ABSTRACT
Variations in the Spanish phonological system, while overshadowed by subphonemic regional and sociophonetic variation, are found throughout the Spanish-speaking world. As with phonetic variability, the majority of instances involve consonants, and range from the retention/loss of phonemes in all contexts (e.g. /θ/ and /ʎ/) to partial neutralization in specific positions (e.g. between /l/ and /ɾ/, /ɾ/ and /r/, and /ɾ/ and /d/). Phonological variability in the vowel system includes distinctive laxing in eastern Andalusian dialects, and partial neutralization of mid-high vowel contrasts in Spanish dialects in contact with Arabic and Quechua. Ongoing phonetic variation is also leading to emergent oppositions that may coalesce in some dialects (e.g. intervocalic voiced stops, phonological glottal stops, distinctive vowel length).
