Article published in:
Spanish Language and Sociolinguistic Analysis
Edited by Sandro Sessarego and Fernando Tejedo-Herrero
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 8] 2016
► pp. 261–282

Bilingualism and aspiration

Coda /s/ reduction on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua

| The University of Texas at San Antonio
Spanish has become increasingly prevalent in Bilwi, a Nicaraguan town on the northern Atlantic Coast, where many L1-Miskitu locals are now Spanish-dominant. As the community shifts towards Spanish, I investigate whether these L2-Spanish speakers are producing advanced rates of coda /s/ reduction like monolingual Nicaraguan Spanish speakers. In a comparison of the Miskitu’s reduction rates with Spanish monolinguals, I find that Miskitu speakers who learned Spanish later in life do reduce coda /s/ but diverge from monolingual reduction rates preconsonantally. I contend that salience and perceptibility can account for this difference. While monolinguals reduce /s/ the most in cue-impoverished environments, the L2-Spanish speakers reduce /s/ more where they hear the reductions the best: in cue-rich, prevocalic environments.
Keywords: /s/ reduction, acquisition of variation, Bilwi, Miskitu, Nicaraguan Spanish
Published online: 25 May 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.8.11cha
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