The Relative Importance of LexicalFrequency in Syllable- and Word-Final /s/ Reduction in Cali, Colombia

The literature on phonological variation and change abounds with studies about syllableand word-final /s/ reduction in Spanish. In fact, “the aspiration and deletion of /s/ in dialects of Spanish may be the most extensively treated of all sound changes being investigated from an empirical, variationist perspective” (Ferguson, 1990, p. 64). Many factors have been shown to significantly affect this linguistic phenomenon. Terrell (1979) finds word length to be a significant factor in his Cuban data, with more deletion in polysyllabic words than in monosyllabic ones. Additionally, Terrell shows that redundant plural markers in noun phrases (that is, all but the first plural marker) are prone to deletion, such as the /s/ in muchas, luchas, and internas in the phrase “. por las muchas luchas internas” ‘. because of the many internal struggles’ (p. 605, my translation). Besides word length, prosodic stress has been shown to be a significant factor. Alba (1982) demonstrates that syllableand word-final /s/ is reduced more often in unstressed syllables than in stressed ones. This finding concurs with what is known about reductive processes in general, that is, that phonetic reduction is more likely in unstressed syllables than in stressed one. In fact, longer and larger articulatory gestures can be considered part of the definition of a stressed syllable (Hualde, 2005). Finally, one factor has been shown almost invariably to have the strongest conditioning effect on syllableand word-final /s/ reduction: the following phonological context. Lipski (1984) shows that across fifteen dialects of Latin American Spanish, in general, word-final /s/ is reduced most before a consonant, less so before a vowel, and least before a pause. In addition to these linguistic factors, several extralinguistic factors have also been shown to significantly constrain syllableand word-final /s/ reduction. Alba (2003) shows that the level of formality of the communicative situation in which the speech is produced significantly conditions reduction, with more reduction in less formal situations. Additionally, Alba shows that the socioeconomic class of the speaker is influential, with more reduction among lower-class speakers. Fonetanella de Weinberg (1973) demonstrates that the sex of the speaker also contributes to reduction, with, in general, more reduction in men’s speech. Finally, the geographic origin of the speaker greatly influences the level of syllableand word-final /s/ reduction. Traditionally, dialectologists (see Zamora Vicente, 1970) have classified Spanish dialects according to the overall rate of syllableand word-final /s/ reduction, making a distinction between Tierras Altas ‘High Lands’ and Tierras Bajas ‘Low Lands,’ which Tierras Altas displaying relatively low levels of reduction and Tierras Bajas displaying high levels of reduction. This terminology is based on general trends observable in Latin American Spanish where syllableand word-final /s/ reduction is the common in the Caribbean Basin and coastal areas, but uncommon in highland areas, such as central Mexico and the Andean regions of South America. Despite the many studies that document syllableand word-final /s/ reduction in Spanish, the lexical frequency of the word in which /s/ occurs has only recently been addressed in the literature. Brown & Torres Cacoullos (2002, 2003) show that final /s/ is reduced more often in high-frequency words than in low-frequency ones in the speech of four men in Chihuahua, Mexico, but only in wordfinal position. Brown (2004) finds the opposite effect in traditional New Mexican Spanish: lexical frequency is more influential in word-internal position than in word-final position. Minnick Fox (2006) also finds a significant effect from lexical frequency in word-internal position but not in word-final position in fifteen dialects of Latin American Spanish. Further, File-Muriel (2007) reports that lexical