Place: Ballantine 004

Silvina Bongionanni

Spanish has three nasal phonemes that contrast by place of articulation: the bilabial nasal, the alveolar nasal, and the palatal nasal. These phonemes contrast only in syllable-initial position, as in ca[m]a ‘bed’, ca[n]a ‘white hair’ and ca[ɲ]a ‘sugar cane’. In the syllable coda, however, they undergo neutralization. Several authors (Colantoni & Kochetov, 2011; Malmberg, 1950; Quilis, 1993; Shosted & Hualde, 2010; Tiscornia, 1930) have reported a tendency in Buenos Aires Spanish to merge the palatal nasal /ɲ/ and the sequence alveolar nasal plus palatal glide, /n+j/, such that uranio ‘uranium’ and huraño ‘unsociable’ are neutralized. However, previous research has yet to provide an empirical analysis of this phenomenon. This study represents a first step to resolving the claims of merger of the palatal nasal, /ɲ/, and the sequence alveolar nasal plus palatal glide, /n+j/, in Buenos Aires Spanish. This is a preliminary investigation in that only four phonetic cues are studied: duration of the nasal segment, duration of the following segment, duration of the syllable, and formant trajectories.