The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 1

The Shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study By Juan Soto Franco

Department of Linguistics College of Arts and Sciences Ohio University

Dr. David Bell Director, Ling. 682 Spring 2006

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 2 Abstract The following research is a partial replication of Gonzlezs (1999) study and focuses on the shift of the phoneme /l/ to /r/ in word and syllable final positions in the southwestern dialect spoken in Barahona, Dominican Republic. This phonological phenomenon is quite common in the southwestern part of the country and in other parts of the Caribbean. The research also shows the tendency of this phonological change as well as the influence of the dialect spoken in the capital city, Santo Domingo, where the speakers tend to do the opposite. That is, there is a significant percentage of speakers from both areas (Santo Domingo and Barahona) who are using two different dialects which do not match the standard forms spoken by educated people or taught in the schools. The study takes into consideration sociolinguistic variables such as age, gender, and educational level of the speakers and concludes that younger speakers, and especially females, use the local variety most.

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who made this project a reality. First of all, I want to thank God for giving me enough health and strength to accomplish this goal. Secondly, thank you to the Fulbright Program and my LASPAU program advisors, Fulbright representatives in Dominican Republic, and Universidad Autonma de Santo Domingo professors, and employees for trusting in me and believing that I had to potential to fulfill the challenges that I encountered along these two years. Just to mention a few names: Laura Abreu, Andreta Dauhajre, Roco Billni, Carlisle Gonzlez, Ramn Espinosa Basora, Margaretha Geurts, Renee Hahn, and Carlos Solrzano. And of course, thanks to the people of Barahona for their kind and decisive participation in this project. Thirdly, I would like to thank my relatives and friends who emotionally supported me, encouraged me to go on and give my best during this research paper. I want to conclude by thanking the Ohio University Linguistics Department, faculty members and personnel. Thanks to Dr. Bell for his great patience and wonderful teaching. Also thanks to Dr. Soemarmo, my academic advisor. Especial thanks to Dr. Flanigan for giving me her friendly and lovely smile when I first arrived in Gordy Hall and for her Sociolinguistics class which was the inspiration and starting point for this proseminar paper. Also thanks for her unconditional support and endless revisions as a second reader of this project.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! THANK YOU, ALL!

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 4 INTRODUCTION William Labov pioneered the study of language change in society when he carried out his famous sociolinguistic study in three department stores in New York in 1966. He observed the language variation used by different customers in these stores while trying to pronounce /r/ in the answer fourth floor. He noticed how their speech was affected depending on social class and how aware they were of their own speech. Labov understands linguistic change primarily as sound change (2004, p. 11). The study of language variation has continued to this day. According to Shopen (1979), variation is found in all speech communities of the world (p. 54). In other words, there is no language in the world that does not have at least some dialectal variation. Therefore, since speakers from the Dominican Republic (DR) are part of the world speech community, then there must be dialectal variation in this country. This paper examines dialectal change in a southwestern part of DR, more specifically, in the city of Barahona. The topic I deal with is a mixed one. It involves two areas of linguistics: sociolinguistics and phonology. On the sociolinguistic side, the focus is on the regional dialect spoken in Barahona taking into account three variables: age, gender and education. On the phonology side, the research centers on a phonological change that is typical of the region, namely, the shift of the phoneme /l/ to /r/ in word and syllable final positions. One key term worth keeping in mind while following this research is regional dialect. Romaine (1994) defines regional dialect as a variety [of language] associated with a place (p. 2). In this case, Barahona is a place known for the typical change of the phoneme /l/ to /r/, which is presently considered a non-standard variety of Dominican

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 5 Spanish spoken in the southwestern part of the country and in other areas of the Caribbean. Another important term is rhotacization, which occurs when vowels are followed by [r] (Ladefoged, 2001, p. 78).

BACKGROUND Toward the end of the fifteenth century, in 1492, colonizers from Spain arrived in La Hispaniola (today DR and Haiti) bringing with them their typical manner of speaking, which influenced [the southwestern part of] the country where they settled down (Ramrez, 1983, p. 21). According to Henrquez Urea (1940) by the year 1505, there were seventeen European style villages on the island among them, la Concepcin de la Vega, Santiago de los Caballeros, el Bonao, el Cotu, Puerto Plata, San Juan de la Maguana, Azua de Compostela, my translation (p. 31). The last two villages are located in the southwestern part of the country. Dominican Spanish was greatly influenced by the dialect spoken in Andalusia, Spain. Henrquez Urea (1940, p. 40) claims that it has una fontica que se asemeja a la andaluza [a phonetics that resembles Andalusias, my translation]. It is interesting to note that the phonological change of /l/ to /r/ in Barahona was influenced by a similar phenomenon in Andalusian Spanish traced back to before the 15th century. Furthermore, Nuez Cedeo (1979) established the same connection when he cited Boyd-Bowman (1964) who claims most of the founding Spanish colonizers came from Andalusia; consequently, the inhabitants of Santo Domingo share certain linguistic features with them (p. 14). As a Dominican citizen (born and raised in Santo Domingo (SD), the capital city) I have had a wide contact with southwestern speakers in my country, first of all because

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 6 both of my parents are from a neighbor southwestern region (Ban) located two hours away from Barahona. While I was a child, we used to visit my grandparents and other relatives every summer. As a professor, I have traveled to the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo campus in Barahona city to teach English as a foreign language every weekend for the past five years. My interaction with speakers in this city and neighboring communities triggered my curiosity about their particular phonological phenomenon. Barahona is located in the southwestern part of the DR. It is 124.3 miles (200 km) away from SD (see map, Appendix A). The total population of Barahona is 179,239 people, according to the VIII National Census of Population and Housing conducted by the National Statistics Office (2002). The breakdown of the total population places 134,714 people in the urban area while 44,525 are in the suburban area. Suburban inhabitants intensively interact with the residents in Barahona due to the citys availability of job opportunities, commercial contacts and academic institutions.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This research aims to identify the different linguistic environments where this phenomenon (/l/ /r/) occurs. It also focuses on sociolinguistic variables such as age,

socio-economic condition, education and gender associated with this phonological change. This study is important because it may promote more social awareness and acceptance of the way Barahonian people speak. Besides, this research may also benefit areas such as business, diplomacy, and other language related areas in my country and elsewhere by functioning as a dialect reference to the world of this phonological change,

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 7 which is common not only in DR but also in much of the Caribbean region but still considered non-standard by educated and professional people.

