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Perception and Production of Voiceless Spanish Fricatives by Chicano Children and Adults

In studying language change, Ohala and Lorentz (1977) observed that when the labial-velar glide [w] occurs adjacent to fricative noise, the resulting complex of acoustic features is most often perceived and pronounced as a labial, rather than a velar consonant. However, contemporary Spanish, as spoken in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, presents a somewhat different pattern. The current research examined two directional predictions based on Ohala and Lorentz (1977) with reference to the perception and production of Spanish fricatives by Chicano children and adults: A Differential Effect of Context hypothesis (more labial/ velar fricative interchanges will occur before rounded, rather than unrounded vowels or glides), and a Labial Predominance hypothesis (before a following rounded vowel or glide, labial fricatives will be favored in labial/velar interchanges). Results of perceptual tests provided support for these acoustically-based predictions, but subjects' productions also showed strong influence from sociolinguistic factors in the opposite direction.