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SUMMER SCHOOL OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS,
GLASGOW 2011 PROGRAMME and BOOK
OF ABSTRACTS
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SSS3 GLASGOW 2011
We are delighted to welcome you to the third annual Summer School of Sociolinguistics held this year at The University of Glasgow! Hosted previously by the University of Edinburgh, the bar has certainly been set! We hope we can reproduce some of the elements that made these events so successful. We would like to extend our thanks to the previous organisers Miriam Meyerhoff, Agata Szymanczak, Anna Strycharz and Chie Adachi whose advice and support have made this year’s summer school possible. We have a fantastic panel of experts to lead the school this year. Dr Devyani Sharma (QMU, London) will talk about Ethnicity Contact and Change, Dr Jane Stuart-‐Smith (University of Glasgow) on Language and the Media, Dr Daniel Johnson (Philadelphia) on the Statistical Analysis of Speech Data, Dr Lauren Hall-‐Lew (University of Edinburgh) on Sociophonetics and Indexicality and Dr Erez Levon (QMU, London) will lead Friday focussing on Perception and Identities in Interaction. We are also very pleased to welcome back Glasgow graduate Dr Robert Lawson who will facilitate our Careers Session on Wednesday afternoon. This session will be introduced by Robert with a short presentation on aspects and issues involved in Early Career Research followed by a round table discussion. Please come along with any questions you have surrounding careers or the PhD process such as how to survive your viva or writing a successful grant application. As well as a packed academic programme we have also organised a number of social events. On Wednesday there is a planned excursion on the Glasgow City Tour Bus. The tour company is offering delegates from the Summer School a discounted rate of £7. There is a voucher in your welcome packs, present this to the driver when you get on to claim your discount. The University of Glasgow is part of the tour which means we can take the bus from outside the main gate. We can join the tour directly after the school on Wednesday at 4.50pm. We will then carry on to Dr Jennifer Smith’s flat where she has kindly offered to host a cheese and wine reception. Your bus tour ticket is valid for two days which means you may also use the ticket on Thursday. On Friday we have organised the Summer School Dinner at Tiki Bar and Kitsch Inn, Bath Street, Glasgow (www.tikibarglasgow.com). Tiki Bar are offering a two course meal plus a cocktail for £20 per person (unfortunately students will have to cover the cost of the meal themselves). If you would like to come to the meal please let Sophie Holmes know no later than Tuesday 5th July. Please also provide your money along with your choice of starter and main course. The menu can be found along with directions to Tiki Bar at the back of the programme.
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The Summer School will be providing lunch everyday (including vegetarian and gluten free options) except Wednesday where students are free to make their own arrangements. You are welcome to join Sophie and Cassie who are planning to take a party down to Scotland’s celebrated Indian restaurant, Ashöka. The restaurant is on Ashton Lane a short walk from university and offers a £6 thali box meal deal. We are looking forward to getting to know you and hearing about your research and we hope you have a fantastic week at Glasgow! All the best from the Summer School Organisers: Sophie Holmes, Cassie Smith-‐Christmas, Jennifer Smith Acknowledgements: The Summer School would not have been possible without the generous support of various funds from the University of Glasgow: The College of Arts Graduate School Chancellor's Fund New Initiatives, Collaborative Research Training Initiative Scheme Contacts: If you need any help or have any urgent enquiries please get in touch with one of the organisers: Sophie (+44) 7925 437 343 Cassie (+44) 7868 254 217
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ABSTRA
CTS
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The acquisition of the Manchester dialect by adolescent non-‐native speakers of English
Gerry Howley
University of Salford Recent studies have shown that non-‐native English speaking immigrants to the UK acquire the dialect of the area to which they move (Drummond 2010; Schleef et al. f.c.). However, it is unclear why the extent to which non-‐native speakers acquire the local dialect varies greatly between individuals, and why non-‐native speakers’ patterns of variation do not always mirror those of their native speaking peers. This study sets out to examine which factors may impact upon differences in dialect acquisition, specifically in relation to the hypothesis put forward in Schleef et al. (f.c.) that acquisition of local variants may be due to social mixing between different ethnic groups within non-‐native speakers’ social network structures.
An ethnographic study of a Manchester high school is conducted in order to identify the social network structures of non-‐native speakers within the school. It is hypothesized that non-‐native speakers whose networks consist of strong and multiplex ties with native speakers of Manchester English acquire more native-‐like patterns of local variants than non-‐native speakers whose networks consist of loose and uniplex ties with native speakers (Milroy 1980). A comparative analysis between the two groups will determine the role of social network structure in the acquisition of local variants and native-‐like patterns of linguistic variation. The variables examined are: the STRUT vowel, which is characteristic of the Manchester dialect; the stable linguistic variable (ing); and the rapidly diffusing variant of th-‐fronting. Previous studies into non-‐native dialect acquisition have typically examined the non-‐native speakers in isolation, removed from the native speaking community in which they acquire local patterns of variation. Ethnographic methodology has been applied to good effect in the study of native speakers. By taking an ethnographic approach, and studying non-‐native speakers’ participation within the local school community, this research will provide fresh insights into L2 dialect acquisition. Thus, the current study also tests the applicability of the social network approach to dialect contact situations. References Drummond, R. (2010) Sociolinguistic variation in a second language: the influence of local accent on the pronunciation of non-‐native English speakers living in Manchester. Unpublished PhD, University of Manchester, Manchester. Milroy, L. (1980). Language and social networks. Oxford, Blackwell. Schleef, E., Meyerhoff, M. and Clark, L. (forthcoming) ‘Teenagers' acquisition of variation: a comparison of locally-‐born and migrant teens' realisation of English (ing) in London and Edinburgh.’ English World-‐Wide. 32, 2.
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Varieties of English: What Foreign Learners Believe, Know and Practise
Erin Carrie University of St Andrews
It is a well-‐established fact that the English language has been expanding rapidly throughout the world, acquiring greater status, and generating in the process so much variation that some linguists have pluralized its name by employing the designation ‘world Englishes’ (see, for example, Kachru 2006). Undoubtedly, native speakers of English have had to grapple with the ever-‐increasing diversity of their language and with the stereotypes associated with such variation. It becomes self-‐evident that there should be similar implications for foreign learners of English, given that language learning is ‘socially and culturally bound’ (Dornyei 2003: 4). These implications are likely to manifest themselves particularly in terms of: (a) learners’ knowledge of, and ability to recognize, the major varieties of English, (b) the extent to which learners’ attitudes towards varieties of English (and their speakers) influence their use of the language, and (c) the variety of the language that learners would prefer to adopt and imitate, were they given the choice. Drawing on major works from the fields of sociolinguistics and the social psychology of language, the present research is designed to test the extent to which insights already provided about intra-‐linguistic attitudes (focusing on native speakers’ attitudes towards varieties of their own language) might apply to cross-‐linguistic attitudes (with a focus on foreign learners’ attitudes towards varieties of the L2), and the implications thereof. Overall, the investigation focuses on what foreign learners believe and know regarding standard and non-‐standard varieties of English, and attempts to ascertain the choices that they make, consciously or otherwise, when faced with such an increasingly diverse language. Since human beings are probably more conscious of the concept of word than of any other unit of language, I considered lexical variation to be the most salient indicator of non-‐native speakers’ leanings towards preferred varieties. Data were collected by means of structured interviews, consisting of four main stages: flash card test, matched guise experiment, word choice test and open questions. Moreover, some personal details were elicited, including information regarding the learners’ motivations, influences and use of language-‐learning materials. Preliminary findings from fieldwork undertaken with young Spanish natives living and studying in Edinburgh would indicate that gender, learner motivation/orientation and length of time in the learning environment are significant factors in determining foreign learners’ knowledge of, attitudes towards and practice of English. Furthermore, the data have shown that cross-‐linguistic attitudes generally reflect intra-‐linguistic attitudes towards variation in the language. There are also observable similarities in native speakers’ and non-‐native speakers’ practice of English, particularly in terms of gender. On a larger scale, the findings may allow inferences to be made regarding the status of competing world Englishes in a global context. For example, though the economic status and demographic strength of the US appears to be more highly recognized by instrumental than integrative learners, it is interesting that 95% of my informants were aware of and/or practised American English variants. This would suggest, perhaps unsurprisingly, that American English is the variety with the most clout on the world stage.
