Possible phonological changes (was: Rate of change)

[Rick Mc Callister]

	I haven't been to the Southern Cone but most northern and northwest
Argentines I've met don't have quite the same sound for <y, ll> as
porten~os I've met.
	The NW Argentines I've met had an Andean accent and those from
Mendoza I've met sounded like chilenos --and indeed, I've been told that a
very large percentage are. And assibilated /R/ is common among chilenos.
	While some porten~os I've met have a slight degree of assibilation,
it's nowhere near as strong as that you often hear in Costa Rica.
	As Ed says, the Latin American assibilated /R/ sounds like an
American /R/ with a shade of /Z/ --perhaps like an American trying to say
/R/ with the mouth completely closed.
	There are various publications that claim that assibilated /R/ also
exists in and around Navarra BUT everyone I've ever met who has ever been
there says it's not the case.

>As far as I know, the rr > Z territory (mainly (sub-)Andean Argentina, Mendoza
>etc.) and the y, ll > Z (or often S) (around the Mar del Plata and wide
>surroundings) do not really overlap, but I may be mistaken. Rick McCallister
>would be a better source.

>Anyway, among themselves, y and ll give rise to a lot of homophones, even in
>standard Castilian: calló/cayó (he shut up/ he fell) etc...A bit more
>wouldn't be all that problematic to native speakers, especially because to the
>trained ear there is a slight difference between Z from rr and
>Argentinian/Uruguayan Z from y or ll. The Z from rr often sounds like the
>pronuciation of someone who cannot reproduce a rolling r correctly, or as a
>more strongly voiced American r with a shade of Z.

>Ed.

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS 39701