Understanding the Tonada Cordobesa from an Acoustic, Perceptual and Sociolinguistic Perspective

The goal of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of a non-standard form of pretonic vowel lengthening or the tonada cordobesa, in Cordobese Spanish, an understudied dialect in Argentina. This phenomenon is analyzed in two different but complementary studies and perspectives, each of which contributes to a better understanding of the sociolinguistic factors that constrain its variation, as well as the social meanings of this feature in Argentina. Study 1 investigates whether position in the intonational phrase (IP), vowel concordance, and social class and gender condition pretonic vowel lengthening from informal conversations with native speakers (n=20). The results reveal that both linguistic and social factors affect the pretonic to tonic vowel duration ratio. That is, prenuclear position, vowel concordance, and lower social class favor a higher ratio, the nonstandard form. Study 2 examines language attitudes, ideologies, and perceptions towards the tonada cordobesa using an online adaptation of a matched-guise test and a questionnaire on ideologies about Spanish in Argentina. The results show that judges (n=263) most accurately recognize the Cordobese speakers, followed by the Buenos Aires (BA) speakers. This points to the saliency of the tonada. In addition, the matched-guise uncovers some stigmatization of Cordobese Spanish as these guises received lower ratings on status and even on solidarity than those from Buenos Aires as found in de los Heros (1999). An analysis of manifestations of popular culture shows that the tonada is also used to portray local pride, or what Woolard (2008, 2009) calls authenticity. Furthermore, some judges hold contradictory ideologies with regards to the standard language in Argentina and BA Spanish was not always positively valued, as shown in other research (Llull & Pinardi, 2014; Rodríguez Louro, 2013). This provides insight in how BA Spanish and Cordobese Spanish are valued in Argentina