Language maintenance, shift and variation evidence from Jordanian and Palestinian immigrants in Christchurch New Zealand.

There has been a substantial amount of research on language maintenance and shift (LMLS) and language variation and change (LVC) in New Zealand in the last four decades and most of this research has concentrated on exploring LMLS separately from LVC. Most researchers deal with these two topics as two different fields. For example, if they study LMLS (e.g., proficiency, domains and attitudes), they don’t focus on the speaker’s production of a language (e.g., vowels and consonants) within the same thesis. This thesis combined both LMLS and LVC in one thesis by employing questionnaires which were gathered from 99 Arab Jordanians and Palestinians to answer three research questions related to LMLS. The first research question related to reported language proficiency and the influence of generation (1st, 1.5 and 2nd) and length of residence (1- 10 years, 11-20 years and 21-30 years) on that. The second research question looked at language use in different domains (e.g., home, friendship and religion) and the influence of generation and length of residence on that. The third research question examined the participants’ attitudes towards both Arabic and English languages in general and New Zealand English (NZE) in particular and cultures and the influence of generation and length of residence on that. 20 of the survey participants who expressed willingness to be interviewed, subsequently participated in recorded interviews, which were used to investigate the realisation of particular consonants (ING and intervocalic /t/ and NZE short front vowels (KIT, DRESS and TRAP) in the speech of Jordanians and Palestinians in Christchurch New Zealand. The interviews aimed to answer four research questions. Two research questions related to the consonants (whether social factors influence the production of these two consonants and whether attitudes collected by questionnaire predict any of the linguistic behavior), and two questions related to the vowels (whether social factors and lexical frequency influence the production of these three vowels, and whether attitudes collected by questionnaires predict any of the linguistic behavior for these vowels). By combining work in language maintenance and shift with work in language variation and change, this thesis aimed to reveal patterns which could be masked when each question was investigated separately. This is because LMLS and LVC are both driven in part by attitudes. I linked speakers’ attitudes in the questionnaires to their linguistic behavior and examined the influence attitudes have on the production of the variables ING, intervocalic /t/, KIT, DRESS and TRAP. The interviews also provide some explanations for the attitudinal significant correlations found in the questionnaire and in their productions of the five variables examined. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to find underlying attitudinal categories from the answers and build up an attitudinal index score for each speaker. The scores were used to evaluate the attitudes of one speaker compared to another toward Arabic language and culture and English language and New Zealand culture. The results for the LMLS part of the study showed that there is a gradual language shift in all domains (e.g., home, friends and religion), most sharply in the friends domain, then religion and finally home domain among 1.5 and 2nd generations and 11-20 and 21-30 length of residence. In addition, clear regression in Arabic literacy skills among 1.5 and 2nd generations and those who have been in NZ between 11-20 years was found. However, the attitudinal results showed that Arabic Jordanians and Palestinians in Christchurch are very loyal and positive towards their ethnic language because it is intertwined with their Islamic religion and culture. They also showed positive attitudes towards English in general and New Zealand English (NZE) and culture in particular, due to its perceived usefulness as well as its status in the world. The LVC part of the study used mixed effects logistic regression modelling to analyse the influence of different factors on the production of ING and intervocalic /t/. The study identified three possible variants for the ING variable in the Jordanians and Palestinians speech of English [ɪŋ], [ɪn] and [ɪŋɡ]. The variable ING patterns were similar to NZE in the production of the younger generations (2nd and 1.5). However, the older generation (1st generation) showed a mixture between prototypical NZE patterns and typical Jordanian Arabic realisations. The 1st generation was likely not to have completely acquired the NZE variants of the variable ING. Female speakers were more likely to produce more native-like ING features than males. Length of residence was also significant, with those who have been living in New Zealand between 11 to 20 years producing more NZE variants than other groups. Occupation also played a role, with ‘in-work’ speakers using more NZE variants than ‘not in-work’ speakers. The analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between Principal Component (PC2) (attitudes toward English) and the production of the NZE variants of ING. The results are discussed in light of positive vs negative attitudes, instrumental vs integrative attitudes and identity. For intervocalic /t/ three possible variants were identified across Jordanian and Palestinian speakers in Christchurch (CANONICAL /t/, FLAP and GLOTTAL STOP) and social factors were found to play a significant role. For example 2nd generation participants produced the most FLAP and GLOTTAL STOP realisations, those who have been living in the country from 11-20 and 21-30 years were found to produce the most FLAP, while 1st generation participants and those who have been living in NZ from 1-10 years produced significantly more CANONICAL /t/. Attitudes were not found to have any significant bearing on the production of the intervocalic /t/ variants. The other three linguistic variables investigated in the thesis were the three NZE short front vowels KIT, DRESS and TRAP, where I tried to determine if the speakers had adopted the shift happening in these three NZE vowels and investigated the effect of social variables such as generation, gender, word frequency and attitude on the speaker’s production of these vowels. A mixed effects model was used to analyse the influence of these factors on the vowels. The results showed that the social factors: generation, attitudes, word frequency and gender were significant factors affecting Jordanian speakers’ production of the three NZE short front vowels. Significant differences were found for DRESS F1, TRAP F1, TRAP F2, KIT F1 and KIT F2. The results also provide evidence for vowel shift in L2 speakers for the three NZE short vowels (KIT, DRESS and TRAP), particularly among 1st and 1.5 generations more than the 2nd generations. Attitudes were significant with DRESS F1, TRAP F2 and KIT F2 and discussed deeply in the thesis. Finally, the qualitative attitudinal results in the interviews offered some explanations for the consonant and the vowel results and matched them to the linguistic behavior (production of the vowels and consonants). Overall, the results provided evidence that attitudes can link both LMLS and LVC and that the quantitative attitudinal results from the questionnaire likely match with the qualitative attitudinal results from the interviews and all are likely to predict linguistic behavior. The findings also suggest that the role attitudes play in LMLS and LVC can be very complex

