Chapter 6. Real and apparent (time) changes in Yucatan Spanish

Abstract

Yucatan Spanish (YS) is a regional dialect that shows a variety of language contact features due to sustained close contact with an indigenous language, Yucatec Maya. Previous research has indicated that YS is undergoing rapid standardization toward Central Mexican norms for a variety of potential contact features (Michnowicz, 2015). Among these features is the realization of intervocalic /bdg/ as stops rather than approximants, with younger speakers producing more normative approximant realizations (Michnowicz, 2009, 2011). The present study builds on previous research by analyzing newly-collected data, giving a real-time dimension to the study of YS /bdg/. Results confirm the findings of previous studies in apparent-time, and provide additional detail on how young speakers are moving away from traditional YS forms.