Variable Vowel Metaphony in Asturian: An Acoustic Analysis

Vowel metaphony, a type of vowel harmony observed in Asturian, is characterized by the raising and/or centralization of stressed mid or low vowels in the presence of a high vowel in word-final position. Descriptions of Asturian metaphony have been based on data collected using exclusively auditory judgments. This study is the first to document the phenomenon acoustically.

The data were collected using a word elicitation task and sociolinguistic interviews of 40 speakers from the 2 geographic areas in which metaphony has been observed. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of vocalic distributions were performed.

The results of the analyses show that: (1) while metaphony still occurs in Asturian, its implementation is highly variable; (2) metaphonized variants remain distinct from other vowels; and (3) the traditional distinction between 2 areas of metaphony cannot be maintained.

This study provides the first acoustic characterization of vowel metaphony in Asturian, offering empirical evidence on which to build theoretical approaches to vowel metaphony.