Southern Language, Ideology, and Identity in a High School Sorority

This dissertation explores the language practices of high school sorority members in a mid-sized city in the U.S. South. Specifically, it describes how economically privileged, white, female youth in the Young Ladies’ Society of Midway (YLSM) used Southern language to position themselves and others in relation to widely and locally circulating ideologies of language, region, gender, and class. Drawing on sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological methods, this study addresses the issues of how Southern language practices and language ideologies relate and how indexical meanings and social identities emerge through linguistic interaction. As a study that examines the language of a group of Southern girls, this dissertation contributes to linguists’ understanding of what Southern language is. I argue that Southern language is best understood not as a set of linguistic features used by people in the South but as an emergent construct that is informed by and serves various ideological purposes. First, by drawing on ethnographic insights and interactional analysis, I illustrate how YLSM members defined the language practices of working-class others as “accented” and “ignorant” compared with the “polite” and “charming” language practices of upper-class, or preppy, Southerners like themselves. In doing so, these speakers reproduced the widely circulating stigma of Southern language, specifically with respect to phonological forms, yet they also erased linguistic stigma for themselves by calling attention instead to the positive functions of preppy Southern language. Second, I show how Southern language practices were not merely indexical of regional identity but rather were indexical of social types defined along multiple intersecting dimensions of identity. Specifically, when they invoked images of redneck and preppy Southerners to describe their male friends, YLSM members constructed Southern language forms as indexing region, gender, and class at once. Third, I use both interactional and sociophonetic analyses to demonstrate how two speakers used glide-weakened /ai/ and fronted /u/, often considered hallmarks of Southern language, to reflect their different orientations to Southern identity. The regional indexical meanings of these vowels emerged through their strategic use in interactions, for example, in stylized moments, where their use reproduced both positive and negative types of Southern identity and Southern speech. This dissertation illustrates the complexity of the social meanings of language practices: social meanings are partially shaped by regionally and widely circulating ideologies, yet they are also partially emergent within the course of interactions themselves

Lexical Borrowings in Immigrant Speech: A Sociolinguistic Study of Ḥassāniyya Arabic Speakers in Medina (Saudi Arabia)

This study investigates lexical borrowings and the phonological processes associated with them as an outcome of the dialect contact situation in Medina (Saudi Arabia) between the Shanāqiṭa immigrant community, who immigrated to this holy city from Mauritania and who speak Ḥassāniyya Arabic, and the urban Hijazi community, who speak urban Hijazi Arabic. The study introduces to the reader the main phonological and morphological features of these two Arabic dialects and presents traditional and modern approaches towards lexical borrowings in Arabic. The present study adopts the quantitative sociolinguistic method which is widely used in sociolinguistic studies in order to analyse the speech of this immigrant community (focusing on borrowings from urban Hijazi Arabic), and correlates it with the social variables of age, educational attainment, ethnicity and gender. The study focuses on six phonological variables which are correlated with the social variables; these variables represent common phonological features which contrast both dialects. These phonological variables are divided into two groups: consonantal and vocalic variables. For the consonantal variables, the present study investigates the variation of three variables: de-affrication ([dʒ] → [ʒ]), lenition ([f] → [v]), and initial hamza dropping ([ʔ] → [Ø]). As for the vocalic variables, the research examines three variables: re-syllabification, consisting of initial [CV] and sequenced [CV.CV] → syncope, epenthesis and metathesis; diphthongisation: monophthongs → diphthongs; and vowel centralisation: (i), (u) → [ə]. The statistical data analysis reveals that age (generation) plays a central role in the phonological variation between the study participants when they borrow linguistic elements from urban Hijazi Arabic; ethnicity is the second most important factor. The analysis also shows that socio-cultural and socio-psychological factors facilitate the strong linguistic preservation of Ḥassāniyya Arabic by this immigrant community in Medina

Sound change and social meaning: the perception and production of phonetic change in York, Northern England

