The realization of word-final, preconsonantal /s/ in the Spanish of Mexico City

Abstract

AbstractThe current study provides detailed, acoustic analyses of coda /s/realization in the Spanish of Mexico City. Linguistic variables studied include stress placement and following consonant context and the social factors that were included are gender and speaker age. Overall, the participants exhibited more variation than expected, including deletion of coda /s/, particularly before sonorants. The results of the study indicate that both linguistic and social factors affect the realization of coda /s/ in this dialect. The findings have practical implications for the L2 language and phonetics classrooms, as well as theoretical implications for phonological accounts of voicing assimilation in Spanish.