Lautvariation und Lautwandel im andalusischen Spanisch

This thesis is concerned with the mechanisms by which
pre-aspiration changes into post-aspiration in Andalusian Spanish.
In this variety pre-aspiration is the result of the weakening of
syllable final /s/ before a voiceless stop (e.g. [ˈpasta] ->
[ˈpahta]). An apparent-time study was carried out to investigate
whether there is a sound change in progress from pre- to
post-aspiration ([ˈpahta] -> [ˈpatha]) in Andalusian Spanish. An
acoustic analysis of isolated words (e.g. espanto, estado, escapa)
produced by younger and older Eastern and Western Andalusian
speakers was carried out. The results provided evidence for a sound
change in progress by which pre-aspiration is gradually giving way
to post-aspiration. Further durational analyses suggest that the
sound change is more advanced in Western than in Eastern Andalusian
Spanish, and that post-aspiration lengthening and pre-aspiration
shortening are not directly linked. A perception experiment was
carried out to test whether listeners of Andalusian Spanish use
post-aspiration to distinguish /t/ and /st/ in the minimal pair
/pata/-/pasta/. Younger listeners and Western Andalusians, who
produced a longer post-aspiration, were also more sensitive to
post-aspiration as a cue to /st/ than Eastern Andalusians and older
listeners. The aim of a second perception experiment was to test
how listeners of Argentinian Spanish, a non-post-aspirating
variety, perceive pre- and post-aspirated stops. The results
suggest that in a stimulus [ˈpahtha] with pre- and post-aspiration,
post-aspiration is perceptually more prominent. These findings
support a model of the Andalusian sound change in which not only
articulatory but also perceptual factors are involved.