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Ethnicity and stop realisation in Sheffield English
Sam Kirkham University of Sheffield
This paper reports on an acoustic phonetic analysis of ethnic differences in /t/-‐realisation in Sheffield English. Prior research suggests that /t/-‐realisation is a salient characteristic of some ethnic varieties of English, such as British Asian English, where it often often realised with a ‘postalveolar’ or ‘retroflex’ articulation (e.g. Lambert et al. 2007; Alam 2009; Sharma & Sankaran forthcoming). However, whilst prior comparisons between Asian and White speakers show differences in /t/-‐realisation, the phonetics of /t/ in other English-‐speaking ethnic minority groups is less well attested. This paper examines /t/-‐realisation in the speech of three different ethnic groups in Sheffield: White British, British Pakistani, and British Somali speakers. In doing so, I investigate the relationship between phonetic variation, ethnic identification and heritage language usage in order to explore the motivations behind ethnically-‐stratified language use. Sociolinguistic interviews were conducted with adolescent Sheffield English speakers of White British, Pakistani, and Somali ethnic origin. Acoustic measurements of /t/ included voice onset time, relative burst intensity, and the first four spectral moments of the burst spectrum (Forrest et al. 1988). A range of social factors were also analysed to reveal influences on stop realisation, including gender, social class, a self-‐reported bilingualism index, a quantitative measure of heritage language competency, and a parental bilingualism index. The results show that, compared to White and Somali speakers, Sheffield Pakistani /t/ exhibits shorter voice onset times, greater burst intensity, lower overall spectral energy, and a more compact burst spectrum. This suggests a shorter and louder burst with a more retracted place of articulation. In explaining these patterns, I explore two hypotheses with respect to the phonetic data: (i) that distinctive patterns in Sheffield Pakistani /t/ represent an influence from the phonologically retroflex stops of Panjabi/Urdu; (ii) that ethnicity as a relational construct exerts a strong influence on social identification (Harris 2006) and, consequently, on the indexical properties of /t/-‐realisation in the local social matrix. I also explore the differences between Somali and Pakistani speakers and between Somali and White speakers, in order to investigate the patterning of fine-‐grained phonetic variation along ethnic lines. In doing so, I outline some ways in which sociophonetic variation interacts with ethnicity, bilingualism and regional identity. References Alam, F. 2009. Does community of practice affect /t/-‐realisation in adolescent Glasgow-‐Pakistanis?
UKLVC7, Newcastle University, September 2009. Forrest, K., Weismer, G., Milenkovic, P. & Dougall, R.N. 1988. Statistical analysis of word-‐initial voiceless
obstruents: preliminary data. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 84(1): 115—123. Harris, R. 2006. New Ethnicities and Language Use. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Lambert, K., Alam, F. & Stuart-‐Smith, J. 2007. Investigating British Asian accents: studies from Glasgow.
Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences 1509-‐1512. Sharma, D. & Sankaran, L. forthcoming. Cognitive and social factors in dialect shift: gradual change in
British Asian speech. Language Variation and Change.
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National Identity and Sound Change: English on the Quebec-‐Vermont Border
Laura Baxter York University, Toronto
This paper reports on change over time in the dialect of English spoken in and around the town of Stanstead, Quebec, a small Canadian municipality located directly across the border from the American town of Derby Line, Vermont. Although it is located in a historically English-‐speaking region of the majority French-‐speaking province of Quebec, Stanstead is one of few communities in which Anglophones continue to form a majority of the population. The location of Stanstead on the American border and its close association with the English-‐speaking population of Derby Line has undoubtedly played a significant role in the preservation of English in this community. However, while residents of Stanstead and Derby Line have traditionally thought of themselves as members of one community with an arbitrary line running through it, over time the policies of the American and Canadian governments with regard to policing the border have become increasingly strict. This has essentially divided the community against itself, escalating physical and psychological barriers and decreasing interaction and communication between the two sides. An analysis of the dialect of English spoken by different generations of residents on the Canadian side reflects these changes in the community. The speech of older residents displays features characteristic of the adjacent American dialect region of Eastern New England such as r-‐vocalisation and fronted /ah/ (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2006). Data from younger generations of speakers, however, shows virtually no presence of these American dialect features. Rather, young speakers in this community speak a dialect of English very close to the Canadian Standard, suggesting that despite proximity to models of American English and isolation from models of Canadian English, these younger speakers clearly identify as Canadian and are expressing this identity through their speech. Thus, as the border is strengthened politically and physically, we also see the creation of a linguistic border effect. References Labov, William, Sharon Ash and Charles Boberg. 2006. The atlas of North American English : phonetics, phonology, and sound change : a multimedia reference tool. New York: Mouton de Gruyter
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Cross-‐language socioindexicality
Anita Szakay University of British Columbia
The main goal of this dissertation is to investigate whether socio-‐indexical labelling is shared across languages, in particular languages of a bilingual perceiver. Socio-‐indexical features in speech are those aspects of linguistic structure which correlate with non-‐linguistic factors (Abercrombie, 1967). These factors include, for example, speaker differences in age, gender, socio-‐economic status, ethnicity, group affiliations, regional background, and individual identity. The study examines the effect of ethnic dialect on bilingual language processing and representation using a novel cross-‐language/cross dialect priming paradigm in the New Zealand English context. New Zealand English comprises two main ethnic dialects, namely Māori English and Pākahā English. Māori English is predominantly spoken by the indigenous Māori population, while Pākahā English is mainly spoken by people of European descent. The differences between the two ethnic dialects include both segmental and suprasegmental features. Differences generally mentioned in the literature are th-‐fronting, final z-‐devoicing, GOOSE-‐fronting, and GOAT-‐onset-‐fronting (e.g. Maclagan, Watson, Harlow, King & Kegan 2009), with Māori English speakers being significantly more syllable timed, and having a higher mean pitch than Pākahā English speakers (Szakay, 2006). English-‐Māori bilingual speakers are exposed to both ethnic dialects of New Zealand English. This provides an excellent testing ground for the effect of dialect variants on bilingual speech processing. Previous research has examined the effect of dialect variation on monolingual spoken word recognition. For example, Summer & Samuel (2009) conducted a series of primed auditory lexical decision tasks, where primes and targets came from two different regional dialects of American English. In the present study a cross-‐language dimension is added to the cross-‐dialect short-‐term auditory lexical decision paradigm where critical prime and target pairs are made up of all possible combinations of Māori, Māori English and Pākahā English translation equivalents. For example, a target can be the Māori word /mea/ (thing), with either the Pākahā English prime [ɪŋ], or the th-‐fronted Māori English prime [fɪŋ]. The main prediction is that a Māori word primes a Māori English target more than it would prime a Pākahā English target.
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Lexical Variation and Change in British Sign Language (BSL): Evidence for dialect levelling?
Rose Stamp
University College London In this paper, we report the results from the first corpus-‐based study to investigate lexical variation and change in BSL. This study will report on regional variation in the signs for numbers, colours, countries and UK cities and considers the relationship with the following social factors: age, gender, school location, social class, ethnicity, teaching experience and language background (whether the signer has deaf or hearing parents). Results from a previous study in BSL suggested that there has been a reduction in regional differences since the introduction of BSL on television (Woll, Allsop & Sutton-‐Spence, 1991). This paper investigates whether there is evidence of dialect levelling taking place in BSL.
For this study, data was analysed from the lexical elicitation task as part of the BSL Corpus Project (Schembri, 2008). This project elicited 101 lexical items from 249 native, near-‐native and early learner deaf signers filmed in eight UK cities. The results from 41 lexical items suggest that dialect levelling may be taking place with younger signers using a decreasing variety of regionally distinct variants. This change appears to be happening faster in particular sub-‐groups of the deaf community (e.g. signers from hearing families) and semantic categories (e.g. signs for countries). These results need to be understood in light of the dramatic changes to the British Deaf community in the late 20th century, including the closure of residential schools for deaf children and an emergence of a national and international Deaf identity (Ladd, 2003). Also, results for some UK cities (e.g. Cardiff) show an in/out-‐group effect with signers from outside the region using different signs to those who live in the region. Finally, this paper will discuss the methodological validity of different sociolinguistic data by investigating the same lexical variants produced in conversational data and also consider whether any linguistic factors account for lexical variation. References Ladd, P. (2003). Understanding Deaf Culture: In search of Deafhood. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Schembri, A. (2008). British Sign Language Corpus Project: Open access archives and the Observer’s Paradox. In: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation, May 26-‐June 1, 2008, Marrakech, Morocco. European Language Resources Association. Retrieved from http://www.lrec-‐conf.org/proceedings/lrec2008/.