Phonetic convergence and auditory imagery in reading

This study aimed to address whether phonetic convergence (speech imitation) and auditory imagery in reading are fundamentally governed by the same process — episodic encoding (c.f., Goldinger, 1998). A set of participants (talkers; N = 12) were recorded speaking sentences at a baseline level. Talkers were then exposed model speaker with either a fast or slow speech rate and then engaged in a reading phase where they read sentences thought to be written by that speaker. If episodic encoding predicts effects of phonetic convergence and auditory imagery in reading style, then talkers should be influenced by a speaker on three dimensions: pronunciation of words, duration of words, and duration of sentences. A different set of participants (raters; N = 68) engaged in an AXB perceptual similarity ratings task. Raters were presented with three sets of recordings of individual target words in a row — A (baseline), X (model), and B (reading) — and made perceptual similarity ratings, indicating whether A or B is more similar in pronunciation to X . If episodic encoding predicts effects of phonetic convergence then talkers should be rated as being perceptually similar to the speaker. The results of the study suggest that episodic may not play a role in either phonetic convergence or auditory imagery and speech

Sociophonetics of popular music: insights from corpus analysis and speech perception experiments

This thesis examines the flexibility and context-sensitivity of speech perception by looking at a domain not often explored in the study of language cognition — popular music. Three empirical studies are presented. The first examines the current state of sociolinguistic variation in commercial popular music, while the second and third explore everyday listeners’ perception of language in musical and non-musical contexts. The foundational assumption of the thesis is that the use of ‘American English’ in song is automatic for New Zealand singers, and constitutes a responsive style that is both accurate and consistent. The use of New Zealand English in song, by contrast, is stylised, involving an initiative act of identity and requiring effort and awareness. This will be discussed in Chapter 1, where I also introduce the term Standard Popular Music Singing Style (SPMSS) to refer to the US English-derived phonetic style dominant in popular song. The first empirical study will be presented in Chapter 2. Using a systematically selected corpus of commercial pop and hip hop from NZ and the USA, analysis of non-prevocalic and linking /r/, and the vowels of the bath, lot and goat lexical sets confirm that SPMSS is highly normative in NZ music. Most pop singers closely follow US patterns, while several hip hop artists display elements of New Zealand English. This reflects the value placed on authenticity in hip hop, and also interacts with ethnicity, showing the use of different authentication practices by P¯akeh¯a (NZ European) and M¯aori/Pasifika artists. By looking at co-variation amongst the variables, I explore both the apparent identity goals of the artists, and the relative salience of the variables. Chapters 3 and 4 use the results of the corpus analysis to explore how the dominance of SPMSS affects speech processing. The first of the two perception experiments is a phonetic categorisation task. Listeners decide whether they hear the word bed or bad in a condition where the stimuli are either set to music, or appear in one of two non-musical control conditions. The stimuli are on a resynthesised continuum between the dress and trap vowels, passing through an F1 space where the vowel is ambiguous and could either be perceived as a spoken NZE trap or a sung dress. When set to music, the NZ listeners perceive the vowel according to expectations of SPMSS (i.e. expecting US-derived vowel qualities). The second perception experiment is a lexical decision task that uses the natural speech of a NZ and a US speaker, once again in musical and non-musical conditions. Participants’ processing of the US voice is facilitated in the music condition, becoming faster than reaction times to their native dialect. Bringing the results of the corpus and perception studies together, this thesis shows that SPMSS is highly normative in NZ popular music not just for performers, but also in the minds of the general music-listening public. I argue that many New Zealanders are bidialectal, with native-like knowledge of SPMSS. Speech and song are two highly distinct and perceptually contrastive contexts of language use. By differing from conversational language across a range of perceptual and cognitive dimensions, language heard or produced in song is likely to encode and activate a distinct subset of auditory memories. The contextual specificity of such networks may then allow for the abstraction of an independent sub-system of sociophonetic knowledge specific to the musical context

