Variations of the syllabic coda [s̺] in the Isle of Ons

Abstract

The apparent-time linguistic model allows for an interesting approach to the variation in the speech community of the Isle of Ons throughout three generations in order to describe the phenomena that influence the syllabic coda [s̺]. For this, I have collected thirty-two transcribed recordings with a total of forty-one participants. The issue which attracts my attention in this specific research is the change suffered by wheezing sounds in the syllabic coda position as this marginal place in the syllabic structure is particularly vulnerable to change. I find, therefore, a series of change processes in [s̺], like palatalisation, aspiration, rhotacism, crasis and disappearance. All these processes depend on social factors age, sex, socioeconomic status and language, that define the individuals who contribute to this corpus. This paper will focus on the use that each generation applies to each phenomenon. The results will show that the older generation presents high rates of usage of these processes, which decay as younger generations approach.