LITERATURE REVIEW Several studies have been carried out in DR about Dominican Spanish. Some started as early as the first quarter of the twentieth century by the Dominican government and individual researchers. For example, between December 1921 and October 1922, the Dominican government conducted 16 non-scientific dialect surveys covering practically the complete geography of the country. The governments reports emphasis was laid on lexicon. No single audio recording is available today. The breakdown of these studies is as follows: ten were done in the northern part of the country or Cibao, two in the southwest, two in the east, and two in the capital city, according to Gonzlez (1999, pp.913). From the very beginning of linguistic research in DR, most of the resources and efforts were focused in the northern part of the country, and the southwest seems to have been neglected. In 1940, Pedro Henrquez Urea, the first Dominican linguist, wrote a book entitled El Espaol en Santo Domingo [Spanish Language in Santo Domingo]. In his book, he made a remarkable job by describing the linguistic situation in DR from different points of view (syntactical, morphological, semantically, phonological system, even from a historical perspective). However, in the phonological part he did not use audio recorded data, only text excerpts. In 1956, Toms Navarro published the article Apuntes Sobre el Espaol Dominicano [Notes about Dominican Spanish] in which he dealt with phonetic features

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 8 of Dominican Spanish. In his study he included two southwestern provinces; however, Barahona was not among the provinces he wrote about. The list of authors dedicated to the study of the phonological changes in the northern part of DR is long. For example, in 1982, Sobre la Semivocalizacin de las Lquidas en el Espaol Cibaeo [About Semi-vocalization of Liquids in Cibaeo Spanish] was written by the Chilean linguist Jorge Nelson Rojas. His paper concentrated on vocalization of implosive /l/ and /r/ in word and syllable final position. Similarly, Peralta, Morillo and Vargas (1988) wrote a monograph paper for their BA degree at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo with the title Estudio del Comportamiento de los Fonmas Lquidos /r/ y /l/ en Posicin Implosiva en el Dialecto Hablado en San Francisco de Macors [Study of the phonemes /r/ and /l/ in Implosive Position of the Dialect Spoken in San Francisco de Macors]. Again, the study was carried out in the northern part of the country taking into account the socioeconomic variable. Their results showed that 49.5% of the upper class vocalized /r/; the middle class did it in 27.2% and the lower in 23.3%. In the case of the vocalization of the phoneme /l/, the upper class vocalized 49.2 %; the middle class did it in 26.9.2% and the lower in 23.9% (pp. 34-35). It was in 1995 when Carlisle Gonzlez Tapia wrote the first sociolinguistic research about Dominican Spanish that made a complete coverage of the north (Cibao), the southwestern and the eastern parts of the country. In his article El Habla Campesina Domincana: Mitos y Realidades. Aspecto Fontico, Gonzlez analyzed the particular phenomenon of /l/ usage in Barahona. Gonzlez claimed that in Barahona there was more retention of /l/ (73.1%) than shift of /l/ /r/ (14.8%). In his article, Gonzlez mentions

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 9 that these changes occur in the lower socioeconomic level and he included young and adult male and female participants; however, the article does not show which age group or gender makes the change. Thus, my research is a partial replication of Gonzlezs research with especial attention to the shift of /l/ /r/ in local Barahonians speech in

word and syllable final positions to learn whether this tendency has remained stable or is undergoing either increase or decrease.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS/HYPOTHESES The present study seeks to provide answers to the following research questions. 1. In what linguistic environments is the phonological change /l/ /r/ more likely to

occur? 2. How is this phonological change influenced by the variables of age, gender and education? 3. How aware are participants of this feature of their own dialect? These research questions lead to the following hypotheses: 1. This phonological change will happen before all voiced and voiceless stops. It will also happen in stressed, post-vocalic, non-intervocalic, syllables and word finally. 2. Older people will have a higher usage of the local dialect; however, young female speakers also use the local variety since they are neither regularly interacting with other speakers nor traveling to other cities. There is also a direct relationship between the academic level and occupation of the participants and the retention of /l/. 3. Participants will show a considerable awareness of this feature of their own dialect.

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 10 METHODOLOGY Subjects/Sources In order to test these hypotheses, I collected data from 20 participants (9 males and 11 females) taking into account their age, academic background and place of residence. The purpose of having a wide range of ages (between ages 12 and 60) is to observe how this phenomenon may differ in older speakers and younger ones. Moreover, by taking into account a group of ages like this, I hope to determine the effect of agegrading, if any (Labov, 1994, p. 73). That is, will the younger users of /r/ revert to /l/ usage when they enter the adult working world? Sub-groups were defined as 12-20, 2145, and 50-60. Additionally, participants were high school or university students, and professionals or semi-skilled workers. Another condition to consider was their residence. They needed to be long-term Barahona residents and/or residents of neighboring communities like Cabral or Cristobal that the data collected would be representative of the area.

Material/Instruments To obtain data for this research project, I used a reading passage, a word list, a questionnaire, three topics for free discussion (see Appendix B), and a perception test (see Appendix C). All these instruments were written in Spanish. The purpose of the questionnaire was to collect demographic information. This questionnaire was piloted in Ohio University at the Linguistics Department by some of my colleagues, who gave me feedback, and changes were made to improve it. The reading passage and the word list were designed to include linguistic environments that

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 11 would potentially trigger the change of the phoneme /l/ to /r/ as participants read them aloud. By asking participants to read the passage and the word list aloud, I sought to elicit the production of the phonological phenomenon in the most self-conscious circumstances where the speakers would most like control their use of /l/ (Labov, 1984, p. 56) In relation to the discussion topics, participants were given the option to choose one out of three topics intended to observe their casual speech. At this point, I interacted with the participants within the framework of an informal interview in order to keep them talking as much as possible about the topic they chose so that I could elicit their least self-conscious change of /l/ to /r/ (Labov, 1984, p. 59) Finally, a perception test was administered to participants. Participants listened to 11 words that included this particular phonological change. The first one was given as an example, and then the remaining ten were part of the actual test. The rationale behind this test was to know how aware Barahonian speakers are about their own particular dialect (Labov & Ash, 1997).