Woll, B. (1987). Historical and Comparative Aspects of British Sign Language. In J. G. Kyle (Ed.), Sign and School: using signs in deaf children's development. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. 12-‐34.
Woll, B., Allsop, L., & Sutton-‐Spence, R. (1991). Variation and Recent Change in British Sign Language: Final Report to the ESRC. Bristol: University of Bristol.
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A Variationist Study of Future Temporal Reference in Hexagonal French
Nick Roberts University of Newcastle
This study is the first quantitative variationist investigation of Future temporal reference in Continental French. In all varieties of French, future temporal reference can be realised via three different variants: the inflected future (je mangerai ‘I will eat’), the periphrastic future (je vais aller ‘I am going to go’) and the futurate present (je pars ‘I leave’). Prescriptive grammarians have long posited that the principle conditioning factor motivating variant selection is the temporal distance between the speech act and the time at which the verbal action is to occur (see Fleischman 1982). Variationist studies – all of which are based on Canadian French data – have set out to test this claim quantitatively. Poplack and Turpin (1999) show that whilst the inflected future occurs almost exclusively in negative contexts, the periphrastic form seems to have become the default variant in Montreal French. However, in contrast, King and Nadasdi (2004) have demonstrated that temporal reference, certainty and the presence of the wh-‐term quand affect variation in Acadian French, whereas other intralinguistic factors, like contingency, grammatical person/number and negation, do not constrain variant selection to the same degree. It is widely accepted that the grammar of spoken European French differs markedly from that of Canadian French (Hewson 2000 and Coveney 2007). Consequently, a study examining strategies of encoding future time in European French warrants scholarly attention. The present study reports on variation in the Beeching Corpus, an online database containing spontaneous Hexagonal French speech recorded between 1980 and 1990. A sub-‐sample of 80 informants stratified by age, educational level and gender was identified and quantitative variationist analysis of 433 tokens of future temporal reference was undertaken with a view to addressing three main research questions: (1) How variable is the future temporal reference in Hexagonal French? (2) What significant linguistic and extralinguistic constraints affect variability? (3) To what extent do the results corroborate findings reported in the extant French Canadian literature? The results of this investigation suggest that the inflected future is used with greater frequency in Hexagonal French than in its Canadian counterpart. Chi-‐square and multinomial regression analyses furthermore reveal a complex set of constraints which only partially overlap with the results reported for Canadian French. Thus, while certain constraints governing variation are operative in both Canadian and Hexagonal varieties, a range of other factors also condition future temporal reference variability in the French language.
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A town between dialects: accent levelling, psycho-‐social orientation and identity in Merseyside, UK.
Helen Faye West
Lancaster University Speakers’ psycho-‐social orientation and social knowledge have often been identified as having an important role in linguistic change. We know, for example, that speakers’ adoption of linguistic features from a neighbouring region often correlates with their positive social orientation towards that region (Llamas 2007), and that their social orientation can be discussed with reference to their interpretation of physical, political and social ‘boundaries’ (Llamas 2010). This paper examines how the perceived presence of such boundaries may be seen to affect language use in Southport, a town which lies near the border of Merseyside and Lancashire in the north-‐west of England. Southport, located 17 miles north of the large industrial city of Liverpool, is historically part of Lancashire but was absorbed into Merseyside in 1974. Southport and Liverpool are well connected by frequent transport links and, given the high levels of contact between people, it has been predicted that phonetic features of the Liverpool accent will diffuse into the traditional Lancashire accent of Southport (Grey and Richardson 2007). However, a complicating factor is Liverpool’s negative stereotype (Montgomery 2007), which may be predicted to act as a barrier to the diffusion of Liverpool features. The first aim of this paper is to analyse the diffusion of two local Liverpool features – the lenition of intervocalic and wordfinal /t/ and /k/ – in speech from a corpus of 40 speakers stratified by age, gender and socio-‐economic status. I show that despite the links between the two locations, the features of Liverpool are not diffusing into Southport speech as rapidly as originally hypothesised. The second aim is to investigate whether there is a correlation between speakers’ language use and their spatial patterns by mapping their external (contact) and extra-‐linguistic (attitudinal) behaviour onto their linguistic production. Adopting a ‘linguistics of contact’ based model (Rampton 2009) I interview several communities of practice within Southport (e.g. choirs, sports teams) to identify speaker affiliation and subsequent spatial zones on both the micro and macro-‐scales (friendship groups, and associations within the town and region). I show that varying patterns of contact could provide an explanation for the reduced level of diffusion of Liverpool features. In conclusion, I argue that understanding speakers’ psycho-‐social orientations and social awareness, in conjunction with correlative patterns of speech production is crucial for explaining language change. References: Grey, C. & Richardson, B. (2007) ‘Our Friends in the North: Relic Dialects in the area between Southport and Preston’. In: Grant, A, Grey, C. (eds) The Mersey Sound: Liverpool's Language, People and Places. Liverpool: Open House Press. Llamas, C. (2007) 'A place between places': language and identities in a border town' Language in Society. 36(4): 579-‐604. Llamas, C. (2010), ‘Convergence and Divergence Across a National Border’. In: C. Llamas and D. Watt (eds.) Language and Identities, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 227-‐236. Montgomery, C. (2007) 'Perceptions of Liverpool English'. In: Grey, C. and Grant, A. (eds.), Liverpool English. Liverpool: Open House Press. Rampton, B. (2009), ‘Speech Community and Beyond’, in N. Coupland and A. Jaworski (eds.) The New Sociolinguistics Reader, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 694-‐713.
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Dialect levelling and the spread of supralocal features
Sophie Holmes University of Glasgow
Recent research suggests that many UK accents are losing their characteristic regional features and becoming levelled (e.g. Kerswill et al, 2007; Foulkes & Docherty, 1999). These lost regional forms are often replaced by supralocal features. This research examines the process of levelling through an investigation of two supralocal features in the speech of ten adolescents from Hastings, East Sussex. One national:
1. TH-‐fronting: I think [fiŋk] she wants to run the Marathon [marafəәn]
One global: 2. Quotative be like: she was like "I just wanna go to bed" and we're like "ok“
Thought to have originated from London (Milroy, 2006: 210), TH-‐fronting has received a great deal of attention in sociolinguistics due to its spread through many separate urban centres across the UK (e.g. see Foulkes and Docherty (ed.s), 1999). In contrast, quotative be like is said to have originated in the USA (e.g. Blyth, Rectenwald & Wang, 1990; Ferrara & Bell, 1995) and is rapidly increasing in the speech of young speakers throughout the English speaking world e.g. Canada, UK, New Zealand etc (Buchstaller & D’Arcy, 2009). There has been evidence to suggest that while national supralocal forms may reorganise within a new variety, global features may ‘travel’ with their linguistic constraints in tact (Buchstaller & D’Arcy, 2009: 315). Through comparison with previous findings for both features I examine this claim directly and ask:
-‐ What are the factors that constrain these variables in Hastings? -‐ Is there a difference in the level of linguistic reorganisation for either feature?