This thesis investigates the relationship between social meaning and linguistic change. An important observation regarding spoken languages is that they are constantly changing: the way we speak differs from generation to generation. A second important observation is that spoken utterances convey social as well as denotational meaning: the way we speak communicates something about who we are. How, if at all, are these two characteristics of spoken languages related? Many sociolinguistic studies have argued that the social meaning of linguistic features is central to explaining the spread of linguistic innovations. A novel form might be heard as more prestigious than the older form, or it may become associated with specific social stereotypes relevant to the community in which the change occurs. It is argued that this association between a linguistic variant and social meaning leads speakers to adopt or reject the innovation, inhibiting or facilitating the spread of the change. In contrast, a number of scholars have argued that social meaning is epiphenomenal to many linguistic changes, which are instead driven by an automatic process of convergence in face-to-face interaction. The issue that such arguments raise is that many studies proposing a role of social meaning in the spread of linguistic innovations rely on production data as their primary source of evidence. Observing the variable adoption of innovations across different groups of speakers (e.g. by gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status), a researcher might draw on their knowledge of the social history of the community under study to infer the role of social meaning in that change. In many cases, the observed patterns of could equally be explained by the social structure of the community under study, which constrains who speaks to whom. Are linguistic changes facilitated and inhibited by social meaning? Or is it rather the case that social meaning arises as a consequence of linguistic change, without necessarily influencing the change itself? This thesis explores these questions through a study of vocalic change in York, Northern England, focusing on the fronting and diphthongization of the tense back vowels /u/ and /o/. It presents a systematic comparison of the social meanings listeners assign to innovations (captured using perceptual methods), their social attitudes with regard to those meanings (captured through sociolinguistic interviews), and their use of those forms in production (captured through acoustic analysis). It is argued that evidence of a consistent relationship between these factors would support the proposal that social meaning plays a role in linguistic change. The results of this combined analysis of sociolinguistic perception, social attitudes and speech production provide clear evidence of diachronic /u/ and /o/ fronting in this community, and show that variation in these two vowels is associated with a range of social meanings in perception. These meanings are underpinned by the notion of ‘Broad Yorkshire’ speech, a socially-recognized speech register linked to notions of authentic local identity and social class. Monophthongal /o/, diphthongal /u/, and back variants of both vowels are shown to be associated with this register, implying that a speaker who adopts an innovative form will likely be heard as less ‘Broad’. However, there is no clear evidence that speakers’ attitudes toward regional identity or social class have any influence on their adoption of innovations, nor that that their ability to recognise the social meaning of fronting in perception is related to their production behaviour. The fronting of /u/ is spreading in a socially-uniform manner in production, unaffected by any social factor tested except for age. The fronting of /o/ is conditioned by social network structure — speakers with more diverse social networks are more likely to adopt the innovative form, while speakers with closer social ties to York are more likely to retain a back variant. These findings demonstrate that York speakers hear back forms of /u/ and /o/ as more ‘local’ and ‘working class’ than fronter realizations, and express strong attitudes toward the values and practices associated with regional identity and social class. However, these factors do not appear to influence their adoption of linguistic innovations in any straightforward manner, contrasting the predictions of an account of linguistic change where social meaning plays a central role in facilitating or inhibiting the propagation of linguistic innovations. Based on these results, the thesis argues that many linguistic changes may spread through the production patterns of a speech community without the direct influence of social meaning, and advocates for the combined analysis of sociolinguistic perception, social attitudes and speech production in future work

Astudiaeth o amrywio ieithyddol yng nghyd-destun adfywio ieithyddol yng Nghymraeg Caerdydd

