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Share Paper 1526

Lorain Puerto Rican Spanish and 'r' in Three Generations
Michelle F. Ramos-Pellicia
53-60 (complete paper or proceedings contents)

Abstract

Retroflex 'r' in coda position has been documented in several Spanish varieties and it has been assumed to be the result from American English influence. The analysis of retroflex /r/ in Puerto Rican Spanish in Lorain, Ohio, where contact with English is ongoing and variable, presents counterevidence to the hypothesized AE source of retroflex /r/. The retroflex 'r' is most common in the third generation, a fact which is consistent with AE influence. However, first generation speakers use a retroflex 'r' in their readings in Spanish more frequently than the second generation. The AE influence explanation is, then, problematic, and despite the evidence from the second and third generations, the occurrence of 'r' in the first generation cannot be attributed solely to AE influence.

Published in

Selected Proceedings of the Third Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics
edited by Jonathan Holmquist, Augusto Lorenzino, and Lotfi Sayahi
Table of contents
Printed edition: $180.00