Procedure The data collection was gathered following a three-step procedure. First of all, participants were asked to read aloud a passage. This passage has the format of a newspaper report and contains specific linguistic environments where /l/ and /r/ are present. Second, they were asked to read 20 words from a word list. Some distracters were included in both tests so that the subjects would not notice the purpose of the study so overtly. Third, the subjects were asked to pick one of three topics for free speech. If participants did not feel at ease with any of the topics, they were free to talk about any

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 12 other topic of their choice. The purpose of this section was to listen to their casual speech and the potential production of the phoneme /l/ as /r/. For these three sections, participants were informed that their voices would be recorded into an iPod, a digital audio recorder. After the recordings, participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire, anonymously. Casual speech was part of the data collected in this project because it offers the opportunity to evaluate the dialect in its vernacular stage. For the formal aspect of the language I recorded a word list and the reading of a passage. According to Labov (1972, p. 136) as formality increases, the frequency of occurrence of some non-standard linguistic features decreases. However, this approach has been questioned by a number of scholars. L. Milroy (1980) and Romaine (1980), for example, found that reading; where attention is directly focused on speech, does not consistently result in the use of fewer non-standard features. In this study I will test for these claims and discuss them in the results section. Finally, subjects performed the perception test (see appendix C). In order to create this test, I made a selection of 11 words from the original recordings (reading passage, casual conversation and word list) and re-recorded them as a new audio file by using Audacity software. While administering this test, I played back the 11 words as spoken by a mix of all 20 speakers so that the participants, using a set of headphones and a sheet of paper with four columns, listened and tried to identify how frequently they use those words by making a check mark () in the box on the appropriate column (columns 1 and 2). In addition, they wrote those words down in a separate column (column 3). By having them write down these words, I hoped to verify how much awareness the

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 13 participant had about specific phonological changes (Labov & Ash, 1997). The last action on this test was to autocorrect the words they identified that were not pronounced according to the Dominican standard by writing them down in the fourth column.

ANALYSIS Qualitative data were obtained from the questionnaire, and the different tests were quantified. For the analysis of the audio data, I first transferred the digital audio files to Audacity (audio software), which allowed me to edit the files and make them more usable for the perception test. Next, I transcribed those audio files in order to observe and identify the linguistic environments of occurrences. In other words, I sought to find the linguistic conditions that condition this change and the social factors correlated with these. By contrast, this analysis also allowed me to detect the environments where the change did not happen. For the statistical part of this research project, I used Microsoft Excel to enter the data collected and create tables. The following section shows four examples of the audio excerpts as transcribed from the different sections recorded (reading passage, word list and free speech). They include the instances where the phonological change /l/ /r/ occurred and they are

identified in bold type letters using IPA. Subject numbers refer to the numbers in tables 5, 6, and 7 below. See Appendix A for the reading passage and word list. Subject 1 (F, Secretary, age 20) A. Reading Passage MAO, VALVERDE. Este mircoles 14 de abril a las cinco de la tarde un instructor de la escuela intermedia Alba Pichardo comenzaba a corregir unos exmenes de espaol cuando de repente [argin] toc fuertemente a su puerta. El maestro, identificado como

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 14 Rafael Almanzar se acerco para abrir, pero antes mir por el ojo mgico y qued [totarmnt] sorprendido al ver all a un hombre [arto], rubio y de ojos verdes. El seor vesta una camisa azul mangas largas, unos pantalones negros y un [dlantar] blanco. Para el profesor Almanzar, [akr] personaje luca extrao, as que* * The reading passage ended at this point. B. Word list viernes carburador [porbo] alternador partir C. Free speech Mi aspiracin en la vida es ser una gran profesional, aspiro ser una gran administradora de empresa. Y mi gran sueo es tener una familia estable, tener nios, porque me encantan los nios. Y tener un esposo que sea bueno, que sea un gran hombre y ser una gran esposa. When asked how many children she would like to have, the subject replied: tres, me gustaran ms... mi ideal seran cuatro, porque me gusta una familia larga, una familia grande, pero eso es muy difcil en la mujer los hombres son ms cosa tenerlos con diferentes mujeres a que sea grande? Bueno, a que me gustan mucho los nios. Entonces en mi familia somos muchas personas. Yo tengo 23 tos 23 somos muchos, entonces siempre somos unidos, a pesar de muchos. Yo vea la comprensin y lo bien que se llevaban, muchos hermanos as a pesar de las peletas que siempre tienen, pero es bien bonito yo [aktuarmnt] estudio ingeniera industrial, pero me quiero transferir pa administracin. Siempre desde chiquita, yo me fije en administracin. Lo que pasa es que despus que uno va creciendo, se va como creando una inestabilidad en la carrera que tu quieres elegir. Entonces, me decan que qu empresa yo iba a administrar si mi pap no tiene. Me fu, como que se me fue yendo como yo estudi en un politcnico, lcteo, procesamiento de productos lcteos, entonces decid estudiar ingeniera industrial, que tiene que ver con la industria. Entonces, aunque me gusta la carrera, pero administracin me gusta ms como yo tengo poco tiempo, nada ms he dado materias de Colegio, decid hacer administracin. Me voy a transferir y quiero ser una gran profesional en administracin de empresas s porque ya yo he investigado y he visto que no necesariamente tienes que tener una empresa para t destacarte y darte una gran profesional en tu rea porque si por eso fuera, hubieran muchos profesionales que no y eso tiene mucho campo [mantr] [burto] sol [papr] [sarto] [barkon] camisa favor [mar] pausa avin celular parque carne final

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 15 entonces, despus de una gran investigacin, yo decid que yo s iba a hacerme profesional en administracin. Aunque despus ms adelante cuando yo ya tenga un trabajo estable, en una universidad privada, haga ingeniera industrial porque tambin me gusta. La ingeniera es mejor que la administracin, en un sentido tiene mucho ms campo de trabajo y aunque uno dice que uno entra a estudiar para tener un mejor futuro, es buscando dinero entonces la ingeniera tiene mucho campo de trabajo y es bien buena, la industrial Yo todava no he tenido esa visin, pero s he tenido sueo y visin de que me veo trabajando en una empresa como administradora y particularmente, quiero hacer esas dos carreras porque me gustan ms y como uno puede todo, todo se puede. Even though this is not the focus of our study, it is worth mentioning that the following data include no instances of /l/ phenomenon to include instances of /r/ will be italicized. Subject 2 (M, Accountant, age 50) A. Reading Passage MAO, VALVERDE. Este mircoles 14 de abril a las cinco de la tarde un instructor de la escuela intermedia Alba Pichardo comenzaba a corregir unos exmenes de espaol cuando de repente alguien toc fuertemente* a su puerta. El maestro, identificado como Rafael Almanzar se acerco para abrir, pero antes mir por el ojo mgico y qued totalmente sorprendido al ver all a un hombre alto, rubio y de ojos verdes. El seor vesta una camisa azul mangas largas, unos pantalones negros y un delantal blanco. Para el profesor Almanzar, aquel personaje luca extrao, as que /r/; however, the participant reversed this /l/. This will be explained later. These changes

B. Word list viernes carburador polvo alternador partir mantel bulto sol papel salto balcn camisa favor mal pausa avin celular parque carne final

