What is it about?
Spanish has become increasingly prevalent in Bilwi, a Nicaraguan town on the northern Atlantic Coast, where many L1-Miskitu locals are now Spanishdominant. As the community shifts towards Spanish, I investigate whether these L2-Spanish speakers are producing advanced rates of coda /s/ reduction like monolingual Nicaraguan Spanish speakers. In a comparison of the Miskitu’s reduction rates with Spanish monolinguals, I find that Miskitu speakers who learned Spanish later in life do reduce coda /s/ but diverge from monolingual reduction rates preconsonantally. I contend that salience and perceptibility can account for this difference. While monolinguals reduce /s/ the most in cue‑impoverished environments, the L2-Spanish speakers reduce /s/ more where they hear the reductions the best: in cue-rich, prevocalic environments.
Why is it important?
This study shows that early L2-Spanish learners and late L2-Spanish learners diverge in their treatment of variation along the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. More specifically, the Miskitu who learned Spanish early in life approximate the monolingual norms found in Pacific Nicaragua, while later learners appear more attuned to variation in highly salient environments.