Language change and the post-nuclear /s/ in the Venezuelan Andes

Claudia G Castillo, Purdue University

Abstract

The process of weakening of post-nuclear /s/ is one of the most-studied aspects of Latin American Spanish and it has served to delineate different Spanish dialects. Despite the general tendency to catalog Spanish highland dialects as linguistically conservative, an increasing change is occurring in the realization of many sounds in these regions. In the Venezuelan Andes, specifically in the state of Táchira, there has been an increase in the weakening of post-nuclear /s/. The weakening of post-nuclear consonants is a feature normally related to coastal dialects, which makes it unusual to find this process in the Venezuela highlands. This process suggests that the dialect of Spanish in the Venezuelan highlands is undergoing linguistic change.

Degree

M.A.

Advisors

Hammond, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Linguistics

COinS