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 16 C. Free speech Bueno, mi sueo o aspiracin en la vida es ofrecerle la educacin al mayor nivel posible a mis tres hijos. Fundamentalmente a la hembra, quiero que sea mdico. El varn mayor ingeniero. Y como he empleado la mayor parte de mi vida laborando en esta institucin, ya estoy casi para el perodo de jubilacin. Uno de mis sueos o aspiracin es lograr jubilarme y buscar otra actividad que hacer, remunerable, para poder garantizarles a mis hijos la educacin. Porque ya de alguna manera, quien le habla y mi esposa tenemos ya la educacin superior alcanzada. Entonces, nos resta ahora encaminar a nuestros hijos para el bienestar de la familia el mayor tiene 17, 12 tiene la del medio, que es la hembra y siete el ms pequeo el varn que tiene 17, le gusta mucho incursionar en la electrnica, en asuntos de electricidad y esas cosas. Es muy inquieto, es muy despierto, incluso resuelve algunos emergencias, resuelve algunos problemas que se presentan en la casa Bueno, dentro de las aspiraciones generales, me voy a adelantar primera vez. Tengo en proyecto abandonar el pas en busca de otras actividadesbueno, tengo dos opciones posibles, muy slidas. Lo que pasa es que todava no me he decidido, esperando la jubilacin de la que le hable anteriormente. Probablemente me dirija a Espaa, donde tengo unos contactos muy fuertes. Un compadre tiene su apartamento all y me ha ofrecido todo el apoyo. Y tengo otro compadre tambin en New York, a pesar de que est haciendo unos arreglos para irse a vivir a Miami, pero esas relaciones estn ah esperando. Que siempre me llama de vez en cuando y me dice que en que yo estoy. Porque a lo mejor el piensa que irse para all es como tomar un autobs aqu o y eso no es as, hay que arreglar las cosas primero, organizar todo La intencin en definitiva, es que con los ingresos de la pensin de la universidad, pues dejarla aqu para que la familia se aguante un poco en lo que busco otros mediosesa es la idea. * The participant performed the opposite phenomenon (changed /r/ to /l/); that is, furtmnt [fultmnt]. Subject 4 (F., High School student, age 14) A. Reading Passage MAO, VALVERDE. Este mircoles 14 de [abrir] a las cinco de la tarde un instructor de escuela intermedia [arba] Pichardo comenzaba a corregir unos exmenes de [spaor] cuando de repente [argin] toc fuertemente a su puerta. [r] maestro, identificado como [rafar] [armansa] se acerc para abrir, pero antes mir por /r/ ojo mgico y qued [r] sorprendido [ar] ver all a un hombre [arto], rubio y de ojos verdes. [r] seor vesta una camisa [asur] mangas largas, unos pantalones negros y un

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 17 [dlantar] blanco. Para el profesor [armansar], [akr] personaje luca extrao, as que B. Word list viernes carburador polvo [artrnador] partir C. Free speech Mi sueo es terminar mi carrera. Hacerme una buena doctora y triunfar en la vida. Ser [argin] y valerme por mi misma... siete aos ms o menos me gusta medicina, pero en pediatra para tratar con los nios y ser til en mi vida cinco somos, dos de padre y madre y tres de padre bueno, yo me veo en mi futuro aqu en [r] pas para ayudar a los dems tambin y voy a primer bachiller ahora naturales en el tema de las enfermedades y que la producen. Porque ah [especiarmnt] se trata [argo] de medicina, que la previene, que no, que es malo y que es malo para la enfermedad me gustara ms en la capital s, un to que ya es ingeniero s... como a Estados Unidos y Madrid gracias a usted. Subject 5 (M., Law student, age 44) A. Reading Passage (partial) MAO, [barvrd]. Este mircoles 14 de [abrir] a las cinco de la tarde un instructor de escuela intermedia [arba] Pichardo comenzaba a corregir unos exmenes de [spaor] cuando de repente [argin] toc fuertemente a su puerta. El maestro, identificado como Rafael Almanzar se acerco para abrir, pero antes mir por el ojo mgico y qued [totarmnt] sorprendido [ar] ver all a un hombre [arto], rubio y de ojos verdes. El seor vesta una camisa [asur] mangas largas, unos pantalones negros y un [dlantar] blanco. Para el profesor Almanzar, [akr] personaje luca extrao, as que B. Word list viernes carburador [porbo] [artrnador] partir [mantr] [burto] [sor] [papr] [sarto] [barkon] camisa favor mal pausa avin celular parque carne [finar] [mantr] [burto] sol papel salto [barkon] camisa favor [mar] pausa avin celular parque carne [finar]

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 18 C. Free speech Mi sueo es serme [profsionar], tener una vida ms adecuada, ms cmoda en virtud del provecho que yo haiga tenido con referente a mi profesin, tener una actividad familiar, tener lo ms adecuado o lo ms mnimo de a lo que concierne a una persona. De entre lo que concierne a mi futuros, aspiro a tener una vivienda propia, un salario ms confortable. Aunque hoy en da yo no lo devengo, pero tengo posibilidades ya a travs de lo que concierne a mi profesin licenciatura en derecho entro al octavo semestre de la carrera la carrera dura diez semestres como la Universidad Autnoma de Santo Domingo le favorece a los estudiantes de que elijan su propio estatus de lo que concierne a la investigacin me ha no meno es ms rpido por el monogrfico tenemos tres o cuatro compaera que estamos discutiendo y en base a qu vamos a actuar si a un monogrfico o si es a una tesis; pero desde el punto de vista normal yo lo veo que es ms cmodo, es menos costo - el monogrfico de la cual la Universidad Autnoma de Santo Domingo adquiere no expone a que el estudiantado sea el que elija el tema de los monogrficos, sino ella lo elige, ella. O sea que de esa vertiente no tenemos nosotros [er] tema esencial para uno actuar en lo que concierne a la investigacin. Ahora la investigacin si previene, despus que la universidad nos tiene a nosotros el tema a seguir. Ahora vyase ms all, con lo que concierne a los asuntos de tesis, uno abstiene a su propio conviccin al tema al que se va a basar, llmese, que si la universidad lo aprueba. Bueno, me gustara investigar en base a la emigracin, que es el rea que me hace ms llegar a tener como una esencia, como que me solidarizo ms con la emigracin [internasionar] en base a lo que concierne a nuestra emigracin que tenemos lateralmente Hait tenemos otros pases amigos que tenemos la emigracin de nosotros masivamente, que con anterioridad eran ellos quien venan a nuestro pas, que era Puerto Rico. Ahora no, ahora es viceversa, somos nosotros que nos estamos emigrando mediante lo que concierne a las yolas y a veces nos vamos a emigrar mediante lo que son los barcos. O sea, llamado los mojaitos o llamados los polizontes. De todas maneras, a nosotros, por lo menos, nos gustara el tema en lo que concierne a la emigracin en base a eso. Bueno, particularmente, t sabes que en nuestro pas se ve en base a la politiquera. Y por lo menos cuando estemos con regimenes que vengan de la politiquera, ya uno tiene que basarse a lo que son los polticos tradicionales, llmese los partidos polticos que surjan en el sentido de lo que t tiene que seguirles a ellos. O engancharte a poltico con algn partido X para ver si t puedes lograr tus objetivos. Pero vamonos al caso de lo que concierne al estudio del derecho llmese que andamos por los 27 mil, 28 mil pero en base a esa virtud, uno siempre se busca su forma de vida asuntos jurdicos, consultas jurdicas condicin de venta de muebles e inmuebles Eso tiene que ver con la inmobiliaria porque prcticamente los notarios tener una persona que te firme los documentos como notario el notario lo que hace es legitimarte ms el expediente al elegir yo la profesin te dira que eso viene de una marca esencial, eso me marc [argo] en mi vida que me condujo a estudiar el derecho. Eso ocurre

