Laboratory Approaches to Spanish Phonology

This volume contains a collection of papers that address issues in Spanish phonology from the perspective of laboratory phonology. While volumes on Spanish phonology have been published in the past, never has one of these volumes dedicated itself exclusively to experimental studies. This volume not only presents current experimental research on Spanish phonology, but also represents the variety of issues in Spanish phonology that can be addressed experimentally and the numerous types of experimentation that can be used to further our understanding of phonological issues. The issues addressed by the studies in this volume include stress placement, rhotics, lexical storage, acquisition of sociolinguistic variables, and epenthesis by Spanish speakers learning English as a second language. Experimental approaches include traditional production experiments, perception experiments, computational modelling, and variationist methods. This variety, both in terms of issues covered and experimental approaches, ensures that this unique volume is representative of the breadth of work that is being conducted on Spanish phonology from experimental perspectives.

While this volume is aimed principally at linguists working on, or interested in, Spanish phonology, it will also be of use to a variety of readers. This volume will also be of interest to phonologists, phoneticians, cognitive scientists, and others who may be interested in the contributions that empirical research can make to the study of phonology. Professional linguists as well as graduate students will find this volume to be an important addition to their library.

Timothy L. Face is Assistant Professor at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, University of Minnesota, USA.