Short-term accommodation of Hong Kong English speakers towards native English accents and the effect of language attitudes

Accommodation, also known as convergence, refers to a process whereby a speaker changes the way he or she speaks to be more similar to another speaker. This dissertation focuses on two themes: language attitudes and short-term accommodation. A study using the matched-guise method is conducted to examine Hong Kong people’s attitudes towards British English, American English and Hong Kong English (henceforth HKE). Results suggest that after the handover British English is still rated as the most prestigious English variety in Hong Kong. HKE is also found to have a high level of acceptance in terms of social attractiveness. For short-term accommodation, two studies are conducted to investigate the phonetic convergence of HKE speakers towards native English accents, and the effect of language attitudes on convergence. Study 2 consists of a group of HKE speakers completing separate map tasks with a Received Pronunciation speaker and a General American English speaker. Their pronunciations of the THOUGHT vowel, the PATH vowel, rhoticity, fricative /z/ and fricative /θ/ are examined before, during and after the map tasks. The results suggest that the HKE speakers produce more fricative [z] and converge on rhoticity after exposure to the native accents. However, divergence is found on the PATH vowel and fricative /θ/, and maintenance is found on the THOUGHT vowel. These findings suggest that the HKE speakers tend to converge on the linguistic features which are more salient to them. Study 3 examines the effect of language attitudes on speech convergence, and no correlation is found between language attitudes and the HKE speakers’ convergence on rhoticity. Finally, the hybrid exemplar-based model is proposed to explain the complex results of the three studies. It provides a framework for speech accommodation which covers speech perception and production, and includes social factors as important elements in the model

Variation in passing for a native speaker: accentedness in second language speakers of English in production and perception

This thesis reports on findings from a study of sociolinguistic variation in second language speakers of English in New Zealand. The study combines quantitative methods of acoustic analysis and experimental design with qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews and content analysis. The study focuses on second language speakers’ variation in ‘passing for a native speaker’, that is, being regarded as a first language speaker. Variation in passing is explored from the perspectives of variation in production and perception. 18 second language speakers of English (first language Korean and German) and 6 first language speakers of English were recorded in four different settings (family, friends, services, and university). In the production study, the second language speakers’ monophthongal vowels are analyzed in comparison with the first language vowels and New Zealand English ones. The speakers were found to style-shift in their production of the first and second formants of certain vowels in different settings: the German speakers were more English-target-like in the services setting and the Korean speakers were more English-target-like in the services setting and less English-target-like in the family setting compared to the university one, exhibiting a continuum of native-likeness in the three settings. Three perception experiments complement the production analysis. Two of these focus on the effect of setting in accentedness perception and passing for a native speaker, and one explores the effect of social information (namely, ethnicity) on accentedness perception. The speakers were found to receive a different accentedness rating depending on the recording setting and whether or not the listener was aware of their ethnicity. Specifically, some speakers were rated less accented in the services setting and some in the family setting compared to the university one. Also, Asian speakers were rated similarly for accentedness both when the listeners were provided with video input and when they were not, but Caucasian speakers were rated more accented when the video input was available. Additionally, the thesis addresses passing for a native speaker of different English varieties in an experimental context. It reveals interesting trends in the speakers’ variation of passing in different settings and passing for native speakers of different varieties. The family setting was conducive to passing, and some speakers passed for a native speaker of the same variety more often than for a native speaker of other varieties and some vice versa. Finally, the second language speakers’ beliefs about passing and listeners’ comments on their decision-making in identifying the origin of the speakers are investigated. The results showed that the speakers believed that first (and short) encounters with strangers were conducive to passing. A variety of linguistic and extralinguistic listener comments was revealed. Taken together, the results paint a complex picture of variation in second language speakers’ production, accentedness perception, and passing for a native speaker. The findings suggest that speakers vary in their production according to audience and in the construction of their identities. The perception experiments highlight the effect of listener expectation on their perception. These results have implications for how we understand sociolinguistic variation in second language speakers