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 19 cuando la FINJUS (Fundacion Institucionalidad y Justicia, Inc.) [Institution and Justice Foundation, Inc.] vino aqu donde yo me encontraba de visita un amigopor lo menos l estaba en la segunda planta, yo estaba de visita para la mam la esposa de l estaba enferma tiene la nia abajo se alma un brollo de estos que siempre se alma en los barrios y la nia fue ultrajada, moralmente golpeada y el bajo de la segunda planta cabo de la marina de guerra, portaba siempre un pual y el tipo agredi a un polica y de una sola estocada mat al polica. Bueno, pero al encontrarme yo de visita, el seor le dice y se entrega a la justiciaen las interrogaciones l le dice a la polica que yo no estaba, que le preguntaran a fulano de [tar] que l no estaba en problema estaba Balaguer por cierto gobernandola polica instrumentaba los expedientes, le formalizaba los expedientes y por lo tanto de yo no adquirir o darle al investigador quiz 500 pesos, me introdujo en el expediente testigo de que en realidad l no estaba en problemasde que l le dijo que l no estaba en problemas yo no se si l agolpi a un militar o si no lo agolpi alrededor de 10 o 15 [mir] pesos que los gasto la institucin donde yo trabajaba en Barcel Industrial lo que me concierne es que me marc eso y v que el derecho para mi era una cosa esencial para no ultrajar a otras personas. RESEARCH FINDINGS These are some of the findings I expected at the end of this research project. 1. Most phonological change of /l/ to /r/ should be found in word final and stressed syllable final positions and before voiced and voiceless stops. The phonological change will not happen when the phoneme /l/ is in word initial position. 2. Older speakers (males and females) may show a higher usage of this dialectal variation under investigation than younger speakers. However, young women may show a greater usage of the local variety in comparison to young men. A direct correlation between academic level, occupation and approximation to standard Spanish would be found. 3. Older speakers (males and females) may show lower awareness of their dialectal variation in comparison with younger people under investigation. Based on the analysis of the transcripts (reading passage, word list and free speech), I observed interesting patterns. Tables 1, 2 and 3 clearly show the different linguistic environments where the change of /l/ to /r/ is more likely to occur. It typically

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 20 occurs before voiced and voiceless labial, alveolar and velar stops (/m, b, p, t, k, g/) at the end of a syllable (initial, medial or final). In most of the cases, it happens on the plosive or stressed syllable. Table 4 shows the environments where the change does not occur.
Table 1: Examples of /l/ /r/ before stops and fricatives LABIALS ALVEOLARS VELARS FRICATIVES /totarmnt/ /arto/ /karkular/ /r/ seor /akr/ personaje /burto/ /argin/ /arba/ /sarto/ /barkon/ /r/ maestro /konsurtas/ /armansar/ /artrnador/ /ar/ ver* /asur/ mangas /barbrd/ /porbo/ /aktuarmnt/ /tarb/ /kwar/ viva* /dlantar/ blanco * In Dominican Spanish, speakers do not distinguish between /b/ and /v/; therefore, viva and ver sound like [biba] and [br] (labials).

As can be perceived from table 1, the majority of the occurrences of this phonological change occurred before labials while the fewest number of occurrences occurred before fricatives. The phenomenon also occurs before central and back vowels /a/ and /o/ (see table 2). These specific examples were found in the reading passage section where I took into account the vowel that followed the change. Table 2: Examples of /l/ /r/ in word final position and before a vowel Central vowel Back vowel /abrir/ a /rafar/ almanzar /r/ ojo

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 21

Another environment where the phenomenon occurred was in syllable final position and in monosyllables (see table 3). Once again, these environments were identified in the formal sections of the data collection (reading passage and word list).

Table 3: Examples of /l/ /r/ in syllable final position Syllable final position /mantr/ /finar/ /papr/ /rafar/

Monosyllables /mar/ /sor/

After identifying the different linguistic environments where this phonological change takes place, I also found the linguistic environments where the change does not occur (see table 4).

Table 4: Environments where the phonological change /l/ WORD INITIAL INITIAL CONSONANT CLUSTERS* /la/ /blanko/

/r/ does not occur* INTERVOCALIC POSITION /skula/

* However, according to Gonzlez (1999), in some folk texts, the neutralization of /r/ and /l/ can be found in words such as clinejita instead of criznejita or crisnejita (woven hair style as in palm fronds) and clin instead of crin (horsehair) (p. 307). The following analysis shows the percentage of occurrence of /l/ --> /r/ by participants in the three different sources of data collection (reading passage, word list and free speech) (see tables 5, 6 and 7).

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 22

Table 5: Reading Passage (Percentage of occurrence of /l/ /r/ Participant Age Gender Occupation Education Potential 20 F Secretary Post-HS 17 1 50 M Accountant Post-HS 17 2 25 M Comp. Prog. Post-HS 17 3 14 F Student Pre-HS 17 4 44 M Law Student Post-HS 17 5 58 M Pediatrician Post-HS 17 6 16 M Student Pre-HS 17 7 20 M Student Post-HS 17 8 25 F Student Post-HS 17 9 51 F Nurse Post-HS 17 10 45 F Hotel Recept Post-HS 17 11 51 F Hotel Recept Post-HS 17 12 52 M Salesperson Post-HS 17 13 18 M Student Post-HS 17 14 21 F Student Post-HS 17 15 25 F Sales Rep. Post-HS 17 16 15 F Student Pre-HS 17 17 14 F Student Pre-HS 17 18 12 F Student Pre-HS 17 19 60 M Hotel Recept Post-HS 17 20 TOTAL 340

