Comparison of Old Spanish and present-day Spanish data provides evidence that reductive change in grammaticizing forms may be manifested not only as a diachronic process but also as a synchronic difference between formal and informal registers. (Author/VWL)

Discusses one pronunciation feature shared by the vast majority of speakers of English in Fiji: the deletion of yod in non-primary stressed /Cju/ syllables. Considers variation in yod pronunciation according to ethnicity, age, gender, and education and examines whether yod deletion is a phonological shibboleth of Fiji English or merely a feature…