A total of 760 tokens of (th) and 420 quotatives were analysed. As expected, while TH-‐fronting showed local patterning for factors such as word position and lexical item, quotative be like preserved the hierarchies of its so-‐called ‘classic’ constraints including grammatical person and content of the quote. This lends support to the claim that one characteristic of globalising trends may be their tendency to preserve internal constraints. References
Blyth, C. Jr., Recktenwald, S. & Wang, J. (1990) I’m like ‘say what?!’: a new quotative in American oral narrative. American Speech 65: 215 – 227
Buchstaller, I. & D’Arcy, A. (2009) Localised globalization: A multi-‐local, multivariate investigation of quotative be like Journal of Sociolinguistics 13/3 291 – 331
Ferrara, K. & Bell, B. (1995) Sociolinguistic variation and discourse function of constructed dialogue introducers: The case of be + like. American Speech 70: 265 -‐ 290
Foulkes, P. & Docherty, G. (eds.), Urban Voices. Accent studies in the British Isles. London: Arnold Kerswill, P. et al (2007) Linguistic Innovators: The English of Adolescents in London: Full Research Report ESRC End of Award Report, RES-‐000-‐23-‐0680. Swindon: ESRC Milroy, J. (2006) When is a sound change? On the role of external factors in language change. In Britain, David and Cheshire, Jenny (eds.), Social Dialectology, In honour of Peter Trudgill 209 – 222 Singler, J & Woods, L. (2002) The use of be like quotatives in American and non-‐American newspapers. Paper presented at NWAVE 32
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Code-‐switching in Scottish Gaelic
Cassie Smith-‐Christmas University of Glasgow
This paper looks at the code-‐switching patterns of a group of older bilingual Gaelic-‐English speakers living on the Isle of Skye and Isle of Harris, Scotland. Situtated within a larger framework of three generations of a bilingual family, the paper focuses on two main concepts: the use of first generation speakers' code-‐switching in the stance-‐taking process and the role of code-‐switching in using reported speech, or, as it will referred to in this chapter, ‘constructed dialogue’ (cf. Tannen, 1995). The discussion following will show how these two concepts can be related to the over-‐arching idea of indexicality; that is, how the meaning of a linguistic form is context-‐dependent and has the potential to signal a wide range of macro and micro social phenomena. The choice to use one language over another is in and of itself may be used to index a speaker’s identity; for example, it has been argued elsewhere (Smakman and Smith-‐Christmas, 2009), that these speaker’s use Gaelic as a way of indexing their local (i.e. Skye and Harris), historical, and familial identity. However, this chapter looks beyond the macro-‐social relationship between speaker identity and language to uncover the role code-‐switching plays in the interactions of the first generation speakers, concluding that ultimately, code-‐switching plays an important role in the indexing process in these speakers’ discourse, and consequently, how the meaning-‐making process of conversation is achieved. References Smakman, D., & Smith-‐Christmas, C. (2009). Gaelic on the Isle of Skye: older speakers’ identity in a language shift situation. International Journal of the Sociology of Language,
200, 27-‐48. Tannen, D. (1995). Waiting for the Mouse: Constructed Dialogue in Conversation. In D. Tedlock & B. Mannheim (Eds.), The dialogic emergence of culture (pp. 198-‐ 217). Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
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A Sociolinguistic Study on Multilingualism: Kurdish as an Iranian Language
Javid Fereidoni Université Paris Ouest
Language as a social and cultural phenomenon cannot be studied without the social context in which communication takes place. The way society members choose varieties of a language or switch toward another code can determine the influence of social factors on language choice. Iran as a multilingual society is a suitable community in which the different varieties of language are used to serve different functions.West Azarbayjan, one of the Iranian provinces, is a good representative of multilingualism in Iran. The study tries to analyze the linguistic structure of Orumiyeh in a domain analysis perspective. Three languages are spoken in Orumiyeh. As mentioned earlier, three ethnic and linguistic populations (Armenians, Kurds, and Turks) are living in the city who speak Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish respectively. In this study, the researcher will try to focus on the frequency of Kurdish language spoken inside Orumiyeh, the capital of West Azerbaijan in Iran. Since in the census taken in Iran, only religious, ethnic populations such as Armenians and Zoroastrians are included, so the researcher has accesses to the number of Armenian Population, but the number of Sonny Kurds as a linguistic population is neglected. “Kurds are a group of Iranian ethnic colonies that have a lot of commonalties with the others with respect to the language, religion, customs, the life-‐style, etc. However, geographical situations and historical events had great influences on their ethnic and racial characteristics; so that considerable differences emerged in their dialect, religion, and customs” (Sanandaji, 1987/1366:8). It is worth mentioning that mass media, Persian instruction, and immigration have a great impact on the dialects. Kurdish spoken in Iran has a few varieties such as Kormanji, Sorani, Mukri, etc. Mukri dialect is spoken in the extreme west of Iran, south of Lake Orumiyeh where this study was carried out. Most of Kurds in Orumiyeh are Sunni Muslims. This study follows a threefold objective: 1) to discover which language variety Turkish, Kurdish/Armenian or Persian is used mostly in which social domain? That is, to find out the correlation between bilingualism of Turks and trilingualism of Kurds and Armenians and seven social domains. The domains are family, religion, friendship, transaction, neighborhood, education, and government and employment. Discussing the underlying forces behind people’s choice of language in each domain is a matter of interest. This study seeks to find out how domain analysis can be related to the triglossic situations in the area. That is to say, the researcher wants to know if there is sufficient evidence that Orumiyeh community tends to be triglossic with determining the High and Low languages. 3) The study concerns itself with looking for the nonnative speaker’s views with regard to Turkish. That is an attempt is made to see if non-‐Turkish speaking individuals namely Kurds and Armenians have any attitude whether positive or negative toward using Turkish in one of the above-‐mentioned social domains. This study is based on the hypothesis that people’s choice of language in different social contexts is determined by or correlated with their level of education, age, sex, etc. So the hypotheses of the study can be presented as follows H1: The more a domain is formal, the more Persian is used by the speakers. H2: People with high levels of education use Persian in most situations. H3: Persian is used by females much more frequently than males in most situations. H4: Young people use Persian more frequently than old people. As far as the researcher knows the study of domain analysis in multilingual society has not been carried out in Iran. This study can be a guideline for those who are eager to find out the social aspect of languages. Determining the dominant language can be a good criterion in language planning in trilingual communities like Orumiyeh.
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Monophthongisation of [ai] by rural Virginia store employees
Grace Reynolds University of Virginia
This paper details the preliminary phase of an investigation into language shift and attitudes in the context of the changing demographics of Virginia, specifically in speech observed at “general stores” in two counties in rural Virginia. Research I conducted in these areas reveals that at least one feature of a regional variant thought to be specific to areas further south or west is more often present here than was hypothesized. A defining characteristic of all regional varieties of Southern American speech is the monophthongization of [aɪ] (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2006). Studies conducted elsewhere in the American South on this speech characteristic suggest that the trend is moving away from use of the regional variation [aː] towards the “standard” (Bowie 2001; Thomas 1997; Feagin 2000). However, the data collected for the Atlas of North American English (2006) suggests that the Southern variant remains common in this area, especially in certain phonological contexts (Bowie 2001). The large number of people who have moved into the neighboring Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. region, from elsewhere in recent years has made that area one of great linguistic diversity. Bowie (2001) suggests that language change in the direction of a more standard model and away from regional variations can be a result of a large migration to an area. This phase of the project investigated the degree to which speakers at “general stores” in two Virginia counties still use the monophthongization of [aɪ], and attempted to shed some light on how much linguistic influence the spread of urbanization from Northern Virginia and Washington may have on the speech communities in this region. The results I expected to find, that speakers a greater distance from the urban area were more likely to use the regional monophthongal variation in natural speech, were in fact not illustrated in the study; a slightly larger percentage of informants in the county closest to the urban area used the variant, and although the majority of all informants used the regional variation, they also tended to use them in phonological contexts that were typical of variants used in regions further to the South or in Appalachia. Informants closer to areas of urbanization were using the regional variant more; this is inconsistent with theories of language contact and shift (Bowie 2001), but relatively consistent with relationships of overt and covert prestige in a dialect region (Trudgill 1972). Rural Virginians in contact with a dominant dialect may be displaying “covert prestige” as assertions of regional solidarity by using the stigmatized regional variant in larger volume and in broader phonological contexts than considered the norm. A strong attachment to and identification with this community and hence its dialect appears to be significant enough to confound the normative phonological predictions of regional speech patterns.
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A contrastive study of Chinese and British stereotypes in cross-‐cultural interaction
Chunyao Zhao University of Huddersfield
Stereotyping, as a cultural and ideological phenomenon, has been a key issue in social psychology and sociolinguistics. The traditionally held view has focused on negative values of stereotyping and viewed it as a static factor in social perception. In this view, stereotypes are considered to be inaccurate assumptions, overgeneralisations and the cognitive roots of prejudice and even discrimination. Allport (1954) draws our attention to the cognitive aspect of the functions of stereotyping as he puts in The Nature of Prejudice, a stereotype is an exaggerated belief associated with a category and its function is to justify (rationalise) our conduct in relation to that category. He offers some very modern-‐sounding ideas but he also views it as the ‘prejudiced-‐personality approach’. In 1977, with the awareness of its social significance, Oliver Stallybrass, used the term ‘share’ as a core of his statement, which implies stereotypes are not static phenomena but rather serve important social functions in the process of their creation and diffusion. Stereotypes are finally back where they belong -‐-‐-‐ at centre stage in social life. With the rapid development of globalisation, a number of scholars have moved to approach stereotyping from a dialectical perspective by placing it into the dynamics of cross-‐cultural interaction and have provided new insights into cultural stereotyping. One such example is that of Yihong Gao (1995), who has proposed ‘a Paradox of Cross-‐cultural Interaction’. In her view, cultural stereotyping can serve both as the “bridge” to promote interaction and as the “gap” impeding it. This study intends to contrast Chinese and British cultural stereotypes from the other’s perspective. Due to different value systems and attitudes of different cultures, misunderstandings, even bad feelings can often occur. The objective is to find ways in which the difference between self-‐stereotyping and others-‐stereotyping might be bridged, so that Chinese stereotypes of themselves and British stereotypes of Chinese people can correspond better and vice-‐versa. Ultimately, therefore, it is to find ways in which communication between the Chinese and British can be more harmonious and mutually beneficial. The research is practically significant in that it provides overviews both of the subjective thinking about stereotypes’ roles and effects from the perspective of Chinese English majors and British learners of Chinese with no cross-‐cultural experiences and also of the objective practice of Chinese and British students who have already had cross-‐cultural experiences in the other’s cultures. On such a basis, those ‘inexperienced’ in cross-‐culture may benefit from either knowledge or information from the ‘experienced’ and identify information sources which influence and shape their perceptions. This approach provides an opportunity to explore the role of cultural stereotyping in cross-‐cultural interaction, which can eventually shed light on interactants’ endeavours to achieve successful cross-‐cultural communication. References Allport, G. W. (1954). The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-‐Wesley. Stallybrass, O. (1977). Stereotype. In A. Bullock, O.Stallybrass (Eds.). The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. London: Fontana/Collins.
