Abstract

MORALES DEL VALLE, Hugo H.. Geographic and Social Diffusion of “Western Final Lowering” in Western Guanajuato. Anu. let. lingüíst. filol. [online]. 2025, vol.13, n.1, pp.161-204.  Epub June 13, 2025. ISSN 2448-8224.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.adel.2025.13.1.00x328sw36.

This paper presents a study of the geographic and social diffusion of the tonal contour H+(!)L*L%, which we call “western final lowering,” a nuclear pitch configu­ration of broad-focus assertive utterances in the Spanish of the western region of the state of Guanajuato. In a first approach to this topic (Morales del Valle, 2023), we found a higher frequency of this intonational pattern in the speech of people 55 and older from the cities of Guanajuato, León, Pénjamo, and San Felipe than in those of the same age group from Acámbaro and San Luis de la Paz, located in the eastern part of the state. Here we analyze the data collected in the four western cities, adding interviews with people aged both 20-34 and 35-54. The results suggest that this nuclear configuration is primarily concentrated in Guanajuato and León and in female speakers. In addition, the data in apparent time point to a process of convergence of the varieties of Guanajuato, Pénjamo, and San Felipe, as there is a leveling of their rates of this toneme, and a divergence of León from its neighboring cities because of a continuous increase in the frequency of this intonational pattern across generations.

Keywords : assertive intonation; western Mexican Spanish; diffusion; convergence; divergence.

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