What is it about?
This article explores glottal constriction in Nicaraguan Spanish (i.e., the glottal closure found in English between the vowels in 'uh-oh', used in Nicaraguan Spanish between vowels at the word boundary for /s/, e.g. más alto 'taller' as [maʔ alto]). To determine the contexts and social groups with which glottal constriction is most likely, I analyze 36 casual interviews, picture naming tasks, and reading tasks conducted with Managuan men and women of different education levels and age ranges. Based on the results of a statistical analysis, I argue that glottal constriction is a local formality strategy associated with regional articulateness, employed mainly by older and less educated speakers. Younger and more educated speakers with more exposure to prescriptive norms use a different formality strategy, the standard Spanish [s], to signal their education and power on an international scale. This innovative production of syllable-final /s/ highlights the different formality strategies available to Spanish speakers in Nicaragua depending on (i) their access to education and (ii) the identities they aim to project.
Why is it important?
This article demonstrates that glottal constriction in Nicaraguan Spanish is used as a formality strategy, at odds with traditional analyses that position reduced variants of /s/ as informal realizations most likely in casual speech. Additionally, the use of glottal constriction in this variety was found to hinge crucially upon a speaker's age and education level, showing that formal targets can vary for different social groups.