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Perceptions of European and Brazilian Portuguese speakers among French undergraduates
Caio César Christiano University of Poitiers
In this study, I will present the results from a survey conducted between 2006 and 2011 amongst undergraduate students taking Portuguese as a foreign language classes both at the University of Poitiers and at the Institute of Political Sciences of Paris. Portuguese courses at the aforementioned institutions are specific in the sense that they require students to have contact with instructors coming from Portugal and Brazil, in an effort to familiarize learners with both varieties of Portuguese Language. Taking into account the recent academic debates on the differences that actually separate the two varieties, with some scholars holding that they could easily be considered two different languages, I tried to verify if learners, after over a year of contact with teachers coming from both nationalities, were aware of these differences and, if so, whether such differences represented an obstacle for their mastering of the language. The questionnaire was designed so as to also include information regarding the perceptions students have of the language, i.e., cultural and sentimental elements learners attribute to each one of the varieties. Results show that, even at a relatively basic learning level, students were able to perceive many differences between both varieties and that they associated certain cultural activities, such as music or poetry, to only one of the varieties. This study represents a first effort in the field of linguistic perception in Portuguese language, a domain yet to be further explored and developed by both Portuguese and Brazilian researchers.
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A variationist account of plosives in a contact situation: Spanish and Creole English in Panama City
Delano Lamy
University of Florida
The extent to which language contact can affect or promote language change is a theme of contentious debate in linguistics today. While contact-‐induced change has been found in all areas of language, the demand for scientific rigor in making such claims has increased. Variationist linguists studying contact have argued that the key to providing convincing empirical evidence for such change lies in the identification of a conflict site, "a form or class of forms which differs functionally, structurally, and/or quantitatively across comparison varieties" (Poplack & Meechan, 1998:132; Poplack & Tagliamonte 2001:101). It is well known that standard English and Spanish differ in Voice Onset Time (VOT), or the duration of the time interval between the release of a stop and the glottal vibration of plosives /p t k b d g/ (Lisker & Abramson, 1964). If this is also the case at the local level in Spanish-‐English contact communities, VOTs provide an ideal site for the examination of the potential effects of contact on phonological systems. My dissertation project is concerned with language contact between Spanish and Creole English in the Republic of Panama. The approach of this study is to examine the speech patterns of monolinguals of Spanish and Creole English and Spanish-‐Creole English bilinguals in the local communities of this region, by employing the comparative method. A statistical comparison of the factors contributing to VOT in the three speech modes will address the possibility of phonological convergence due to contact in this region. A total of 3000 occurrences are to be included in the analysis, with a balanced sample extracted from monolingual Spanish, monolingual Creole English, and Spanish and Creole English of bilingual speakers. The measurements will be done using Praat (Boersma & Weenink, 2010). Only through the comparison of local norms can change be substantiated (Torres Cacoullos & Aaron, 2003), as linguistic patterns of different sets of data are pinpointed through statistical analyses using GoldVarb X. These patterns are then later compared side-‐by-‐side to determine whether or not speakers use the languages similarly, based on criteria such as the factors that influence variation, the relative magnitude of effect of these factors, and the direction of effect of factors (Tagliamonte, 2004). This study will be one of the first to apply the comparative method to address the possibility of contact-‐induced change in Spanish outside the United States (on New Mexican Spanish, see Torres Cacoullos & Aaron 2003; on French-‐English contact in Canada, see e.g. Sankoff 1980). In addition, this study will facilitate debates on the permeability of phonology in language contact situations in general, and in Spanish sociolinguistics in particular. Finally, since previous studies in the region have focused primarily on Creole English (Aceto, 1995; 1998; Herzfeld, 1983; Snow, 2000), this study will contribute significantly to Spanish dialectology, as the first to analyze the speech of bilinguals and monolinguals in this particular community, providing a rich source of new data.
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Approaching the acrolect: the expanding prestige of mesolectal phonetic variant [a] in Trinidadian English
Glenda-‐Alicia Leung
Albert-‐Ludwigs Universität Freiburg
In the Anglophone post-‐colonial territory of Trinidad, the language situation is such that a creole continuum exists. While the official language is English, an English based mesolectal creole is widely spoken on the island. Given its socio-‐historical development and structural features, Winford (2001) classifies Trinidadian creole as an intermediate creole. This nomenclature suggests that the mesolect is the most creole form extant in the Trinidadian speech community. Despite the absence of a basilect in contemporary Trinidadian English, there is much variation in the phonetic realization of [-‐high] vowels within the system. Many mergers occur amongst lexical sets such as the merger of BATH-‐TRAP-‐START towards [a] and STRUT-‐NURSE-‐THOUGHT-‐ LOT-‐CLOTH towards [ɒ]. Mergers in Trinidadian English have been treated in the literature primarily as a characteristic of the local vernacular or mesolect (Solomon 1993; Wells 1982; Winer 1993; Winford 1978; Youssef & James 2004). While this is a fair purport of the status of these mergers, in reality mergers in Trinidadian English are far more complex as we hypothesize that phonetic realizations which have been deemed as belonging to the mesolect are now being accepted into the acrolect. As such, a more detailed analysis of the status of mergers in Trinidadian English is desirable, if not warranted. Given the cline of phonetic realizations within the Trinidadian creole continuum, this paper investigates the expansion of prestige variant [a] within this postcolonial, creole speech community. Findings revealed that the BATH-‐TRAP merger [a] was evaluated quite positively though the traditional BATH variant [ɑ] is still more highly regarded. However, the START-‐TRAP merger [a], which involves the same potential phonetic realization as BATH-‐TRAP, was evaluated quite negatively. From 2 these preliminary findings one may conclude that the BATH-‐TRAP [a] merger is moving towards being a prestige variant within the acrolect while START-‐TRAP [a] merger is still stigmatized and more likely to be perceived as a mesolectal feature. References Solomon, Denis. (1993). The Speech of Trinidad: A Reference Grammar. St. Augustine, Trinidad: School of Continuing Studies, University of the West Indies. Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Winer, Lise. (1993). Varieties of English Around the World: Trinidad and Tobago. Amsterdam, Holland: John Benjamins. Winford, Donald. (1978). Phonological hypercorrection in the process of decreolization: The case of Trinidadian English. Journal of Linguistics, 14(2), 277-‐291. -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐. (2001). Intermediate creoles and degrees of change in creole formation: The case of Bajan. In I. Neumann-‐Holzschuh & E.W. Schneider (Eds.), Degrees of restructuring in Creole Languages (pp. 215-‐245). Amsterdam, Holland: John Benjamins. Youssef, Valerie, & James, Winford. (2004). The creoles of Trinidad and Tobago: Phonology. In B. Kortmann, K. Burridge, R. Mesthrie, E. W. Schneider & C. Upton (Eds.), A handbook of the varieties of English: Phonology (Vol. 1, pp. 508-‐524). Berlin, Germany: Mouton de Gruyter.
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Phonetic variation in Scottish Gaelic vowels
Claire Nance
University of Glasgow
Scottish Gaelic is an endangered language as discussed by Dorian (1981), but is now undergoing intense revitalization efforts. Although several studies report on the linguistic outcome of obsolescence (e.g. Jones 1998) there is little work on the phonetic and phonological outcome of language attrition and revitalisation. This paper examines apparent-‐time variation and change in the Scottish Gaelic vowel system from an acoustic phonetic perspective.