Authentic self, incongruent acoustics : a corpus-based sociophonetic analysis of nonbinary speech.

This thesis examines the ways six nonbinary speakers in Christchurch, New Zealand present their gender identity via speech. It examines their productions in reference to both established trends in the literature, as well as speech collected from ten binary speakers (5M, 5F) at the same time. It seeks to examine whether, in addition to encoding binary gender, speech also encodes nonbinary gender. Three hypotheses are proposed and tested across multiple linguistic variables. The first hypothesis regards acoustic incongruence, and posits that nonbinary speakers may assert their nonbinary identities via speech that utilises particular combinations of variables which create either ambiguity or dissonance in regards to established binary-gender norms. Ambiguous gender incongruence arises from the use of speech that is neither reliably perceived as female, nor reliably perceived as male. Dissonant gender incongruence arises from the use of speech that is reliably perceived as both male and female. The second hypothesis predicts that nonbinary speakers will show greater variation in speech based on immediate contextual factors, compared to binary speakers. This difference is hypothesised to be due to to nonbinary speakers paying greater attention to production, and the greater degree of variation in their own speech over time compared to binary speakers. Hypothesis 3 predicts that nonbinary speakers are not a uniform population, and that their use of incongruence will be influenced extensively by their individual condition, including their professed speech goals, history, and gender identity. The hypotheses are tested quantitatively in regards to five linguistic variables: Pitch, pitch range, monophthong production, Vowel Space Area (VSA), and intervocalic /t/ frication rates. The interaction between multiple variables together is also considered. In-depth examinations of the variation utilised by a single speaker in the form of "Spotlights" address the hypotheses from a qualitative perspective. Overall, the thesis finds some evidence for Hypothesis 1. In every linguistic variable examined, nonbinary speakers show some distinction from binary speakers that is not explained fully via speaker Assigned Sex at Birth (ASAB). Some binary speakers also seem to produce incongruence, particularly binary women and particularly within single variables. The small scale of the study presents a limitation in addressing Hypothesis 2, but avenues for future work are identified. The qualitative evidence provides strong support for Hypothesis 3, in the examination of individual nonbinary speakers and the way their measured productions support their professed speech goals and identities. Overall, this dissertation presents one of the first comparative analyses of nonbinary speech, and presents a number of novel approaches to examining phonetic data from a statistical perspective that still accommodates an analysis of individual agency and goals in identity building

Methods in Contemporary Linguistics

The present volume is a broad overview of methods and methodologies in linguistics, illustrated with examples from concrete research. It collects insights gained from a broad range of linguistic sub-disciplines, ranging from core disciplines to topics in cross-linguistic and language-internal diversity or to contributions towards language, space and society. Given its critical and innovative nature, the volume is a valuable source for students and researchers of a broad range of linguistic interests

Methods in Contemporary Linguistics

The present volume is a broad overview of methods and methodologies in linguistics, illustrated with examples from concrete research. It collects insights gained from a broad range of linguistic sub-disciplines, ranging from core disciplines to topics in cross-linguistic and language-internal diversity or to contributions towards language, space and society. Given its critical and innovative nature, the volume is a valuable source for students and researchers of a broad range of linguistic interests

Methods in Contemporary Linguistics

The present volume is a broad overview of methods and methodologies in linguistics, illustrated with examples from concrete research. It collects insights gained from a broad range of linguistic sub-disciplines, ranging from core disciplines to topics in cross-linguistic and language-internal diversity or to contributions towards language, space and society. Given its critical and innovative nature, the volume is a valuable source for students and researchers of a broad range of linguistic interests