Measuring /s/ variation among younger generations in a migrant settlement in Lima, Peru

• Carol A. Klee ^[1] ; Brandon M. A. Rogers ; Rocío Caravedo ; Lindsey Dietz ^[2]
  1. [1] University of Minnesota

     University of Minnesota

     City of Minneapolis, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] Federal Reserve Bank
• Localización: Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone linguistics, ISSN-e 2199-3386, ISSN 1939-0238, Vol. 11, Nº. 1, 2018, págs. 29-57
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This study analyzes the pronunciation of /s/ in the Spanish of young adults in a newer migrant settlement in metropolitan Lima, Peru. The participants have parents and/or grandparents who migrated to Lima primarily from the Andean provinces, where the sibilant pronunciation of /s/ prevails. The study examines a variety of social factors, including migrant generation, family origin, gender, education, occupation, and social networks to determine the factors that correlate with /s/ weakening, which is more prevalent in Classic Limeño Spanish than in Andean Spanish (Caravedo 1990; Hundley 1983; Klee and Caravedo 2006). A proportional-odds mixed effects model was used to treat the repeated measurement categorical data on a continuum of acoustical variation ([s]>[h]>Ø) and the advantages of this model are explained. Results indicate that an important social predictor of /s/ variation is migrant generation: there is a progressive weakening in /s/ with each subsequent migrant generation. In addition to the generational effect, higher levels of education correlate with less /s/ weakening. Two variables were more weakly correlated with /s/ pronunciation: gender and social networks. Overall, the results indicate that young adults in this community, especially those of the third-generation, seem to be assimilating to some degree to coastal norms of /s/ weakening, although there is also a possibility that they may be forming their own norm.