As noted by Babel (2009:23), the changes occurring in the sound systems of obsolescent languages may be categorical loss or substitution of a phoneme, or changes at the gradient phonetic level. Previous auditory studies of Gaelic (e.g. Borgstrøm 1941) report a vowel-‐length contrast and nine different vowel qualities including, unusually, four high back vowels: /ɤoɯu/. Although analysed in part by Ladefoged et al. (1998), no other acoustic study has examined the vowels of Scottish Gaelic. This paper focuses on the oral vowel system and examines two research questions: [1] what are the acoustic characteristics of the Scottish Gaelic vowel system? [2] is apparent-‐time change occurring either at the categorical phonemic level, or at the gradient phonetic level?
A word list was designed to include examples of all the reported vowels in Scottish Gaelic as well as minimal pairs where possible. Data were elicited from six native speakers of Lewis Gaelic: three aged 45-‐55 and three aged 20-‐22. These data were supplemented by participant observation of community life on the Isle of Lewis. The data were labelled for vowel onset/offset in Praat and analysed in Emu-‐R. Vowel durations were measured from the waveform to test for maintenance of length distinctions in both speaker groups. In order to investigate spectral characteristics and differences in the vowel system, static measures of Bark-‐scaled F1/F2 were taken at vowel midpoint. Formant values were normalized using the Watt and Fabricius (modified) method (Fabricius et al. 2009).
Results indicate that the vowels previously reported as high back unrounded /ɤ ɯ/ are not back, but are in fact acoustically central. Unlike Ladefoged et al. (1998), all speakers in these data produce short /ɯ/. Comparisons between older and younger age groups suggest robust length distinctions in both speakers groups, but varying degrees of change in quality contrasts. Similar to Ladefoged et al. (1998), the distribution of /u/ tokens patterned into two very distinct allophones: a high central variant, and a retracted variant preceding velarised sonorants. For younger speakers the central variant is more front, and the retracted variant has merged with /o/. Results are discussed with reference to sociophonetic variation and change in situations of language obsolescence and revitalisation, with particular attention to change from a gradient phonetic point of view.
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Dublin English: An acoustic study
John Lonergan University College Dublin
Previous research on Dublin English has distinguished markedly different working class and middle-‐class varieties (Bertz, 1975, 1987; Wells, 1982). Recent work (Hickey, 2005) describes a chain shift affecting the low and back vowels of middle-‐class forms of Dublin English. Hickey argues that this shift is intended to maximise the differences between middle-‐class and working class forms of Dublin English. In Hickey's view this shift is motivated by an aspiration for 'urban sophistication'. All previous work on Dublin English has been based on auditory analysis. The sociolinguistic observations of this work are also unsupported by statistical analysis. My project aims to supplement this work with acoustic analysis of Dublin English vowels and consonants. It also aims to further explore the sociolinguistic reasons for variation and change. This paper will include a brief review of the literature on Dublin English, focusing in particular on the reported differences between working class and middle class forms of Dublin English, as well as Hickey's descriptions of a chain shift. The methodology of the project will be outlined, including subject selection and data elicitation techniques. References Bertz, S. (1975). Der Dubliner Stadtdialekt. Freiburg: Albert Ludwigs Universitat. Bertz, S. (1987). Variation in Dublin English. Teanga, 7, 35-‐53. Hickey, R. (2005). Dublin English: Evolution and Change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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TRAP vowel raising and backing: Latinos in the D.C. metropolitan area
Amelia Tseng Georgetown University
This paper applies quantitative and qualitative methodology to /ae/ (TRAP) raising and backing by Latino speakers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Since Labov’s (1972) controversial claim that minority groups do not participate in majority-‐group phonological shifts, numerous studies have documented this adaptation, relating it to (among other factors) majority-‐group exposure and interaction; ethnic affiliation and segregation; monolingual contact; gender; and social-‐group membership (Fought, 2003; Mendoza-‐Denton, 2008; Roeder, 2010; Wolfram, Carter, & Moriello, 2004). Despite evidence that changing U.S. demographic patterns may be leading to the development of Latino English(es) in the American South (Wolfram, Carter, & Moriello, 2004), however, Latino speakers have not been studied in Washington, D.C. Throughout the United States, TRAP raises in pre-‐nasal environment (Labov, Ash, & Boberg, 2006). Chicano English (CE), however, typically displays a low, backed TRAP realization (Fought, 2003; Gordon, 2000; Thomas, 2001). While this pronunciation originated in Spanish phonological transfer, as a feature of an emergent native English dialect it is available as a stylistic resource (Eckert, 2008b; Fought, 2003; Sharma, 2005) for bilinguals and monolinguals alike. In D.C.’s contested social space, where immigration and gentrification bring “old-‐timers,” new residents, and ethnic/regional groups into contact (Modan, 2009), TRAP realization is anticipated to carry social meaning for Latino speakers as they negotiate their imagined (Anderson, 1991) environment. Crucially, meaning is not limited to ethnicity (Eckert, 2008a; cf Silverstein 2003), but may encompass political affiliation (Hall-‐Lew, Starr, & Coppock, 2010) and locally-‐negotiated attributes such as “toughness” (Eckert 2008b). Data were 6 digitally-‐recorded sociolinguistic interviews, each approximately 40 minutes long, from the Language and Communication in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area (LCDC) database. Participants were 3 male/3 female Latinos, ages 25-‐40. All self-‐identify as bilingual, and use English in the majority of daily interactions; all are fluent English speakers, and three show native-‐like pronunciation. 5 immigrated to the U.S. from South America as adolescents or young adults; 1 is native-‐born. All were college-‐educated in the United States and have resided in the DC metropolitan area since at least that time. Vowels were coded by the researcher using PRAAT acoustic analysis, with F1/F2 measured at vowel midpoints. Tokens with preceding rhotics or glides (“grass,” “wack,”), and following approximants /r l/ (“marry, “rally”) were discarded. Following nasal environment was accepted for TRAP (“hand”) but not other vowels (“bend”). After establishing vowel space for each speaker (>10 tokens/vowel), a total of 1459 TRAP tokens were analyzed by pre-‐nasal/non-‐nasal environment. In contrast to previous findings on CE (above), preliminary results show pre-‐nasal TRAP raising for all speakers. A gender pattern was observed, with male speakers showing a more backed realization. Finally, inter-‐speaker variation in both backing and raising was found. Building on these observations, multivariant statistical analysis (RBRUL) and regression modeling will next be applied, with close discourse analysis based on stancework (DuBois, 2007; Kiesling, 2009) and meta-‐discourse used to interpret findings. Inter-‐speaker variation in raising and backing indicates that F1 and F2 may serve different stylistic purposes (Eckert 2008b) in nuanced identity performance that, in the D.C. context, may range from local discourses of residency, authenticity, and “correctness” to more widely circulated discourses (Agha, 2003; Bucholtz, 2009) of ethnicity and immigration. However, these meanings remain to be uncovered as research progresses.
