Co-occurrence of /t/ Variants in Young Vermont Speakers

Despite the social perception that Vermont’s rural dialect is dying, /t/ glottalization has been found to be a highly robust feature, especially among adolescent and younger speakers (Roberts 2006). Naturally, this leads to questions as to the current status and future projections of the feature. In a study of Vermont speakers (Bellavance and Roberts 2016), aspiration following glottalization ([ʔʰ]) was found in the speech of all fourth graders. It is with these observations that this study sought answers to fine-tuned questions regarding Vermont glottalization. The informal interviews of 30 speakers were analyzed. The speakers comprised five females and five males of three age groups: kindergarten, fourth grade, and high school. 11,954 tokens were perceptually coded for seven variants of /t/: glottal stop replacement, glottal reinforcement, flap, deletion, aspirated /t/, creak, and aspiration following replacement. A quantitative analysis of the data for replacement variants, using Rbrul (Johnson 2009), revealed the following: significant differences (p\u3c.05) were found for word position, preceding segment, following segment, and grammatical status. The social factors, age and gender, were not significant. Results from the model show the fourth grade age group with the highest proportion of [ʔʰ] occurrence. Although this is not surprising given initial observations, the finding goes against the expected age group for language innovation (high school). Results from the study raise questions as to the allophonic status of [ʔʰ] as well as its usage among age groups. Additionally, anecdotal evidence raises questions regarding stance qualities of [ʔʰ] in high school speakers

The Value of a Statistical Life: a Meta-Analysis with a Mixed Effects Regression Model

The value of a statistical life (VSL) is a very controversial topic, but one which is essential to the optimization of governmental decisions. Indeed, our society faces any number of risks (health, transportation, work, etc.) and, as resources are limited, their complete elimination is impossible. The role of governments is to act as effectively as possible in reducing these risks. To do so, one must first determine the value that society is willing to pay in order to save a human life. However, we see a great variability in the values obtained from different studies. The source of this variability needs to be understood, in order to offer public decision-makers better guidance in choosing a value and to set clearer guidelines for future research on the topic. This article presents a meta-analysis based on 40 observations obtained from 37 studies (from nine different countries) which all use a hedonic wage method to calculate the VSL. Our meta-analysis is innovative in that it is the first to use the mixed effects regression model (Raudenbush, 1994) to analyze studies on the value of a statistical life. The outcome of our meta-analysis allows us to conclude that the variability found in the results studied stems in large part from differences in methodologies.Value of a statistical life, meta-analysis, mixed effects regression model, hedonic wage method, risk

La mobilité démographique et immobilière à Compton au tournant du siècle

Le village de Compton dans les Cantons-de-l'Est passa, en moins de dix ans, de majorité anglaise à majorité française. À peu près dans le même temps, la propriété changea également de mains. Ce phénomène s'explique par les comportements démographiques des communautés culturelles comptoniennes et aussi par la conjoncture socio-économique prévalant à cette époque.In ten years, the village of Compton in the Eastern Townships lost its English majority. At on the same time, ownership changed hands. This phenomenon is explained by the demographic behaviour of the Compton cultural communities and by the prevailing socio-economic conditions of the time

Quelques éléments spatiaux de la conjoncture politique québécoise en 1867

Il est possible d'aborder une élection de plusieurs façons. L'analyse du discours politique en est une, l'analyse des comportements en est une autre. C'est cette dernière approche que nous avons choisie pour étudier l'élection de 1867, si importante pour comprendre le point de vue québécois face à une constitution élaborée sans consultation démocratique. Mais quelle a été véritablement la signification d'une telle consultation sous un régime de suffrage censitaire ? Le comportement de cet électorat ne peut se comprendre que par rapport aux caractéristiques socio-économiques de l'ensemble de la population. Le traitement d'une grande quantité de données par la matrice ordonnable de Bertin a rendu cette démarche possible. Nous découvrons alors deux pays incompatibles, l'un réel parce qu'il concerne la majorité, l'autre légal, c'est la minorité des électeurs sur lesquels s'exercent les réseaux d'influence tissés autour du clergé. C'est ce dernier volet de notre recherche qui fait l'objet de cet article.Elections can be considered in several ways: analysis of political speeches, study of electoral behaviour etc. The electoral behaviour approach was retained in the study of the 1867 elections because of its importance in understanding the views of Quebecers regarding a constitution which was drawn up without democratic consultation. But what was the true significance of such a consultation under the suffrage regime existing at the time? The behaviour of this electorate can best be understood by taking into consideration the socio-economic characteristics of the total population. Analysis by means of a Bertin's matrix revealed two incompatible countries. First, the "real" country (the majority) composed of the entire population; secondly, the "legal" country (the minority) composed exclusively of the voting population. The methodological implications of such a distinction constitute the substance of this article