Journal Issue: Selected Papers from New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV 44)
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12/23/2016
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Publication Ethnic Variation of */tʕ/ in Aswan Arabic(2016-12-01) Schroepfer, JasonThis study aims to provide some acoustic documentation of two unusual and variable allophones in Aswan Arabic. Although many rural villages in southern Egypt enjoy ample linguistic documentation, many southern urban areas remain understudied. Arabic linguists have investigated religion as a factor influencing linguistic variation instead of ethnicity. This study investigates the role of ethnicity in the under-documented urban dialect of Aswan Arabic. The author conducted sociolinguistic interviews in Aswan from 2012 to 2015. He elected to measure VOT as a function of allophone, ethnicity, sex, and age in apparent time. The results reveal significant differences in VOT lead and lag for the two auditorily encoded allophones. The indigenous Nubians prefer a different pronunciation than their Ṣa‘īdī counterparts who trace their lineage to Arab roots. Women and men do not demonstrate distinct pronunciations. Age also does not appear to be affecting pronunciation choice. However, all three variables interact with each other.Publication Preface(2016-12-01) Jeoung, HelenThe University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL) is an occasional series published by the Penn Graduate Linguistics Society. The series has included volumes of previously unpublished work, or work in progress, by linguists with an ongoing affiliation with the Department, as well as volumes of papers from NWAV and the Penn Linguistics Conference. This volume contains selected papers from New Ways of Analyzing Variation 44 (NWAV 44), held October 22–25, 2015 at the University of Toronto. Thanks go to Luke Adamson, Spencer Caplan, Andrea Ceolin, Nattanun Chanchaochai, Sunghye Cho, Ava Creemers, Aletheia Cui, Sabriya Fisher, Amy Goodwin Davies, Duna Gylfadóttir, Ava Irani, Jordan Kodner, Wei Lai, Caitlin Richter, Milena Šereikaitė, Jia Tian, Lacey Arnold Wade, Robert Wilder and Hong Zhang for their help in editing this volume. Since Vol. 14.2, PWPL has been an internet-only publication. As of September 2014, the entire back catalog has been digitized and made available on ScholarlyCommons@Penn. Please continue citing PWPL papers or issues as you would a print journal article, though you may also provide the URL of the manuscript. An example is below: Abtathian, Maya R., Abigail C. Cohn and Thomas Pepinsky. 2016. Methods for Modeling Social Factors in Language Shift. U. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics 22.2: Selected Papers from NWAV44, ed. H. Jeoung, 1-10. http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol22/iss2/2/. Publication in the University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL) does not preclude submission of papers elsewhere; copyright is retained by the author(s) of individual papers. The PWPL editors can be contacted at: U. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics Department of Linguistics University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104–6228 working-papers@ling.upenn.edu http://ling.upenn.edu/papers/pwpl.html Helen Jeoung, Issue Editor Recommended Citation Jeoung, Helen. 2016. “Preface.” University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics Vol. 22, Iss. 2, Art. 1. Available at: http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol22/iss2/1/.Publication The Role of Geography in Syntactic Variation: A Corpus-based Analysis of Adverb Position across Varieties of English Worldwide(2016-12-01) Ko, EdwinRecent investigations have shown an effect of geography on syntactic variation among dialects in a handful of languages. Developments in corpus-based dialectology have introduced sophisticated analysis techniques for studying dialect differences. However, not much is known about syntactic variation among socially and geographically non-contiguous varieties such as World Englishes, and the effectiveness of modern dialectometric techniques in these types of studies. Following the findings of Grieve 2012, which identified the dialects of the Northeast against those in the Southeast and South Central states by examining the positions of adverbs from a corpus of written Standard American English, this study employs a similar approach to spoken and written corpora of World Englishes, drawing from the International Corpus of English (ICE). Applying spatial autocorrelation techniques to identify similarities and differences due to geographical space shows significant overall spatial clustering in the spoken data, but not in the written data. English varieties in India, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines were identified as ‘hot spots’ for placing certain adverbs before the verb, whereas varieties in Canada and Ireland acted as hot spots for positioning adverbs after the verb.Publication Identity Performance among Black/Biracial Men through Intonation: Examining Pitch Accents and Peak Delay(2016-12-01) Holliday, Nicole RThe acoustic properties that listeners may rely on in both the production and perception of ethnolinguistic variation are an important yet poorly understood topic in modern sociolinguistics. Though several studies (Purnell, Idsardi and Baugh 1999, Tarone 1973, Walton and Orlikoff 1994) have found that individuals generally make accurate and reliable judgments of