title: Biomechanically Conditioned Variation at the Origin of Diachronic Intervocalic Voicing.
abstract: This paper addresses the question of how synchronic variation in intervocalic voicing of voiceless obstruents, as observed in several languages (e.g., Rome Italian /lato/ [lato] - [lado]), may initiate and give rise to a regular sound change (e.g., /t/ > /d/ between vowels). We hypothesize that a biomechanically motivated linkage between male gender, speech rate, and voicing may provide a way to accelerate the spread of the phenomenon and lead to an eventual generalized recategorization. In order to explore this hypothesis, first we reanalyze the results of a previous study on intervocalic voicing in Spanish, focusing on individual differences and, in particular, the possible role of gender. Then we report on a study of the same phenomenon in Basque, focusing also on interspeaker variation. Finally, we report on a controlled experiment where speech rate was manipulated.
authors.forename: Marianna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nadeu
authors.forename: José Ignacio
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Hualde
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007802:Language; D007830:Larynx / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010699:Phonation / Q000502:physiology*; D010700:Phonetics; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013030:Spain; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*