Occurrence 6 0 0 16 10 0 2 1 4 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 43

Percentage 35% 0% 0% 94% 59% 0% 12% 6% 24% 6% 0% 0% 6% 6% 0% 0% 0% 0% 6% 0% 13%

Table 6: Word List (Percentage of occurrence of /l/ /r/ Participant Age Gender Occupation Education 20 F Secretary Post-HS 1 50 M Accountant Post-HS 2 25 M Comp. Prog. Post-HS 3 14 F Student Pre-HS 4 44 M Law Student Post-HS 5 58 M Pediatrician Post-HS 6 16 M Student Pre-HS 7 20 M Student Post-HS 8 25 F Student Post-HS 9 51 F Nurse Post-HS 10 45 F Hotel Recept Post-HS 11 51 F Hotel Recept Post-HS 12 52 M Salesperson Post-HS 13 18 M Student Post-HS 14 21 F Student Post-HS 15 25 F Sales Rep. Post-HS 16 15 F Student Pre-HS 17 14 F Student Pre-HS 18 12 F Student Pre-HS 19 60 M Hotel Recept Post-HS 20 TOTAL

Potential 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 200

Occurrence 7 0 0 6 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 25

Percentage 70% 0% 0% 60% 80% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 40% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 13%

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 23

Table 7: Free Speech (Percentage of occurrence of /l/ Participant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Age 20 50 25 14 44 58 16 20 25 51 45 51 52 18 21 25 15 14 12 60 Gender F M M F M M M M F F F F M M F F F F F M Occupation Secretary Accountant Comp. Prog. Student Law Student Pediatrician Student Student Student Nurse Hotel Recept Hotel Recept Salesperson Student Student Sales Rep. Student Student Student Hotel Recept Education Post-HS Post-HS Post-HS Pre-HS Post-HS Post-HS Pre-HS Post-HS Post-HS Post-HS Post-HS Post-HS Post-HS Post-HS Post-HS Post-HS Pre-HS Pre-HS Pre-HS Post-HS TOTAL /r/ Potential 11 8 13 6 59 10 10 16 8 9 10 13 11 12 7 2 10 6 13 17 251 Occurrence 1 0 0 4 14 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 28 Percentage 9% 0% 0% 67% 24% 20% 10% 0% 13% 0% 10% 8% 9% 8% 0% 0% 10% 0% 0% 0% 11%

By observing the three tables, I was surprised to see that the higher percentage of occurrences happened in the formal stages of the data collection (reading passage and word list) with 13% total for each section. Conversely, the total percentage of occurrences in the free speech section (11%) was lower. However, a consistent pattern can be seen in the case of one female student with pre-high school preparation (number 4). This student probably has not had enough contact with other dialects to be aware of alternative pronunciations. Overall, however, these results look very similar to those given by Gonzlez (1999) where he showed that in Barahona there was a higher percentage of /l/ retention than /r/, with only a 14.8% shift rate overall. This contrasts with my initial predictions.

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 24 The reason for such unexpected results may have the following facts as explanation. First, in the case of the Hotel Receptionists, these employees interact with professors, merchandisers, and salespeople who travel every week from the capital city. Second, the interviewer was a former teacher of some of the students participating in this study, so my presence may have influenced their retention of the school-based standard /l/. Third, most of the students interviewed here have interacted with relatives or friends who live in the capital city (Santo Domingo) and may have been influenced by their way of speaking. In Santo Domingo, the phonological phenomenon is opposite to the one in the southwestern part of Dominican Republic; that is, inhabitants in Santo Domingo tend to pronounce /r/ as [l]. For example, they would say cancel instead of cancer. Thus, the more interaction Barahonians have with speakers of the capital city, they are more likely to use /l/ instead of /r/ even in words where the underlying form is /r/, as in the case of the male Accountant cited on page 14. Now, let us have a look at the behavior of this phonological change taking into account the different sociolinguistic variables that were involved in this research project. Only the reading passage and word list totals will be reported, since the free speech potential shifts vary for each individual. The first breakdown was done by age.

Table 8-a: Shift of /l/ Age 12-20 Participants 8 Ave. 3.38

/r/ by age in the Reading Passage Age 21-45 Participants 6 Ave. 2.33 Occurrences 14

Age 50-60 Participants 6 Ave. 0.03 Occurrences 2

Occurrences 27

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 25

Table 8-b: Shift of /l/ Age 12-20 Participants 8 Ave. 2.13

/r/ by age in the Word List Age 21-45 Participants 6 Ave. 1.33 Occurrences 8

Age 50-60 Participants 6 Ave. 0.00 Occurrences 0

Occurrences 17

It is observable that the younger the participants are the more likely they are to shift from /l/ to /r/. That is presumably because they have not yet entered into contact with other dialects or acquired a higher educational level. Contrary to my hypothesis, among older participants, the number of occurrences diminishes. We can say that the number of occurrences of /l/ to /r/ compared with age in this study was inversely proportional. This is probably due to the fact that the older people become the more they interact with urban and professional individuals. Whether young people will retain their /r/ usage in years to come cannot be predicted with certainty, but these results suggest that age-grading is occurring; that is, they will adopt the standard /l/ pronunciation as they get older.

Table 9-a: Shift of /l/ /r/ by gender in the Reading Passage Female Male Participants 11 Ave. 2.55 Occurrences 28 Participants 9 Ave. 1.67 Occurrences 15

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 26 Table 9-b: Shift of /l/ /r/ by gender in the Word List Female Male Participants 11 Ave. 1.18 Occurrences 13 Participants 9 Ave. 1.33 Occurrences 12

In terms of comparing the number of occurrences by gender, females almost doubled the usage of /r/. Such results suggest that, overall, women lead in the change of /l/ to /r/ in Barahona. Table 10-a: Instances of /l/ GENDER Female 12-20 Part. 5 /r/ in Reading Passage combined by age groups AGE GROUPS 21-45 50-60 Occurr. 23 Ave. 4.60 Male Part. 3 Ave. 1.33 Occurr. 4 Part. 2 Part. 4 Occurr. 4 Ave. 1.00 Occurr. 10* Ave. 5.00 Part. 4 Ave. 0.25 Part. 2 Occurr. 1 Ave. 0.50 Occurr. 1

* These 10 occurrences were produced by only one male participant whose educational background should reflect the different pattern, compared to the results of the rest of participants of his age and education. He is the outlier that breaks our prediction that the local change in this Dominican Spanish dialect is led by young females. This participants major is BA in law (his second career). According to one of his professors, while this participant studied his first career (BA in K-12), he used to defend students rights. His future plans include becoming a good lawyer, buying a house, and investing in real state. His parents own big lands, and he worked for a large tomato factory called Barcel & Co. for several years.

