This exploratory study investigates sibilants in Mixean Low Navarrese, an endangered variety of Basque. This variety has been described with ten different contrastive sibilants: /s̻, s̺, ʃ, t͡s̻, t͡s̺, t͡ʃ, z̻, z̺, ʒ, d͡z̺/. The objective of the paper is to (a) provide a detailed description of the acoustics of Mixean sibilants, and (b) elucidate whether ten categories can be proposed based only on acoustical data, or whether fewer categories should be considered. The study is based on free-conversation data of ten subjects (three females, seven males) aged between 80 and 85 years. We analyze metrics reflecting the place of articulation (spectral moments, and especially the center of gravity (CoG)), including also the temporal dynamics of CoG (using the discrete cosine transform of CoG measurements of nine intervals of each phone). We also explore the acoustic correlates of the contrasts between (a) voiced and voiceless sounds and (b) fricative and affricate sounds. The results show that only seven categories can be proposed based on acoustic measurements. The lamino-alveolar series reliably contrasts with the rest, but the distinction does not hold between the apico-alveolar and the postalveolar series. We found minimal differences in the analysis of dynamic data, and none in the static analysis.

Texas German is a new world language variety that shows some evidence of koiné development but also presents with substantial variation at many levels of structure. I present a case study on the variant pronunciation of sibilants in Texas German consonant clusters. This feature is fairly frequent and found throughout the regions of German settlement in Central Texas. After a discussion of the presence of this feature in the donor dialects, I investigate the factors that correlate with variation in the modern language. From an analysis of local and global spatial autocorrelation, I argue that variation is not significantly associated with particular geographic regions and is compatible with stable and homogenous variation. This provides insight into our understanding of new dialect emergence and the mechanisms by which dialect features are leveled over multiple generations.