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Emotions in identity building: indexing socio-‐cultural meanings through affective language
Irena Dimova
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Traditionally significant scholarly endeavours in the sphere of linguistics and anthropology have focused on the referential meanings of emotional language by investigating whether emotions are universal phenomena or socio-‐culturally constructed categories (Besnier 1995). This emphasis on the debate over universalism versus relativism has led to a preoccupation with the semantics of emotional talk and has encouraged attempts to come up with plausible definitions of emotional terms (Rosaldo 1980, Wierzbicka 1999, Kövecses 2000). However, foregrounding referentialism, this perspective obscures to a certain extent the ways in which emotions arise in concrete social contexts as well as the uses to which they are subjected. As a result, a number of anthropologists have turned their attention to the pragmatic meaning of emotional language, i.e. what it accomplishes rather than what it denotes or refers to (Ochs and Schieffelin 1989, Besnier 1995, Wilce 2009). In this way they have tried to shed better light on the social emergence of emotions in specific contexts of situation. In the present paper, I suggest that the time is ripe for a similar shift to take place in the realms of linguistic research on language and emotions. Focusing on the pragmatics of affective talk will provide a new angle from which to approach emotional categories, thus offering new material to draw conclusions about the nature of emotions and a means of going beyond the never-‐ending argument between essentialism and constructionism. Assuming this new perspective, the current presentation examines the pragmatic use of emotional language in both written and oral interactional contexts. I draw on data from personal confessional narratives occurring in women’s and men’s popular magazines and internet forums, field recordings of naturally occurring speech in face-‐to-‐face interaction between native speakers of Bulgarian as well as one-‐to-‐one linguistic interviews. Based on the extracted linguistic and ethnographic data, I propose that emotional language plays a key role in identity construction processes. To achieve my objective, I pursue a semiotic approach to affective talk and a procedural one to acts of identification. I go beyond the referentialist meanings of emotional language and focus on its indexical and performative functions—I view this type of talk as a phenomenon directly indicative of certain stances and social acts and indirectly indexing socio-‐cultural meanings (such as belonging to a particular group). These indexical processes appear to facilitate the presentation of self as well as identity construction in interaction. Additionally, I argue that such lower-‐order emotional indexicalities tend to be perceived as related to certain socio-‐cultural identities by signaling higher-‐order units—linguistic ideologies, i.e. metapragmatic reflections on lower-‐order emotional indexicalities. The emphasis on the indexical relationship between emotional language and processes of identification is to a great extent made possible by taking a procedural, anti-‐essentialist approach to identity. In the current investigation, I regard identity not as some kind of core essence of the individual, static and given once and for all, but as something which is dynamically constructed in specific contexts of interaction, more often than not collaboratively and intersubjectively.
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“Well, I don’t think it’s true.” vs. “That’s bullshit!”: Gender differences in the use of disagreement strategies
Helga Vanda Koczogh
University of Debrecen, Hungary
Since the publication of Robin Lakoff's groundbreaking book, Language and Woman's Place (1975), the study of gender and politeness has become an extensive field for research, but until recently, the relationship between gender and impoliteness has received much less attention. This paper aims to contribute to this neglected field of research through the investigation of the interrelationship between impoliteness and gender in face-‐to-‐face spoken interaction of native speakers of Hungarian. In the central strand of my investigations, I set out to reveal the specificity of female and male discourse, with particular attention to the gender-‐related disagreement patterns of language use. Until now, very little empirical research concerning the act of disagreement per se appears to have been done, especially in mixed-‐sex setting. Moreover, the majority of studies to date has predominantly focused on the linguistic manifestation of disagreement and has ignored its functional spectrum. More significantly, a gap is observed in the relevant literature, as, to my best knowledge, research on the act of disagreement has never been carried out in Hungarian. This study is an attempt to fill these gaps by exploring the functions of disagreement in mixed-‐sex dyadic verbal interaction of Hungarian university students within a task-‐based framework using both qualitative and quantitative methods. An additional aim of the paper is to test the claims of the bulge theory (Wolfson, 1988) – holding that the linguistic behaviour of those standing at the extremes of social distance is very similar -‐ by examining and comparing the impolite linguistic behaviour of strangers and couples. Thus, my overall research purpose in this paper is to examine what impact, if any, gender and social distance have on the preferred disagreement strategies and linguistic markers used by Hungarian university students. The research findings reveal that the women participating in this study in general used a higher number of disagreements compared to men. The results also suggest that certain disagreement strategies are preferred by men while others are used more freqently by women. In general, the research findings confute previous claims on women’s politeness and non-‐assertiveness, and question the universal applicability of Wofson’s bulge theory. References: Brown, P. and S. Levinson (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Culpeper, J., et. al. (2003). Impoliteness revisited: With special reference to dynamic and prosodic aspects. Journal of Pragmatics 35, 1545-‐1579.
Georgakopoulou, A. (2001). Arguing about the future: on indirect disagreements in conversations. Journal of Pragmatics 33, 1881-‐1900.
Haugh, M. (2010). When is an email really offensive?: Argumentativity and variability in evaluations of impoliteness. Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture 6, 7–31.
Holmes, J. (1995). Women, Men and Politeness. London: Longman. Koczogh, H.V. (2010). Hungarian Perceptions of Gender Differences in English Conversations
Reconsidered. The Round Table, 3. Available at http://www.theroundtable.ro/pages/language_studies.html
Lakoff, R. (1975). Language and woman's place. New York: Harper and Row.
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Endangered Languages and the Museum: An Area of Support, Revitalization and Maintenance in Dingle, Ireland
Jean Price
University of Newcastle This presentation will examine how endangered language communities can use the specific resources and skills museum and heritage organizations possess to assist with revitalization and maintenance efforts. The case study to be examined will be the use of the Irish language in the Dingle Peninsula as exemplified in the West Kerry Museum and the Blascaod Centre contexts. Data presented will include the initial findings of observations and interviews at both sites, as well as supplementary material obtained from the National Museum of Ireland and the Galway City Museum. One of the primary aims of this research is to place the micro-‐level activities being undertaken by these museums in the context of macro-‐level policies affecting language, as well as their impact on the museum and heritage organizations. The case study data will be examined within this larger framework of policy surrounding the language support activities being undertaken. Additionally, ‘best practice’ in both language revitalization and maintenance, and specific areas of museum and heritage practice will be discussed with the results of the initial phases of the case study examined within those. The specific museum and heritage practices to be discussed are: (i) community engagement; (ii) interpretation; and (iii) non-‐classroom based education. Each of these offers a specific set of methods and practices relevant to the support of an endangered language community. The connections and significance of these practices for endangered language communities will be demonstrated. As already noted, the data presented arise from on-‐site interviews and observations of a range of stakeholders including: managerial level staff members, other staff, the general visiting public, volunteers and language officers. I also intend to mine data from relevant in-‐house policies and publications (so called ‘grey literature’). The questions this will answer include: What type of information generates the choice of language as Irish or English? How did Irish or English come to be the working language of the organization in question? What types of material are produced in Irish, including interpretive material and educational programming? What is the historical reason why one language is favoured over another in the surrounding community? What consequences/compromises are there for a museum working in Irish, even in a Gaeltacht area? What types of attitude towards Irish and English do people working in the organizations have towards the respective languages? How do Irish and English interact within the organization and what consequences does this have for the status and use of these languages within the organization as well as the wider community setting? What policies, both internal micro-‐level and higher macro-‐level, are at play in constructing the linguistic landscape of the organization? Is it viewed as a sacrifice by the organization to forgo English in order to support and promote Irish or vice versa? How do these practices feed into language maintenance practices? How can these contribute to language promotion within the wider Gaeltacht communities in which these organizations are situated? This paper constitutes research and data gathered during my first year as a PhD student in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics and at the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies at Newcastle University.
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Gender branding identity construction and hygiene a sociolinguistic perspective
Ellen Osterhaus Purdue University, Indiana
This project presents an analysis of naming trends from a corpus of common hygiene products that are marketed based on simple gender distinctions: antiperspirant, hand soap, and shampoo. The brand names (e.g. Sure) and model designations (e.g. Glacier Mist) of hygiene products employ distinctive linguistic patterns to appeal to consumers on the basis of socially constructed gender rather than biological sex. The function of these name and model designations is ostensibly referential; that is, simply to differentiate items with unique features from a wide range of similar products. However, consumers interact regularly with the names of products in their daily lives, to the extent that the name is encountered in isolation from media commonly identified as “advertising.” The pervasive linguistic patterns in product naming trends play an important role in our collective cultural lexicon, identity construction, and can serve to reinforce a cultural heteronormative gender dichotomy. The three types of hygiene products under analysis here are explicitly categorized as “men’s,” “women’s,” and “gender-‐neutral.” One motivating question was to determine whether scent-‐specific model designations on otherwise gender-‐neutral products follow the same naming patterns as products that are overtly labeled as “women’s” or “men’s.” Are gender-‐neutral products marketed in a truly “neutral” way? The deep-‐seated cultural assumptions inherent in, for instance, an antiperspirant that promises silky underarms (e.g., Secret) or sexual prowess (e.g., Axe/Lynx) can be explored through the language of persuasion and, more specifically, the language used in naming common, everyday products. The analytical paradigm applied by Ingrid Piller in American Automobile Names provides a basis for interpreting the data. A small corpus of US-‐based product names, along with their supplementary model designations, are addressed at the levels of lexical categories, syntactic phrases, and semantic connotations. This interdisciplinary research draws on studies in fields from sociolinguistics to marketing in order to address this conjunction of culture, language, and identity. The findings suggest that products marketed to women favor longer model designations, with combinations of at least two words (e.g., Arctic Apple), whereas products marketed to men tend to use names of a single word (e.g., Swagger). Initial findings also suggest that men’s products tend to draw from a more limited range of semantic categories than women’s. The gender-‐neutral soap product names that were analyzed also use longer names, and share more common semantic categories with feminine product names than with masculine. The data suggest that parallels may be drawn between trends in ostensibly gender-‐neutral hygiene product names and women’s product names.