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 27 Table 10-b: Instances of /l/ GENDER Female 12-20 Part. 5 /r/ in Word List combined by age groups AGE GROUPS 21-45 50-60 Occurr. 13 Ave. 2.60 Male Part. 3 Ave. 1.33 Occurr. 4 Part. 2 Part. 4 Occurr. 0 Ave. 0.00 Occurr. 8* Ave. 4.00 Part. 4 Ave. 0.00 Part. 2 Occurr. 0 Ave. 0.00 Occurr. 0

* These eight occurrences belong to the same participant noted in table 10-a.

Table 11-a: Shift of /l/ /r/ by educational level in the Reading Passage Pre - High School Post - High School Participants 5 Ave. 3.80 Occurrences 19 Participants 15 Ave. 1.60 Occurrences 24

Table 11-b: Shift of /l/ /r/ by educational level in the Word List Pre - High School Post - High School Participants 5 Ave. 1.20 Occurrences 6 Participants 15 Ave. 1.27 Occurrences 19

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 28 The number of occurrences of /l/ to /r/ in table 11 was higher in participants who had reached a pre-high school education, as predicted. Table 12-a: Shift of /l/ /r/ by occupation in the Reading Passage Students Professionals Participants 10 Ave. 3.50 Occurrences 35 Participants 10 Ave. 0.80 Occurrences 8

Table 12-b: Shift of /l/ /r/ by occupation in the Word List Students Professionals Participants 10 Ave. 1.80 Occurrences 18 Participants 10 Ave. 0.70 Occurrences 7

Those participants who have a profession tend to minimize the number of occurrences of /l/ to /r/. The reason may be because they have interacted with other dialects due to the nature of their expanded contacts with others in their work life. Finally, a perception test was administered to determine how aware of this phonological feature of their dialect participants are (See Appendix C). Participants also had the opportunity to make corrections of the words they heard that were mispronounced on the recording. The results in table 13 show that there is a correlation between the educational level or occupation and the level of awareness of the change of /l/ to /r/. In other words, those participants who already have a profession or a high educational level could recognize when the words were mispronounced on the recording

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 29 and were also able to provide the correction for those words based on their standard or underlying forms.
Table 13: Results of the Perception Test with correction percentages
Perception Test

Part Age Gen 20 F 1 50 M 2 25 M 3 14 F 4 44 M 5 58 M 6 16 M 7 20 M 8 25 F 9 10 51 F 11 45 F 12 51 F 13 52 M 14 18 M 15 21 F 16 25 F 17 15 F 18 14 F 19 12 F 20 60 M

Words mispronounced on tape Occupation Education Pot. Secretary Post-HS 8 Accountant Post-HS 8 Comp. Prog. Post-HS 8 Student Pre-HS 8 Law Student Post-HS 8 Pediatrician Post-HS 8 Student Pre-HS 8 Student Post-HS 8 Student Post-HS 8 Nurse Post-HS 8 Hotel Recep Post-HS 8 Hotel Recep Post-HS 8 Salesperson Post-HS 8 Student Post-HS 8 Student Post-HS 8 Sales Rep. Post-HS 8 Student Pre-HS 8 Student Pre-HS 8 Student Pre-HS 8 Hotel Recep Post-HS 8 TOTAL 160

I say this most of Occ. Perc. 2 25% 5 63% 7 88% 3 38% 6 75% 4 50% 6 75% 4 50% 4 50% 3 38% 8 100% 5 63% 2 25% 6 75% 1 13% 6 75% 2 25% 5 63% 1 13% 8 100% 88 55%

Words mispronounced on tape Pot. 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 160

I've heard it, but Occ. 8 5 3 7 4 6 4 6 6 7 0 5 8 4 9 4 8 5 9 0 108

Noticed Corrected

Perc. Pot. 100% 8 63% 8 38% 8 88% 8 50% 8 75% 8 50% 8 75% 8 75% 8 88% 8 0% 8 63% 8 100% 8 50% 8 113% 8 50% 8 100% 8 63% 8 113% 8 0% 8 68% 160

Occ. 2 8 4 3 6 8 2 8 7 0 2 4 5 4 4 5 5 2 7 6 92

Perc. 25% 100% 50% 38% 75% 100% 25% 100% 88% 0% 25% 50% 63% 50% 50% 63% 63% 25% 88% 75% 58%

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This project had a small group of subjects. It would be important to replicate the same study using a larger group of participants. Another limitation in this research is the socio-economic factor, which was not rigorously controlled for. I think it would be noteworthy to compare how this variable affects the phonological phenomenon under investigation, as in Peralta, Morillo and Vargas (1988). Only professional adults were

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 30 interviewed. No working class people were used. A third problem is the factor that the semi-formal nature of speech data may have led to less production of /r/ than might have occurred in a more natural conversation (Wolfram & Fasold, 1997, p. 101).

CONCLUSION This research is a study of one aspect of the dialect spoken in the southwestern part of Dominican Republic, specifically in many speakers from Barahona city and its neighboring communities. In this region, speakers tend to change the phoneme /l/ to /r/. The project has determined the linguistic environments where this phonological change occurs, and the influence of several sociolinguistic variables on its occurrence. I was able to confirm what the tendency of this Dominican Spanish dialect is. That is, as Gonzlez showed, /l/ is being frequently realized as [r] in Barahona. But this change has been very stable for a long time and still is. However, the change back to /l/ appears to be stable also. Santo Domingo has experienced a great rise of urbanization in the past decade that has affected linguistic variation in the whole country. New highways that connect provinces like Barahona, tunnels, new commercial places, and new job opportunities motivate people who live in the countryside to migrate to the capital city. Romaine (1994) claims the rise of urbanization is connected with an increase in social stratification which is reflected in linguistic variation (p. 65). Urban economic development has always attracted migrants who leave their rural areas and mingle with the city people, promoting linguistic interaction. Romaine (1994) stated that groups recognize the overt greater prestige of standard speech and shift towards it in more formal

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 31 styles (p. 75). Therefore, these new migrants, most of the time, keep their home dialect but may try to accommodate to the new citys speaking way also. In DR, this means that people who move to Santo Domingo may start to reverse the phonological change from their home town; that is, where /r/ appears in word-final or syllable-final position, many speakers would pronounce it as [l]. The contact with the major metropolitan dialect (Santo Domingo) may be motivated by several reasons. One reason is job opportunities; another one is related to studies. In Barahona the university regional campuses do not offer full degrees in their careers; consequently, those who are interested in obtaining their degrees (BAs or MAs) migrate to the capital city. One more reason is the fact that a great number of Barahona residents have relatives who live in Santo Domingo. This reality motivates Barahonians to visit them and change their own speech influenced by these relatives. This would explain the fewer instances of /l/ Barahona. However, when Barahonians try to imitate the standard dialect of the capital city, they may not imitate either the standard Castilian Spanish or the standard Spanish of the DR. Instead, they often adopt a new non-standard Spanish where /r/ /l/. Whether /r/ in the speech of older and professional people in

this new non-standard variety will eventually become the standard of the Dominican Republic is something we cannot predict or speculate on here.

