Syllabification

Two processes, both in need of more clarifying research, further contribute to the Spanish accent of ChcE, namely syllabic differences that involve changes of conversational tempo (Fought 2003). English has ambisyllabic consonants, namely an intervocalic consonant in which a syllable boundary can be placed. Spanish does not have ambisyllables. The result of ambisyllabification is that English sounds as if it has more closed syllables than a comparable stretch of Spanish speech does. Now for all languages, most of the dictionary entry consonants are pronounced in slow, enunciated speech. At more rapid tempos, consonant clusters are reduced, thus creating more open syllables. However, in English, more ambisyllables, such as flaps, are created as well. In ChcE, as the tempo increases, fewer ambisyllables are created because more single consonants, and even whole word-internal syllables are lost (Fought 2003). This follows the syllabification patterns of the ChcE substrate, altiplano Mexican Spanish. Mexican Spanish tends toward greater synocope (preserving final syllables while losing medials), in contrast to Caribbean Spanish dialects which tend toward greater apocope (loss of final syllables). Additionally, more ChcE syllable onsets are placed before intervocalic consonants rather than within them (Fought 2003). These processes contribute to the relatively larger open syllable count in ChcE. More empirical research will have to be undertaken to describe these processes with greater precision.