speaker ethnicity, scholars have had difficulty identifying the specific features that listeners react to in making judgments (Thomas 2015). There is also little research about the production side of these types of ethnic identification tasks and these studies have also often overlooked the potential role of intra-speaker variation in use of suprasegmental features. This study addresses this gap in the literature by focusing on two aspects of production that have been observed to differ between Mainstream U.S. English (MUSE) and African American Language (AAL): the use of the H* versus L+H* contours and length of peak delay interval. This analysis is based on a sample of eight male speakers with one black parent and one white parent and it specifically explores how these intonational features may be useful in the construction and performance of complex racial identities. Results of regression models indicate that these speakers do not employ pitch accent type in intraspeaker variation, but that they do differ in their use of peak delay, employing longer delay intervals in conversations with black interlocutors than in conversations with white interlocutors. Understanding how speakers employ these and other intonational variables in both intra- and interspeaker variation is an important step in further describing ethnolinguistic varieties as well as addressing the phonetic features that may contribute to linguistic racial profiling.Publication Intergroup Dynamics in Speech Perception: Interaction Among Experience, Attitudes and Expectations(2016-12-01) Nguyen, Nhung; Shaw, Jason A; Pinkus, Rebecca T; Best, Catherine TExperience, attitudes, and expectations have been identified as separate influences on speech perception and comprehension across groups. In this study, we investigate the interaction among these three variables. 58 Australia-born participants completed an online survey and a vowel categorization task. The survey examined participants’ experience with Vietnamese-accented English and their attitudes towards Asians. The vowel categorization task examined participants’ recovery of a Vietnamese-accented speaker’s intended vowels. Half of the participants were told to expect a Vietnamese accent whereas the other half were not. Results indicated that the relationship between listener expectations and group attitudes varied according to whether or not participants had experience with the Vietnamese accent. This interaction was most clearly reflected on the ‘book’ vowel. Compared to participants who did not expect a Vietnamese accent, had no experience with the Vietnamese accent, but positive attitudes towards the Vietnamese group, those who expected a Vietnamese accent showed a decrease in accuracy on ‘book’ categorization. A decrease in ‘book’ categorization accuracy was also found for those having experience with the accent but negative attitudes. In contrast, an increase in accuracy was found for those having no experience with the Vietnamese accent and negative attitudes towards the Vietnamese group, and those having experience with the accent and positive attitudes. We concluded that expectations, experience and attitudes interact in their relationship with speech perception.Publication AAE Talmbout: An Overlooked Verb of Quotation(2016-12-01) Jones, TaylorWhile there has been a wealth of research on verbs of quotation in recent decades (Butters 1980, Blyth et al. 1990, Tagliamonte and Hudson 1999, Buchstaller 2001, Singler 2001, Waksler 2001, Rickford et al. 2007, Vandelanotte 2012), including studies focusing on African American English (AAE) (Cukor-Avila 2002, 2012), the discussion has focused on a handful of variables, most notably be like, go and say. In this study, we draw on the Philadelphia Neighborhood Corpus (PNC), on popular media (novels, television, music), and on social media to describe an AAE-specific verb of quotation, talkin’ ’bout/talmbout. Unlike other verbs of quotation, it is used to introduce both direct and reported speech, as well as unuttered thoughts and non-lexical sounds, and it co-occurs with a range of complementizers that are not available in other varieties of English. While it has not been discussed in the literature beyond mention as ‘other’ in typology of verbs of quotation, it has been present in AAE for at least a century. We argue that talmbout fulfills a fundamentally different role than be like: quotative talmbout is used for indignation or mocking and it often appears with secondary indignation markers like semi-auxiliary come (Spears 1982, Green 2002). Moreover, it is not always understood by non-AAE speakers, as it is an understudied camouflage construction (Spears 1982; Wolfram 1994; Collins et al. 2008; Lane 2014).Publication Reversal and Re-Organization of the Northern Cities Shift in Michigan(2016-12-01) Wagner, Suzanne E; Mason, Alexander; Nesbitt, Monica; Pevan, Erin; Savage, MattWe report initial findings from a study of the Northern Cities Shift (NCS) in Lansing, Michigan. As in other urban centers recently examined, the NCS appears to be undergoing re-evaluation and attrition. However, whereas others have found the NCS to be simply undergoing “exact reversals” of its vowel movements (Driscoll and Lape 2014), in Lansing we find two additional processes in addition to reversal: reorganization and continuation. We observe reversal of the fronting of LOT, reorganization of TRAP from a raised to a continuous or nasal system, and continuation of the lowering of DRESS. Findings are derived from a sample of 50 