The mediated innovation model: a framework for researching media influence in language change

Linguistic innovations that arise contemporaneously in highly distant locations, such as quotative be like, have been termed ‘global linguistic variants’. This is not necessarily to suggest fully global usage, but to invoke more general themes of globalisation vis-à-vis space and time. This research area has grown steadily in the last twenty years, and by asserting a role for mass media, researchers have departed intrepidly from sociolinguistic convention. Yet they have largely relied on quite conventional sociolinguistic methodologies, only inferring media influence post hoc. This methodological conservatism has been overcome recently, but uncertainty remains about the overall shape of the new epistemological landscape. In this paper, I review existing research on global variants, and propose an epistemological model for researching media influence in language change: the mediated innovation model. I also analyse the way arguments are constructed in existing research, including the use of rhetorical devices to plug empirical gaps – a worthy sociolinguistic topic in its own right

Multicultural London English / Multicultural Paris French.

Le projet Multicultural London English /Multicultural Paris French (http://www.mle-mpf.bbk.ac.uk) fut lancé en 2010 à Birkbeck, University of London. Les données ont été recueillies auprès de jeunes dans divers lieux des banlieues parisiennes, puis comparées à celles réunies lors d’un projet antérieur sur l’anglais multiculturel de Londres. MLE/MPF est la première comparaison à grande échelle du langage informel employé par des jeunes dans deux contextes significatifs de l’Europe occidentale. Cet article décrit les principales conclusions de la recherche par rapport aux marqueurs pragmatiques, traits syntactiques, éléments de vocabulaire et de phonologie. Il inclut les ressources développées par le projet afin de servir dans la salle de classe pour aider les élèves dans leur recherche, leurs enquêtes inter-linguistiques et la créativité langagière.Il progetto Multicultural London English /Multicultural Paris French (http://www.mle-mpf.bbk.ac.uk) è stato lanciato nel 2010 a Birkbeck, University of London. I dati sono stati raccolti presso giovani in vari luoghi delle periferie parigine e, in seguito, paragonati a quelli raccolti nel corso di un precedente progetto sull'inglese multiticulturale di Londra. MLE / MPF rappresenta il primo confronto su larga scala del linguaggio informale, utilizzato da giovani in due contesti significativi dell'Europa occidentale. Questo articolo descrive le principali conclusioni della ricerca in relazione a marcatori pragmatici, a caratteristiche sintattiche, a elementi di vocabolario e fonologia. Il testo presenta le risorse, sviluppate dal progetto, da utilizzare in classe per aiutare gli studenti nella loro ricerca, nelle loro indagini inter-linguistiche e nella creatività linguistica

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

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

Phonological features of Hong Kong English : patterns of variation and effects on local acceptability

The changing dynamics of international communication in English have led to a intense questioning of the relevance of native-speaker pronunciation models in language teaching and testing. In addition, the World Englishes approach to local varieties has increased their level of recognition. Both of these developments suggest that English pronunciation models need to be reviewed, and Hong Kong represents an interesting case study. Although it has been claimed that Hong Kong English is at the ‘nativization’ stage, the existence of exonormative attitudes towards English is also well known. Two important questions arise from this inherent tension, neither of which has been intensively addressed in previous studies. Firstly, although many of the features of Hong Kong English pronunciation have been described, patterns of inter-speaker variation have not been investigated in detail. Secondly, the attitudes of Hong Kong English users towards the phonological features of their own variety have not been studied in ways that take account of such variation. This dissertation addresses both of these questions by being features-based in approach and using local listeners to evaluate accent samples. After an initial review of the features of Hong Kong English pronunciation, a preliminary study surveys the occurrence of consonantal phonological features within a mini-corpus of speech samples taken from local television programmes. Its findings are presented in the form of an implicational scale, which not only shows the relative frequencies with which different features occurred, but also indicates the existence of implicational patterns of co-occurrence. In the main study, twelve authentic accent samples (eleven Hong Kong speakers and one British speaker) were presented to 52 first-year undergraduate students for evaluation as to their acceptability, defined here as acceptability for pedagogical purposes. Multivariate statistical analysis discovered firstly that phonological ‘errors’, as marked by the student listeners, were the most important measured factor in determining the acceptability scores, and secondly that only certain types of ‘error’ or ‘feature’ had significant effects. These features were either related to L1 transfer or involved other salient phenomena such as idiosyncratic alterations to syllable structure. The explanatory part of the study includes acceptability as one of the factors determining feature persistence, in an ‘ecological’ or ‘evolutionary’ model of L2 phonology acquisition and development that combines the findings of the preliminary and main studies. Among the other factors that determine feature persistence or disappearance, salience, intelligibility and markedness are invoked as important influences. The acceptability data also has pedagogical implications, in that local listeners did not give the British accent the highest acceptability rating. This contrasts with the findings of previous studies regarding the pedagogical acceptability of the Hong Kong English accent. However, the features-based approach indicates that only certain types of local accent were acceptable to these listeners, and that these accents were more, rather than less, ‘native-like’. In various ways, the study contributes to an understanding of accent variation and acceptability within a new variety of English

Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: конспект лекций

Теоретическая фонетика, изучающая звуковой строй языка, звуковые средства и их функции, а также особенности различных произносительных стилей речи, входит в цикл теоретических дисциплин общепрофессиональной подготовки специалистов по английскому языку. Данный электронный курс включает в себя изучение звукового состава современного английского языка и фонемной структуры английского слова, рассмотрение соотношений звуковых и графических средств, подробное описание слоговых структур, английской просодии, а также фонетических процессов, протекающих в потоке звучащей речи. Целью курса является последовательное и всестороннее изучение особенностей английского произношения в его коммуникативных и территориальных разновидностях, рассмотрение фонетического строя современного английского языка как системы разноуровневых функциональных единиц, которые используются в различных коммуникативных целях050100.62 Педагогическое направлениеТеоретическая фонетика английского языкабакалавриа