The Socio-Economic Significance of Four Phonetic Characteristics in North American English

This paper uses a least-square regression method that relates per-capita income to four phonetic characteristics (r-dropping, and the so-called "father-bother", "cot-caught" and "pin-pen" mergers), to study the socio-economic significance of those characteristics in North American English. As a result we find a positive and statistically significant relationship between per-capita income and r-dropping, and between per-capita income and the presence of the "cot-caught" merger, and a negative and statistically significant relationship between per-capita income and the "pin-pen" merger. No statistically significant relationship is found, however, between per-capita income and the presence of a "father-bother" merger or split.

Phonétique, sociolinguistique, sociophonétique : histoires parallèles et croisements

International audienceIs it possible to provide a clear and unambiguous definition for the expanding field of sociophonetics ? Starting from this question, this article introduces the respective contributions of phonetics and sociolinguistics and the role their interactions have played inthe genesis and development of sociophonetic studies. Avenues of research that have traditionally received less attention are also highlighted. Particular attention is paid to the phonetic and/or sociolinguistic studies of French which have contributed to a description of French sound variability that incorporates social information. This introductory article brings together research from a wide range of studies on perception and social meaning of pronunciation variants in French.Est-il possible de définir de façon univoque et de circonscrire la sociophonétique, qui connait un essor important ces dernières années ? Partant de cette question, cet article introductif retrace les contributions respectives de la phonétique et de la sociolinguistique et le rôle de leurs interactions dans la genèse et le développement du domaine sociophonétique. Les directions de recherche encore peu explorées sont également mises en évidence. Une attention particulière est accordée aux études de la dimension phonique du français qui, bien qu'elles ne se soient que rarement définies comme sociophonétiques, ont peu à peu participé à l'élaboration d'une description socialement informée de la variabilité des unités sonores de cette langue, tant en ce qui concerne leur production que leur perception ou la construction de leur signification sociale

Gender and Age Effects on Lexical Choice in The Baghdadi Speech Community: A Cognitive Sociolinguistic Analysis

The effects of gender and age on lexical choice in Arabic sociolinguistics have been found to be contradictory and problematic. This is because the prestigious dialect is not necessarily the standard variety, or Standard Arabic (SA) in the Arab world. The objective of this study is to delve into the inner workings of Baghdadis' linguistic system in pursuit of a better understanding of the interface between the social and the linguistic by adding the cognitive approach. The cognitive approach to lexical choice is primarily interested in the subjective meanings or experiences of individual language users within their social groups. This quantitative research is based on the differences in lexical choices depending on gender and age of the literate Baghdadis. Patterns of lexical variables are identified according to males‘/females‘ (24 males/24 females) choice of new lexical items of the Baghdadi Dialect (BD) speakers. This study also identifies any patterns of change according to three age groups (18-24, 30-40, and 50-60) by comparing their lexical choices. The informants were chosen using judgment sampling procedure. The speech of the 48 BD speakers was investigated using face-to-face interviews. Correlations and F-tests were conducted using the SPSS (Version 18) to process data on the independent variables (age and gender) and lexical choices. It was found that variation is not mechanical or automatic, but is based on personal conscious choices. It was also found that gender is one of the most important social factors correlating with lexical variation. Among Baghdadi women, the prestigious linguistic form was found to be associated with Standard Arabic. Thus, females who opt for SA can be considered to represent competent Arabic teachers since they are linguistically more prestige conscious than males. Future studies can analyze the relationship between BD and SA and its educational impact on Iraqi schools

Spanish-influenced rhythm in Miami English

This study found that monolingual English speakers from Miami speak an English variety influenced by Spanish. In this study, speech from Miami English monolinguals, English monolinguals not from Miami, and early and late Spanish-English bilinguals were collected, and rhythm metrics (Ramus et al., 1999) were compared between groups. Surprisingly, results also suggest that Miami English monolinguals with English-speaking parents and from neighborhoods with a lower Hispanic population may be leading this change. These results support Labov's (2014) claim that children may reject features of their parent language (in this case, English) when the speech community is highly stratified

ENTRE SIBILOS E CHIADOS DO /S/ EM CODA SILÁBICA: UM ESTUDO SOCIOFONÉTICO DE PERCEPÇÃO DIALETAL NA BAHIA

Neste trabalho, tomamos como objeto de estudo a (auto)identificação dialetal de pessoas naturais de Vitória da Conquista-BA e Salvador-BA expostas a estímulos com o /S/ pós-vocálico. Objetivamos, assim, investigar a autoidentificação dialetal de conquistenses e soteropolitanos, baseando-nos, para tanto, na percepção da realização variável do segmento fonológico em destaque. Sobre os pressupostos teórico-metodológicos, pautamo-nos na Sociofonética e na Dialetologia Perceptual. Em decorrência da pandemia provocada pelo SARS-CoV-2 em 2020, os estímulos para o teste de percepção, assim como as reações de participantes a esses estímulos, foram coletados remotamente. Os dados obtidos receberam tratamento estatístico a partir do software GoldVarb X e, com base nos resultados encontrados, constatamos que tanto os conquistenses quanto os soteropolitanos apoiam-se na realização palatalizada do referido segmento fonológico em dialetos diferentes dos seus para as tarefas de discriminar e identificar seu modo de falar, considerando que os valores dos pesos relativos para ambas as tarefas nos resultados dos testes das duas comunidades estão acima de 0.70