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A study on the Relationship between Apologizing strategy and Gender differences in Chinese college students
Lingyu Fu
Peking University The gender difference in languages has always drawn attention from anthropologies, historians, and linguists. Since 1970s, many linguists, such as Lakoff, Trudgill, Zimmerman, Bolonger, Holmes, Coates, have done research on the relationship between gender differences and language speaking. Many researchers have studied apology, one of the most common speech acts. Goffman has determined a definition for apology in the year 1971. According to Brown and Levinson, apology threatens speaker’s positive face. Olshtain and Cohen divided apology into five sub-‐types. However, these researches seldom focus on any particular speaking community or any special group of speakers. Based on the questionnaire analysis plus triangulation analysis of field notes from observations as well as informants’ dialogues on Facebook and Renren (Chinese Facebook), the present qualitative study aims to describe gender differences in the realization of apologetic acts from a key comprehensive university in China. Three research questions are proposed. 1. What are the typical realization patterns of the speech act of apologizing by male and
female students? 2. To what extent do the strategies used by the two genders differ from each other? 3. The correlation between gender differences in apologizing and five dimensions: social
position, occasion, social relations, the listener’s attitude and the listener’s gender. Two groups of college students are enrolled in the study—male and female students. A 5-‐item questionnaire is distributed to the 78 participants. Data are also collected from Facebook and Renren, which are two of the most popular communication websites, and interviews. Related findings are listed as following. 1. The gender differences exist in the realization of apologizing, in terms of strategy use. 2. Both of the two genders share some similarities of strategy distribution. However, the
female compared to the male are more apt to select complex strategies to realize the speech act of apologizing.
3. Under the five occasions, listener’s gender is the most influential factor, which means male tend to select more complex strategies to realize the speech act of apologizing to the opposite gender. Other factors do not cause differences as much as the previous one.
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West End Glasgow Guide to Eating, Drinking and Merriment There are tons of bars, cafes and restaurants in the West End. Here are just a few suggestions…..
Food: Mimmo’s Bistro (Ashton Lane) Cozy restaurant with very tasty Italian food at reasonable prices, highly recommended! Brel (Ashton Lane) They do a good early bird menu (ending at 7) for meals under £7. The mussel pots are particularly good. Ketchup (Ashton Lane) 2-‐4-‐1 gourmet burgers for students; Monday – Thursday and 12 – 5 on Fridays Hillhead Bookclub (17 Vinicombe Street, off Byres Road, Great Western Road end) Good food in the price range of £5-‐£10 with many veggie and salad-‐type options. Lots of nice touches, retro gaming area, indoor ping-‐pong table, cocktail bowls out of old gramophones – well worth a visit! Tony Macaroni (Dumbarton Road end of Byres Road) Basic but delicious Italian food; pizza/pasta/risotto, if you order before 6.30, you can get a good hearty meal for under a fiver, large range of options. Tribeca (Dumbarton Road) NYC styled cafe, great for lazy breakfast/brunch offering pretty authentic NYC delights such as French toast, short stack pancakes etc. Worth a visit for the bathroom alone! Bar Gambrino beer hall and pizzeria (372 – 374 Great Western Road) A hit with students on account of its 2-‐4-‐1 pizzas (delicious stone baked, thin crust) and its huge selection of beers, they offer a decent ‘beer of the moment’ for about £2.50.
Coffee: Smug (right next to M&S off Byres Road) Coffee shop with free wifi, they do a great nachos plate for under £7 which can easily fill you up. Artisan Roast (Gibson Street) Best coffee in Glasgow bar none
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Naked Soup (Kersland Street, just off top of Great Western Road) Fantastic coffee and brilliant lunch deal: freshly made soup, sandwich, drink and piece of fruit all for a fiver. Also does great, good value breakfast. Biblocafe (262 Woodlands Road) Coffeehouse and second-‐hand bookshop, pop-‐in for a brew and a browse.
Beers: Captains Rest (185 Great Western Road) Traditional ‘pub’ turned hipster hangout. Good for pints, chat and has a cool gig venue downstairs. Also serves cheap and decent pub grub (burgers, nachos, pizzas etc), if it’s too busy go next door to The Liquid Ship for a beer or a glass of (good) wine. The Belle (617, Great Western Road) Small but perfectly formed this cozy bar is great for a quiet drink – good selection of beers. The 78 (Kelvinhaugh Street) Right next door to Cairncross House (student halls) The 78 offers a large selection of local and domestic brews as well as a good vegetarian and vegan menu. Famous for Thursday’s hugely popular Dub’n’Grub night -‐ cheap and tasty vegan food, loud dub and friendly vibe. The Ben Nevis (1147, Argyle Street) Just round the corner from The 78 the Ben Nevis is a traditional whisky bar with live Celtic music sessions Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Try their ‘malt of the month’ for around £2.50 Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’s (Sauchiehall Street) Made famous for being the painfully cool Mogwai’s watering hole of choice, Nice ’n’ Sleazy’s is now the go-‐to bar of every Glasgow scenester. Good fun, great jukebox and some tasty cocktails (try the Buckfast based Buckaroo if you’re feeling brave!)
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Dinner Menu Starters Chicken Satay Ayam £5.00 Skewers of marinated chicken grilled and served with peanut sauce and cucumber relish Crying Tiger Beef Salad £5.40 Grilled marinated beef served cold with a Thai style green salad (Beef is cooked medium rare) King Prawn Tempura £6.00 Lightly battered king prawns served with a sweet chilli sauce Salt and Pepper Squid £5.40 Salt and pepper squid served with a green mayo sauce Crispy Golden Spring Rolls (v) £4.80 Crispy spring rolls stuffed with grass noodles, onion and coriander, served with cucumber relish and sweet chilli sauce
Chicken Tom Yam Soup £3.50 Hot and sour soup with fragrant aromas and flavours. Served with prawn crackers. Fish Cakes £6.00 Traditional home-make Thai fishcakes served with cucumber relish & sweet chilli sauce Corn Fritters £4.20 Lightly battered fritter of sweetcorn, onion and coriander with Thai flavouring / red curry spice Main Courses Thai Green Curry £10.20 Classic Thai green curry in coconut milk with chicken or king prawns, served with jasmine rice Thai Red Curry £10.20 Classic Thai red curry in coconut milk with chicken or king prawns, served with jasmine rice Massaman Beef Curry £10.80 A Southern Thai dish, Muslim in origin. Succulent slow cooked beef, potatoes and peanuts, served with jasmine rice
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Pork Fil let £11.40 Whole pork fillet sliced and served with garlic and pepper sauce, with jasmine rice (mild option) Rendang £10.80 Dry Indonesian style curry with beef or pork & potatoes, served with jasmine rice Chicken with Chill i Jam £9.85 Sliced chicken & vegetables stir-fried with chilli jam & holy basil, served with jasmine rice Coley with Three Flavoured Sauce £10.20 Lightly battered coley (white fish) topped with onions, chilli and tamarind sauce giving a slightly sweet taste, served with Asian vegetables and jasmine rice Phat Thai £9.60 Classic Thai fried noodle dish cooked with king prawns, vegetables and egg and topped with ground peanuts Vegetable Phat Thai (v) £9.60 Classic Thai fried noodle dish cooked with wild mushrooms, Chinese cabbage and chow sum, topped with ground peanuts Tofu and Vegetable Red Curry (v) £9.00 Fresh tofu, potato, broccoli and cherry tomatoes served in Thai red curry sauce with jasmine rice Mild Thai Yellow Curry £10.20 Mild Thai yellow curry in coconut milk with coley (white fish), served with jasmine rice Egg Fried rice is available instead of jasmine rice for an extra 50p Do you like it hot?? Why not ask for extra spice when ordering? Sharing Platters Thai Platter £10.00 Combination of chicken satay, king prawn tempura, spring rolls and prawn crackers served with dips Thai Vegetarian Platter (v) £8.00 Combination of spring rolls, vegetable tempura, corn fritters, tofu and Thai salad served with dips Desserts Coconut & Mango Panna Cotta £2.50 Chocolate Mousse £2.50 Vanilla & Lime Cheese Cake £2.50
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Our desserts are small but perfectly formed. Good value so have a couple!
Tiki Bar directions: