Chapter 5. New parameters for the sociophonetic indexes 159
Tuscany. This change in the evaluation of the process is due to the interaction
between internal and external factors in language behavior. Indeed, the Northern
varieties of Italian are nowadays perceived as more prestigious than the Tuscan
ones,^20 and this has two consequences at least.
On one hand, the phonetic features of Northern varieties of Italian have
recently acquired an increasingly prestigious sociolinguistic value (for instance,
s-voicing in intervocalic position); on the other hand, some sociophonetic indexes
typical of Tuscany are slowly losing their traditional sociolinguistic prestige, at
least outside the region. Therefore, it is worthwhile to underline that the weight
of gorgia is changing from [light] to [heavy] outside Tuscany, whereas no change
in the evaluation of the process seems to occur within the regional boundaries.
In particular, in the case of Tuscan speakers, especially Florentine, sociolinguis-
tic variables such as education and social class do not play any role. As a matter
of fact, recent studies carried out with the matched-guise technique have shown
that the variety spoken in Florence is still perceived as standard and more pres-
tigious by the speakers of other Tuscan areas (Calamai & Ricci 2005; Calamai
2011; Biliotti & Calamai 2012). In particular, the variety of Florence is traditionally
assigned overt prestige, as associated to positive attributes like elegance, culture
and tidiness. On the other hand, in Tuscany, multiple competing norms are also
active: alongside the Florentine norm, which applies more or less to the entire
region, specific and different local norms are perceived as prestigious in almost
every capital of the regional districts (Cravens & Giannelli 1995; Pacini 1998;
Pacini & Giannelli 1999).
The awareness of an increasing weight value, with a consequent loss of pres-
tige outside Tuscany, may induce the speakers, especially the youngest ones, to
try to control their production, then reducing the degree of thickness of the
phenomenon. Two forces are at play here: weight and thickness. The result can
be a reduction of both parameters, since speakers could try to produce a phonetic
target they cannot reach, i.e. a plosive consonant in intervocalic context, by pro-
ducing a segment closer to the target, such as a semifricative^21 or a fricative. For
instance, in Pisan or Leghornese speech, we have found speakers who produce [x]
for /k/, then counterbalancing the typical trend towards the deletion of the velar
- This picture was already drawn in the sociolinguistic analysis carried out by Galli De’
Paratesi (1984) roughly thirty years ago. She showed a clear trend towards the spreading of
Northern features in the speech of Florentine young speakers, as, for instance, s-voicing in
intervocalic context. For further studies on the matter, not restricted to the Tuscan area, see
Baroni (1983), Volkart-Rey (1990), Bernhard (1998). - By ‘semifricative’ we mean a segment with a stop closure followed by a long VOT without
any sign of spike on the spectrogram; see Marotta (2008) for the phonetic details.