Mae’r traethawd hwn yn dadansoddi amrywio ieithyddol ymysg siaradwyr Cymraeg dwyieithog mewn ysgol uwchradd Gymraeg yng Nghaerdydd. Lleolir yr ymchwil yng nghyd-destun adfywio ieithyddol yng Nghaerdydd lle nad oes tafodiaith draddodiadol yn bodoli bellach wedi dirywiad y Wenhwyseg. Mae cyffyrddiad tafodieithol gydag amrywiadau tafodieithol traddodiadol oherwydd adfywio ieithyddol ac ymfudo siaradwyr yn ogystal â chyffyrddiad ieithyddol gyda’r Saesneg felly ar waith yma. Mae’r ymchwil hwn yn cyfrannu at gorff o ymchwil blaenorol ar y Gymraeg trwy ddefnyddio dulliau ethnograffegol y drydedd don er mwyn archwilio effaith strwythurau cymdeithasol ar Gymraeg Caerdydd. Nod cyntaf yr astudiaeth hon yw dadansoddi effaith ystod o ffactorau ieithyddol a chymdeithasol ar iaith disgyblion Ysgol Uwchradd Gymraeg Caerdydd. Mae canfod effaith ystod o ffactorau cymdeithasol yn gyffredin mewn ymchwil sosioieithyddol ac mae ymchwil blaenorol wedi canfod bod ffactorau megis iaith yr aelwyd a rhywedd yn gallu effeithio ar amrywio yn y Gymraeg (Morris 2013, 2017, 2021). Mae astudiaethau eraill wedi canfod nad oes gwahaniaethau rhwng disgyblion o wahanol gefndiroedd ieithyddol neu strwythurau cymdeithasol (Mayr et al. 2017, Mennen et al. 2020). Oherwydd hynny, ail nod yr astudiaeth hon yw archwilio effaith rhwydweithiau cymdeithasol ar amrywio ieithyddol y disgyblion trwy ddefnyddio’r cysyniad o gymunedau a chlystyrau arfer (Lave a Wenger 1991; Wenger 1998). Mae cymunedau a chlystyrau arfer yn nodweddiadol mewn ymchwil ethnograffegol sy’n nodweddiadol o waith sosioieithyddol trydedd don (Eckert 2012). Bodola Cymraeg Caerdydd yng nghyd-destun adfywio ieithyddol, felly bydd yr ymchwil hwn yn cyfrannu at gorff o waith ar amrywio ieithyddol mewn cyd-destun adfywio ieithyddol yn ogystal (e.e. Nance 2013; Kasstan 2017; Mooney 2019). O ystyried hynny, nod olaf yr astudiaeth hon yw canfod effeithiau posibl cyd-destun o adfywio ieithyddol yn berthnasol i gyffyrddiad ieithyddol a chyffyrddiad tafodieithol. Mae cyffyrddiad ieithyddol yng nghyd-destun adfywio ieithyddol yn aml yn arwain at drosglwyddo o’r iaith fwyafrifol i’r iaith leiafrifol (Jones 1998; King et al. 2009; Nance 2013). Yn berthnasol i gyd-destun Caerdydd, bydd cyffyrddiad tafodieithol ag amrywiadau’r tafodieithoedd traddodiadol yn ogystal â safoni posibl (Thomas 1991, Jones 1998) o ddiddordeb i’r ymchwil hwn yn ogystal. Cafodd y data ei gasglu trwy gyfweliadau sosioieithyddol a thasg rhestr geiriau gan 24 o ddisgyblion uwchradd Cymraeg 14–15 oed. Fe gasglwyd gwybodaeth ddemograffegol ar y disgyblion cyn rhannu’r sampl yn gyfartal ar sail iaith aelwyd a rhywedd. Cafodd y disgyblion eu harsylwi trwy ddulliau ethnograffegol yn ogystal. Dengys yr ymchwil fod llafariaid caeedig cefn Cymraeg Caerdydd yn blaenu. Gellid dweud bod /u(:)/ yn blaenu i safle eithaf blaen, a /ʊ/ i safle ganol, fel y gwelir mewn amrywiadau o dde Lloegr (Ferragne a Pellegrino 2010, t. 28). O safbwynt uchder y llafariaid, trwy gymharu â data blaenorol (Ferragne a Pellegrino 2010, t. 28; Mayr a Davies 2011; Mayr et al. 2017) gellid dweud bod ansawdd mwy agored gan lafariaid caeedig cefn disgyblion Ysgol Uwchradd Gymraeg Caerdydd, na mewn amrywiadau Saesneg yng Nghymru ac amrywiadau Cymraeg mwy traddodiadol. Cafwyd amrywio ar sail arddull trwy’r dadansoddiad tasg, a ddengys ansoddau amrywiol mewn cyd-destunau a oedd yn amrywio mewn ffurfioldeb. Nid oedd iaith yr aelwyd yn effeithio ar amrywio yn y dadansoddiadau effeithiau cymysg, sy’n cyd-fynd ag ymchwil diweddar ar y Gymraeg lle nad yw’r Gymraeg yn iaith gymunedol gref (Mayr et al. 2017). O safbwynt yr ail nodwedd, gwelir mai’r /ai/ safonol yw’r amrywiolyn mwyaf cyffredin gan ddisgyblion Ysgol Uwchradd Gymraeg Caerdydd. Mae’r canlyniad hwn yn cyd-fynd â chanlyniadau Jones (1998) yn Rhosllannerchrugog a Rhymni lle’r oedd defnydd o’r amrywiolyn safonol ar gynnydd ymysg pobl ifanc yno hefyd. Gwelir yn nadansoddiad y ffactor arwyddocaol tasg fod cyfradd uwch o’r amrywiolyn tafodieithol traddodiadol /ɛ/ mewn sgwrs ddigymell na’r amrywiolyn safonol /ai/. Felly ceir amrywio ffonolegol ar sail arddull yn iaith disgyblion YUGC, a olyga fod disgyblion YUGC yn berchen ar wahanol arddulliau a chyweiriau yn y Gymraeg. Nid oedd clwstwr arfer na rhywedd yn effeithio ar y naill nodwedd dan sylw yn yr ymchwil hwn. Golyga hyn nad oedd y ddwy ffactor a welir mewn ymchwil blaenorol sy’n ymwneud â rhwydweithiau cymdeithasol yn ffactorau arwyddocaol yn yr ymchwil hwn. Roedd effaith iaith yr aelwyd yn amrywio. Roedd yn arwyddocaol ar gyfer newidyn (ai) yn y sillaf olaf ddiacen, ond nid oedd yn arwyddocaol ar gyfer y llafariaid caeedig cefn. Yn olaf, gwelir gwahanol oblygiadau ar gyfer damcaniaeth ffurfiant tafodiaith newydd yng nghyd-destun adfywio ieithyddol yn yr ymchwil hwn. Nid ymddengys bod amrywiad Cymraeg Caerdydd yn ffocysu ac mae’n debygol bod hynny oherwydd y cyd-destun o adfywio ieithyddol