Degemination in Tuscan rhotics: a preliminary analysis in an historical oral archive

Abstract

The paper presents the first results of a preliminary sociophonetic investigation on the residual phenomenon of rhotic degemination in the Tuscan Pratese variety, through the reuse of the Angela Spinelli historical oral archive, initially conceived for other (nonlinguistic) purposes. In past research, some authors reported the presence of rhotic degemination phenomena in the nearby territories investigated by the historian. However, until recent times the phenomenon has been under-investigated. To find evidence of rhotic degemination in a phonetic laboratory would now be impossible since this phenomenon embodies the residual vestige of a past tendency, challenged by the diffusion of more standard-like pronunciations in favor of the maintenance of the singleton–geminate contrast. The assumption is that the consultation of the Spinelli archive would allow to find and study the use of past non-standard forms in situations where participants narrate of life-threatening events and their speech is, therefore, less controlled, and more spontaneous.