speakers born 1908 to 1996, combining new sociolinguistic interviews with oral histories recorded 1992–2006.Publication The Future’s Path in Three Acadian French Varieties(2016-12-01) Comeau, Philip; King, Ruth; LeBlanc, Carmen LIn the present study, we investigate the expression of future temporal reference in three closely-related varieties of Atlantic Canada Acadian French, varieties which differ substantially in their sociolinguistic histories. The three communities (Baie Sainte-Marie, Nova Scotia; L’Anse-à-Canards, Newfoundland; and the Iles de la Madeleine, Quebec) have experienced varying types and degrees of dialect contact since their original settlement. At one end of the continuum, Baie Sainte-Marie had the most homogeneous settlement pattern and has been largely isolated from other French varieties, including other Acadian varieties, for several centuries. The Iles de la Madeleine is at the other extreme, involving the most heterogeneous mix of original settlers and a subsequent history which is defined by waves of dialect contact. In an intermediary position, L’Anse-à-Canard's settlement history is less heterogeneous than that of the Iles de la Madeleine but did involve late 19th century dialect contact with European French. The study is based on linguistic data for speakers born between 1873 and 1925, which constitute some of the earliest audio recordings for the varieties, along with sociohistorical data drawn from nominal censuses, cadastral maps, family genealogies, etc. Our goal is to determine the extent to which the grammaticalization path of the periphrastic future (which would ultimately overtake the inflected future as the majority variant in other spoken varieties) would be mirrored in the three communities. The results of multivariate analyses show, for Baie Sainte-Marie, the earliest stage in the evolution of the periphrastic future: it is still associated with imminent contexts. For L’Anse-à-Canards, we see the strong association of the variant with proximal contexts more generally. For these two communities, then, the use of the periphrastic future has not spread to distal contexts. Finally, for The Iles de la Madeleine, we find some weakening of the temporal distance effect and the emergence of a polarity constraint not attested for the other Acadian communities: negative utterances are associated with the inflected future, a finding resembling that found in variationist research on varieties of Laurentian French, wherein the periphrastic future has become the general marker of futurity. We explain the acquisition of the polarity constraint in terms of contact with speakers of Laurentian varieties. In sum, the historical trajectory of the future variable is reflected in intercommunity variation for the earliest linguistic attestations for spoken Acadian French.Publication Advantage Accented? Listener Differences in Understanding Speech in Noise(2016-12-01) Walker, AbbyCross dialectal communication results in poorer performance than within-dialect communication in a variety of listening tasks. However, some listeners appear to be less affected than others, and this paper explores the factors behind interlistener variation in a listening in noise task. 63 native speakers of American English transcribed 120 HINT sentences, which were presented mixed with noise at -3dB SNR. The sentences had been recorded by six young males: two speakers of Standard American English (SAE), two speakers of Southern American English (STH), and two non-native, L1-Chinese speakers (NNS). Participants were asked to transcribe what they heard as best they could, and were scored on keywords correct. While everyone did much worse with NNS than SAE and STH, participants who self-reported being accented did significantly significantly better with STH (and trend better with NNS) than those who reported being unaccented. Additionally, participants who reported being in a good mood did significantly better with SAE sentences than speakers who reported being in a bad mood. Finally, there was a main effect of extraversion, such that extraverts did worse overall than introverts. The results suggest that individual differences account for some of the interlistener variation in cross-dialectal listening task, and exploring these metrics further may help us understand the cognitive mechanisms involved in processing unfamiliar dialects.Publication Towards a Sociologically-Grounded View of Occupation in Sociolinguistics(2016-12-01) Forrest, Jon; Dodsworth, RobinIn order to improve our operationalization of class in sociolinguistic analysis, this paper draws on sociological theory as the foundation for a new approach to the conception and coding of occupation. The 162-speaker dataset is drawn from the larger corpus of sociolinguistic interviews conducted in Raleigh, NC. F1 and F2 measurements for the five front vowels of the SVS were extracted at 25% vowel duration and Lobanov-normalized (1971), and the vowel diagonal (Z2-Z1) was included as the dependent variable in regression analyses. To operationalize a sociologically-based theory of occupations, we implement a five-way distinction between industrial/occupational sectors (Law and Government, Technology and Finance, Interactive Service Work, Care Work, and Blue Collar) based on historical changes in Raleigh’s economy. Net of social and linguistic controls, models show significant differences between groups formerly grouped together as White Collar occupations, attributable to historical embeddedness in the greater Raleigh area.