) A look into the plosive characteristics of Japanese /r/ and /d/. Canadian Acoustics, 38(3), 130–131.Google Scholar
Màmbo-Matala Esùwa, P., & Oko Kongwe, E.
(2008) Gramática moderna de la lengua ndowe. Barcelona: Instituto de Estudios Ndowe.Google Scholar
Megenney, W.
(1990) Africa en Santo Domingo: la herencia lingüística. Santo Domingo: Museo del Hombre Dominicano.Google Scholar
(1999) Aspectos del lenguaje afronegroide en Venezuela. Frankfurt: Vervuert. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Monnot, M., & Freeman, M.
(1972) A comparison of Spanish single-tap /r/ with American /t/ and /d/ in post-stress intervocalic position. In A. Valdman (Ed.), Papers in linguistics to the memory of Pierre Delattre (pp. 409–416). The Hague: MoutonGoogle Scholar
Montes Giraldo, J. J.
(1974) El habla del Chocó: notas breves. Thesaurus, 39, 409–428.Google Scholar
Moñino, Y.
(2014) Dos lenguas para hablar del mundo y contarlo. In G. Maglia & Y. Moñino (Eds.), Kondalo pa bibí mejó. Contarlo para vivir mejor. Oratura y oralitura de San Basilio de Palenque (Colombia) (pp. 23–46). Bogotá: Editorial Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.Google Scholar
Muakuku Rondo Igambo, F.
(2000) Guinea Ecuatorial: de la esclavitud colonial a la dictadura nguemista. Barcelona: Ediciones Carena.Google Scholar
Ndongo Bidyogo, D.
(1987) Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra. Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos.Google Scholar
Ndongo Esono, S.
(1989) Gramatica fang. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Africanos.Google Scholar
Negrín Fajardo, O.
(1993) Historia de la educación en Guinea Ecuatorial: el modelo educativo colonial español. Madrid: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.Google Scholar
Núñez Cedeño, R.
(1987) Intervocalic /d/ rhotacism in Dominican Spanish: A non linear analysis. Hispania, 70, 363–368. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Obeso, C.
(2009) Cantos populares de mi tierra. Bogotá: Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá, Secretaría de Cultura, Recreación y Deporte, Secretaría de Educación, Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño. First edition Bogotá: Imprenta de la Borda, 1877.Google Scholar
Ohala, J.
(1981) The listener as a source of sound change. In C. Masek, R. Hendrick, & M. F. Miller (Eds.), Parasession on language and behavior, Chicago Linguistic Society (pp. 178–203). Chicago, IL: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
(1989) Sound change is drawn from a pool of synchronic variation. In L. E. Breivik & E. H. Jahr (Eds.), Language change: Contributions to the study of its causes (pp. 173–198). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1993) Sound change as nature’s speech perception experiment. Speech Communication, 13(1), 155–161. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012) The listener as a source of sound change: An update. In M.-J. Solé & D. Recasens (Eds.), The initiation of sound change: Perception, production, and social factors (pp. 21–36). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ortiz López, L.
(2010) El español y el criollo haitiano: contacto lingüístico y adquisición de segunda lengua. Frankfurt & Madrid: Vervuert/Iberoamericana. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pichardo, E.
(1849) Diccionario provincial casi razonado de voces cubanas (2nd ed.). Havana: Imprenta de M. Soler.Google Scholar
Polly-Chinella [José Coronel Urtecho
] (1972) En este valle de lágrimas. Revista Conservadora de El Pensamiento Centroamericano, 136 , 58–58.Google Scholar
Quilis, A., & Casado-Fresnillo, C.
(1995) La lengua española en Guinea Ecuatorial. Madrid: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.Google Scholar
Ramírez, C. J.
(2006) Acoustic and perceptual characterization of the epenthetic vowel between the clusters formed by consonant + liquid in Spanish. In M. Díaz-Campos (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonetics and Phonology (pp. 48–61). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Ramírez de Morón, M.
(1975) Andarele. Quito: n.p.Google Scholar
Recasens, D., & Pallarès, M. D.
(1999) A study of /ɾ/ and /r/ in the light of the “DAC” coarticulation model. Journal of Phonetics, 27(2), 143–169. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Riochí Siafá, J.
(2016) Redes migratorias e inserción laboral de los guineoecuatorianos. Madrid: Sial.Google Scholar
Romero, J., & Martín, S.
(2003) Articulatory weakening as basis of historical rhotacism. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Barcelona, Spain (pp. 2825–2828). Barcelona: Causal Productions.Google Scholar
Rose, M.
(2010) Intervocalic tap and trill production in the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 3(2), 379–419. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rosell, C.
(Ed.) (1874) Entremeses, loas y jácaras escritas por el licenciado Luis Quiñones de Benavente, t. II. Madrid: Librería de los Bibliófilos.Google Scholar
de Rueda, L.
(1908) Obras de Lope de Rueda. Madrid: Librería de los Sucesores de Hernando.Google Scholar
Sayahi, L.
(2014) Diglossia and language contact: Language variation and change in North Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schwegler, A.
(2002) On the (African) origins of Palenquero subject pronouns. Diachronica, 19(2), 273–332. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2011) Palenque(ro): The search for its African substrate. In C. Lefebvre (Ed.), Creoles, their substrates, and language typology (pp. 225–249). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Simarra Obeso, R., Miranda Reyes, R., & Pérez Tejedor, J. P.
(2008) Lengua ri Palenge jende suto ta chitiá. Cartagena de Indias: Casa Editorial C. I. Organización Digital.Google Scholar
Simonet, M., Rohena-Madrazo, M., & Paz, M.
(2008) Preliminary evidence for incomplete neutralization of coda liquids in Puerto Rican Spanish. In L. Colantoni & J. Steele (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology (pp. 72–86). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Sipi Mayo, R.
(2004) Inmigración y género: El caso de Guinea Ecuatorial. San Sebastián: Tercera Prensa.Google Scholar
Son, M.
(2008) Pitfalls of spectrogram readings of flaps. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123(5), 3079. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tejeira, G. B.
(1964) El habla del panameño. Panamá: Ministerio de Educación, Dirección Nacional de Cultura.Google Scholar
Ugarte, M.
(2013) Africans in Europe: The culture of exile and emigration from Equatorial Guinea to Spain. Urbana Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
de Vega Carpio, F. L.
(1893) Obras de Lope de Vega. Madrid: Real Academia Española.Google Scholar
Vila, I.
(1891) Elementos de la gramática ambú o de Annobón. Madrid: A. Pérez Dubrull.Google Scholar
Yakpo, K.
(2009) A grammar of Pichi. Berlin & Accra: Isimu Media.Google Scholar
Zamora Segorbe, A.
(2010) Gramática descriptiva del fa d’ambô. Barcelona: CEIBA & Malabo: Centros Culturales Españoles de Guinea Ecuatorial.Google Scholar
de Zarco, M.
(1938) Dialecto inglés‑africano o broken english de la colonia española del Golfo de Guinea (2nd ed.). Turnhout, Belgium: H. Proost.Google Scholar
Zue, V. W., & Laferriere, M.
(1979) Acoustic study of medial /t, d/ in American English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 66(4), 1039–1050. CrossrefGoogle Scholar