Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/84244 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Serie Documentos de Trabajo No. 425
Publisher: 
Universidad del Centro de Estudios Macroeconómicos de Argentina (UCEMA), Buenos Aires
Abstract (Translated): 
This paper tries to quantify economically the importance of five phonetic haracteristics (seseo, yeismo, /s/-aspiration, rehilamiento, and /x/-aspiration) whose presence or absence allows to distinguish among ten regional varieties of Spanish. To do that we perform an analysis of the extension of those characteristics and we estimate which of them correspond to the average speaker of Spanish, which end up being identical to the ones of the so-called modern Andean Spanish. Through estimations of per capita income, however, we find that the characteristic associated with a higher income level is the absence of seseo, typical of the Northern Peninsular Spanish. Finally, through a statistical regression analysis, we find that such characteristic is associated with an average annual per capita income which is US$ 24,500 higher than the one of Spanish speakers that possess seseo. We also find that the only additional characteristic that is statistically significant as a signal of a higher income is rehilamiento, which is associated with an average annual per capita income that is US$ 4,500 higher than the one of speakers that do not possess that characteristic.
Subjects: 
phonetic characteristics
Spanish regional varieties
average speaker
per capita income
statistical regression
características fonéticas
variedades regionales del español
hablante promedio
ingreso per cápita
regresión estadística
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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