Puerto Rican Spanish Coda
Puerto Rican Spanish is often described as a variety of Spanish that "neutralizes" liquid consonants in the syllable coda: in words like 'arma' and 'hacer', the 'r' is perceived by some listeners as a lateral 'l'.
Puerto Rican Spanish is often described as a variety of Spanish that "neutralizes" liquid consonants in the syllable coda: in words like 'arma' and 'hacer', the 'r' is perceived by some listeners as a lateral 'l'.
One way to study the movement goals for Puerto Rican Spanish coda liquids is to compare the movements of their tongue during "r" and "l" using real-time magnetic resonance imaging (rtMRI).
I had two talkers lie in the rtMRI machine and read sentences that contained words like 'arma' in different prosodic contexts. Then I used a region-of-interest analysis to quantify movements of the tongue tip and tongue body.
It turns out that when speaking informally, Puerto Rican Spanish talkers produce distinguishable coda liquids: a canonical lateral, and a distinct liquid unlike laterals or phonemic taps.
It turns out that when speaking informally, Puerto Rican Spanish talkers produce distinguishable coda liquids: a canonical lateral, and a distinct liquid unlike laterals or phonemic taps.
PaPE2015_Poster.pdflac01182015_18_46_20_withaudio_sag.avirtMRI video of participant producing coda rhotics and laterals. Region-of-interest analysis was used to examine spatial and temporal characteristics of the movements underpinning production of liquids in coda.