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Article Excerpt
ABSTRACT. This study presents results of the first large-scale (N = 5633), empirical analysis of syllable-initial /s/ reduction in TRADITIONAL NEW MEXICAN SPANISH. The variable aspiration and deletion of syllable-initial /s/, occurring in approximately a third of the lexical types and a quarter of the tokens analyzed, is found in word-initial position (Hi, henor Si, SENOR) and in word-medial position (ahina ASINA). Long considered a phonological trait characteristic of the Spanish of New Mexico (e.g. Espinosa 1909), to date little is known about the variable realizations of /s/ in syllable-initial position. Linguistic factors such as phonological environment, prosody and frequency are shown to correlate significantly with rates of reduction. *
INTRODUCTION. In the Traditional Spanish of New Mexico today, a phonological weakening process occurs, unexpectedly, in syllable-initial position. Syllable-initial position, generally more resistant to reductive processes compared to syllable-final position (Bybee 2001:86), is the locus of variable weakening of the sibilant /s/. Processes affecting this New Mexican /s/ in syllable-initial position include aspiration and deletion (regarded as REDUCTION in this analysis), which are found in both word-initial [Hi; henor (Si, senor) YES, SIR] and word-medial positions [ahina (asina) SO, THIS WAY, ?que paha? ?que pasa?) WHAT'S HAPPENING?).
In his analysis of the Spanish of New Mexico, Espinosa (1909:72) identifies and describes reduction of the sibilant in syllable-initial position as a feature common to the speech of the region, and this phonological trait has been noted in many valuable publications through the years (e.g. Bills 1997, Bills & Ornstein 1976, Bills & Vigil 1999, Cardenas 1975, Cobos 1983, Cotton & Sharp 1988, Gutierrez 1981, Lipski 1996, Sanchez 1982).
Clearly, the variable reduction of syllable-initial /s/ has not gone unnoticed. Disagreement persists, however, regarding the nature of this variable reduction (Alonso 1967). Obaid (1973:64) notes that the lack of consensus regarding syllable-initial /s/ reduction likely arises from '... the scarcity of available studies, especially those of a comprehensive nature' that focus on this variable. More than three decades have passed since Obaid made this observation, and nearly a century since Espinosa (1909) notes reduction in syllable-initial position, yet the number of comprehensive studies remains largely unchanged--specifically for New Mexico.
This work takes a step toward addressing this paucity of research. The present analysis is a large-scale examination of 5633 tokens of syllable-initial /s/ (word-initial, word-medial) in the spoken Traditional Spanish of New Mexico. The quantitative analysis discussed below reveals linguistic factors that significantly constrain realizations of syllable-initial /s/ in this very important variety of Spanish in the United States.
1. BACKGROUND. Traditional New Mexican Spanish refers to the variety of Spanish spoken in New Mexico and Southern Colorado by descendents of the first settlers to the region. The first permanent Hispanic settlement was established in 1598 north of present day Santa Fe, making the Spanish of these settlers one of the earliest European varieties found in the United States (Bills 1997). The Hispanic presence continued to grow during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as more and more Spanish speakers came to the area. Since the time of the first settlement, Spanish has been spoken continuously in the region, except for the 12 year period after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 in which the Spanish settlers were forced to flee.
Albuquerque was founded in 1706, and throughout the eighteenth century the Spanish-speaking population grew, primarily in the Rio Grande area, to about 25,000 people (Bills & Vigil 1999). Mexico's independence from Spain (1821) in the nineteenth century resulted in an increase in settlements and population in La Nueva Mexico. The expansion of Hispanic settlers to new areas was also brought on by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, signed at the end of the Mexican-American War, in which Mexico ceded to the United States government what is today California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and parts of Wyoming and Utah. In 1851, the first Spanish-speaking settlement in Colorado was established in the San Luis Valley by settlers from northern New Mexico (Bills 1997).
Linguistically, all of these historic events have left their imprint on the language(s) of the region. Some claim the Spanish first brought to the region was the Spanish of Andalusia (Canfield 1981), and others the Spanish of Castile (Espinosa 1930), yet many original colonists, including Juan de Onate himself (leader of the expedition resulting in the first Hispanic settlement) and most of the settlers who repopulated the Province of New Mexico in 1693 after the Pueblo Revolt, were born in the New World and hence were native speakers of American Spanish (Bills & Vigil 1999).
This American Spanish was not the Spanish of Cervantes, a myth often perpetuated in literature (Gutierrez 1981) and by New Mexican Spanish speakers themselves (Bills 1997). It is the case that archaisms are prevalent in the language. Words such as tunico DRESS, which is more commonly expressed in other American varieties as vestido, medias SOCKS for calcetines, and cuerpo BLOUSE for blusa (Cobos 1983:viii-ix) exemplify this. Archaic features also remain in the morphosyntax of the language; the retention of the archaic--ba-imperfect tense marker in certain --er verbs such as caiba vs. caia (caer TO FALL) and creiba vs. creia (creer TO BELIEVE) (Cotton & Sharp 1988:280), vide and vido for vi I SAW and vio HE/SHE/YOU FORMAL SAW respectively (Bills & Vigil 1999:50), to name a few. But despite the archaic flavor these noted features give the Spanish of the region, New Mexican Spanish is rich with lexical influences from native languages, from innovations arising independently in the region, and is certainly not a variety of sixteenth century Spanish.
Phonologically, one common feature of New Mexican Spanish considered archaic is the aspirated realization of orthographic word-initial h- derived from Latin F- (hervir [her-Bir] TO BOIL, humo [hu-mo] SMOKE, etc. (Cotton & Sharp 1988:279). Syllable-initial /s/ reduction is also considered to be an example of an archaism--a feature held over from the Spanish of previous centuries (Cardenas 1975, Lipski 1996). Lipski (1996) notes that Canfield (1981) and Espinosa (1930) share this perception and attribute syllable-initial /s/ reduction to the generally archaic nature of New Mexican Spanish. These authors cite the source of this variation as '[el] espanol de Andalucia (Canfield) o de Castilla (Espinosa) de finales del siglo XVI' (Lipski 1996:301).
Other researchers do not cite reduction of syllable-initial /s/ as an example of an archaism (Bills 1997, Bills & Vigil 1999, Obaid 1973), but rather point to language innovation, not retention, as the source of this phonological trait. Bills & Vigil (1999) note that there are a few phonological features of Traditional New Mexican Spanish, including syllable-initial /s/ aspiration, that appear to be innovations 'in that they are not typical of Mexican Spanish, or at least not of Mexican Spanish of the interior' (54).
We know that throughout the eighteenth century in the Province of New Mexico, '... the Spanish crown permitted commerce solely through the Mexican city of Chihuahua' (Bills &...
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