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 32 References: Gonzlez T., C. (1999). El Habla Campesina Dominicana. Aspecto Fontico. Santo Domingo, .D.N.: Editora Universitaria UASD. Gonzlez T., C. (1995). El Habla Campesina Dominicana: Mitos y Realidades. Aspecto Fontico. Santo Domingo, D. N.: Investigacin para el desarrollo: revista semestral de la Universidad Autnoma de Santo Domingo. Vol. 2, I, pp. 195-206. Henrquez U., P. (1940). El Espaol en Santo Domingo. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Biblioteca de Dialectologa Hispanoamericana. Labov, W. (2001). Principles of Linguistic Change. Volume Two: Social Factors. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Labov, W. (1984). Field methods of the project on linguistic change and variation. In J. Baugh and J. Sherzer (eds.), Language in Use (pp. 28-53). Englewood Cliffs, H.J.: Prentice-Hall. Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. Labov, W. & Ash, S. (1997). Understanding Birmingham. In C. Bernstein, T. Nunnally, & R. Sabino (eds.), Language Variety in the South Revisited. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, pp. 508-573. Ladefoged, P. (2001). A Course in Phonetics, 4th edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers. Milroy, J. (1980). Lexical alternation and the history of English. In E. Traugott et al. (eds.) Papers from the Fourth International Congress in Historical Linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Nez Cedeo, R. (1980). La Fonologa Moderna y el espaol en Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo, Repblica Dominicana: Editora Taller. Peralta B., M., Morillo, R. A. & Vargas H., L. A. (1998). Estudio del Comportamiento de los Fonemas Lquidos /r/ - /l/ en Posicin Implosiva en el Dialecto Hablado en San Francisco de Macors (Bachelor thesis, Universidad Autnoma de Santo Domingo, Centro Universitario Regional del Nordeste (CURNE) (1998). San Francisco de Macors, Repblica Dominicana. Ramrez S., M. (1983) Fundacin de Barahona. Santo Domingo, D.N.: Editora Taller, C. por A.

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 33 Romaine, S. (1994). Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. Romaine, S. (1980). Stylistic variation and evaluative reactions to speech: Problems in the investigation of linguistic attitudes in Scotland. Language and Speech, 23 (3), 213-32. Shopen, T. (1979). Languages and Their Speakers. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Wolfram W., & Fasold, R. W. (1997). Field methods in the study of social dialects. In N. Coupland & A. Jaworski (eds.), Sociolinguistics: A Reader and Coursebook. New York: St. Martin Press, pp. 89-115. Websites: Lonely Planet - Dominican Republic Map: Electronic references. (2006). Retrieved November 15, 2005 from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapimag es/caribbean/dominican_republic/dominican_republic.gif&imgrefurl=http://www. lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/caribbean/dominican_republic/dominican_republic.ht m&h=355&w=495&sz=36&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=8WIsdHDyHYzaM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmap%2Bof%2Bdominican %2Brepublic%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGGL,GG GL:2006-23,GGGL:en%26sa%3DN Oficina Nacional de Estadsticas, Repblica Dominicana: Electronic references. (2002). Retrieved November 7, 2005 from http://www.one.gov.do

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 34

APPENDIX A
Map of the Dominican Republic

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 35

APPENDIX B
Demographic information, passage, Word list and free topics, English and Spanish versions

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 36 I hope you can devote some minutes to contribute to my research on different dialectal variation in my country. By answering these questions your data will remain anonymous and you will not be exposed to any mental or physical harm. Your cooperation will be highly appreciated. Age: __________ Sex: __________

Where do you live now? ___________________________________________________ Where else have you lived? ______________________ When? ___________________ What is your present occupation? ____________________________________________ Education: Pre-High School Completion Post-High School Completion

Please read these items aloud. A. Reading Passage. Spanish version MAO, VALVERDE. Este mircoles 14 de abril a las cinco de la tarde, un instructor de la escuela intermedia Alba Pichardo comenzaba a corregir unos exmenes de espaol cuando de repente alguien toc fuertemente a su puerta. El maestro, identificado como Rafael Almanzar se acerc para abrir, pero antes mir por el ojo mgico y qued totalmente sorprendido al ver all a un hombre alto, rubio y de ojos verdes. El seor vesta una camisa azul mangas largas, unos pantalones negros y un delantal blanco. Para el profesor Almanzar, aquel personaje luca extrao, as que English version MAO, VALVERDE. Last Wednesday, April 14th, at five oclock p.m., a high school teacher, from Alba Pichardo School, began to correct some Spanish tests when suddenly someone knocked on his door. The teacher, identified as Rafael Almanzar, walked to the door to open it, but before doing so, he watched through the peep-hole. He was petrified to see a tall, blond man with green eyes. This man was dressed with a short-sleeve blue shirt, black pants and a white apron. For the high school teacher that person looked weird, so B. Word list* Viernes Carburador Polvo Alternador Partir mantel bulto sol papel salto balcn camisa favor mal pausa avin celular parque carne final

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 37 * The Word List is not translated into English here, since translations are not relevant to the analysis. C. Free speech Please choose one of the following topics and talk freely about it. a) Your dream or aspiration in life. b) Some nice event of your past. c) Your favorite activity.

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 38

APPENDIX C
Perception Test of Dialect Awareness And list of words on audio file

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 39 INSTRUCTIONS You will listen to a list of 11 words. Each word will be only repeated twice. Please listen carefully and make a check mark () in the appropriate box, according to your own criteria. The first word is given as an example.

Perception Test of Dialect Awareness (English version) No. I SAY THIS MOST OF THE TIME
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

I HAVE HEARD THIS BUT RARELY SAY IT

SPELL THE WORD YOU HEARD

CORRECTION, IF ANY

Thank you for your participation!

The shift of /l/ to /r/ in Dominican Spanish: A Sociolinguistic Study 40

List of words contained on the audio file of the Perception test Num.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Mal* Totalmente Delantal Professional Parque* Alba Alguien Balcn Alto* Bulto Sol

Intended Word
Mal

Pronounced as

Totarmente Delantar Profesionar Parque Arba Arguien Barcn Alto Burto Sor

* These words were used as distracters.