Contacto De Lenguas E Identidad Regional: La Variación De Las Vocales Medias En El Castellano De Galicia

Abstract

This dissertation examines the variety of Spanish spoken in Galicia (northwestern Spain), which has been in close contact with Galician, the regional language, since the 13th century. Specifically, it focuses on the variation of the mid vowels /e, o/ in Spanish, as both languages differ in their vowel system: Galician has four mid vowels (/e, ɛ, o, ɔ/), whereas Spanish has only two (/e, o/). Using a variationist approach, this dissertation quantitatively investigates the use and distribution of Galician and Spanish mid vowels and the effect of linguistic and social factors. The data (6,771 vowels) come from individual sociolinguistic interviews with 64 participants from a semi-urban community. The results show that overall the use of Galician mid vowels in stressed and unstressed position in Spanish is more likely in the speech of Galician-dominant speakers, female speakers, speakers who have completed primary and secondary education, and speakers who work in manufacturing. These results are interpreted using Flege’s Speech Learning Model and by assuming a linguistic repertoires perspective that connects variation to social-indexical meaning. Differences were found between the stressed and unstressed vowel system that could be due to a language change. Using a sociophonetic perception approach, this dissertation also investigates the social meanings associated with the production of Galician or Spanish mid vowels in Galician Spanish. The results demonstrate that speakers who use Galician vowel variants in Spanish are perceived as having less leadership and charisma, more positive social traits, lower education, and are more likely to have Galician as a habitual language, a rural origin, a different way of speaking than participants, and as having learned Spanish at school than those who use Spanish vowel variants. These findings align with some correlations that were found to be statistically significant in the quantitative analysis of production. They also demonstrate that speakers are highly attuned to the social meaning conveyed through the phonetic variation of the Galician mid vowels and that they employ the Galician or Spanish features to signal their identity and to socially evaluate and position other speakers.