This paper presents a topic modeling approach to corpus-based dialectometry. Topic models are most often used in text mining to find latent structure in a collection of documents. They are based on the idea that frequently co-occurring words present the same underlying topic. In this study, topic models are used on interview transcriptions containing dialectal speech directly, without any annotations or preselected features. The transcriptions are modeled on complete words, on character n-grams, and after automatical segmentation. Data from three languages, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swiss German, are scrutinized. The proposed method is capable of discovering clear dialectal differences in all three datasets, while reflecting the differences between them. The method provides a significant simplification of the dialectometric workflow, simultaneously saving time and increasing objectivity. Using the method on non-normalized data could also benefit text mining, which is the traditional field of topic modeling.
{"title":"Corpus-based dialectometry with topic models","authors":"Olli Kuparinen, Yves Scherrer","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2024.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2024.6","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper presents a topic modeling approach to corpus-based dialectometry. Topic models are most often used in text mining to find latent structure in a collection of documents. They are based on the idea that frequently co-occurring words present the same underlying topic. In this study, topic models are used on interview transcriptions containing dialectal speech directly, without any annotations or preselected features. The transcriptions are modeled on complete words, on character n-grams, and after automatical segmentation. Data from three languages, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swiss German, are scrutinized. The proposed method is capable of discovering clear dialectal differences in all three datasets, while reflecting the differences between them. The method provides a significant simplification of the dialectometric workflow, simultaneously saving time and increasing objectivity. Using the method on non-normalized data could also benefit text mining, which is the traditional field of topic modeling.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":"1 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141120017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The present study offers an examination of attitudes and perceptions of the Ukrainian language by respondents who have lived at least half of their life in Ukraine; they were asked to draw on a map of Ukraine where the most correct Ukrainian is spoken and where the Ukrainian that grates on one’s ears is spoken. Recruitment for the online survey was conducted by placing ads on several Ukrainian-language Facebook pages, along with a link to the survey. The findings presented are from a total of 90 analyzed surveys. Respondents’ maps were analyzed and compared using QGIS software. The research demonstrates that that there is a tug-of-war of correctness between Kyiv and Lviv. It also shows that there is an overall tendency of native speakers to evaluate the Transcarpathian region as the area that grates one’s ears.
{"title":"Linguistic tug-of-war: regional perceptions of Ukrainian","authors":"Nathan A. Marks","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2024.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2024.9","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The present study offers an examination of attitudes and perceptions of the Ukrainian language by respondents who have lived at least half of their life in Ukraine; they were asked to draw on a map of Ukraine where the most correct Ukrainian is spoken and where the Ukrainian that grates on one’s ears is spoken. Recruitment for the online survey was conducted by placing ads on several Ukrainian-language Facebook pages, along with a link to the survey. The findings presented are from a total of 90 analyzed surveys. Respondents’ maps were analyzed and compared using QGIS software. The research demonstrates that that there is a tug-of-war of correctness between Kyiv and Lviv. It also shows that there is an overall tendency of native speakers to evaluate the Transcarpathian region as the area that grates one’s ears.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":" 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140996982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Geolectal variation is often present in settings where one language is spoken across a vast geographic area. This can be found in phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical features. For practical reasons, it is not always possible to conduct fieldwork in every single location of interest in order to obtain the full pattern of variation, and a sample of them must be chosen. We propose and test a method for sampling these locations, with the goal of obtaining a distribution of typological features representative of the whole area. We apply k-means and hierarchical clustering algorithms for defining this sample, based on their geographic distribution. We test our methods against simulated data with several spatial configurations, and also against real data from Circassian dialects (Northwest Caucasian). Our results show an efficiency significantly higher than random sampling for detecting this variation, which makes our method profitable to fieldworkers when designing their research.
地缘语言变异经常出现在一种语言被广泛使用的情况下。这可以在语音、形态句法和词汇特征中发现。由于实际原因，我们不可能在每一个感兴趣的地点都进行实地调查，以获得完整的变异模式，因此必须选择其中的一个样本。我们提出并测试了一种对这些地点进行抽样的方法，目的是获得代表整个地区的类型特征分布。我们根据样本的地理分布情况，采用 K 均值和分层聚类算法来定义样本。我们用几种空间配置的模拟数据以及切尔卡西亚方言（西北高加索语）的真实数据对我们的方法进行了测试。我们的结果表明，在检测这种变异方面，我们的效率明显高于随机抽样，这使我们的方法在实地工作者设计研究时有利可图。
{"title":"Detecting linguistic variation with geographic sampling","authors":"Ezequiel Koile, George Moroz","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2024.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2024.8","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Geolectal variation is often present in settings where one language is spoken across a vast geographic area. This can be found in phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical features. For practical reasons, it is not always possible to conduct fieldwork in every single location of interest in order to obtain the full pattern of variation, and a sample of them must be chosen. We propose and test a method for sampling these locations, with the goal of obtaining a distribution of typological features representative of the whole area. We apply k-means and hierarchical clustering algorithms for defining this sample, based on their geographic distribution. We test our methods against simulated data with several spatial configurations, and also against real data from Circassian dialects (Northwest Caucasian). Our results show an efficiency significantly higher than random sampling for detecting this variation, which makes our method profitable to fieldworkers when designing their research.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":"65 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141007679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
H. Dann, R. Drummond, Sarah Tasker, Chris Montgomery, Sadie Durkacz Ryan, Erin Carrie
This study uses a modified online version of the “draw-a-map” task and Garrett, Williams, and Evans’ (2005b) “keywords” methodology to explore the geospatial distribution of different accent and dialect labels and descriptors in Greater Manchester, UK. Specifically, we consider the distribution of the three most frequent labels related to “accentedness”: Broad, Strong, and Soft, as provided by 349 Greater Manchester residents. This analysis finds that these descriptors were clustered in separate areas of Greater Manchester, suggesting that they were being used to describe perceptually distinct varieties of English. In order to uncover the nuances in these folk-linguistic terms, we consider how they correlate with other concepts emerging from the dataset, finding that they are being used to differentiate between varieties with contrasting social associations. By combining innovative approaches, this study demonstrates how the subtleties of folk-linguistic modes of awareness can be uncovered through in-depth analysis of the terminology employed to describe linguistic variation on a very local scale. In so doing, it paves the way for further development of draw-a-map techniques that will enable similarly nuanced analysis in different regions, thus pushing the sub-discipline forward.
{"title":"Broad, strong, and soft: Using geospatial analysis to understand folk-linguistic terminology","authors":"H. Dann, R. Drummond, Sarah Tasker, Chris Montgomery, Sadie Durkacz Ryan, Erin Carrie","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2024.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2024.10","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This study uses a modified online version of the “draw-a-map” task and Garrett, Williams, and Evans’ (2005b) “keywords” methodology to explore the geospatial distribution of different accent and dialect labels and descriptors in Greater Manchester, UK. Specifically, we consider the distribution of the three most frequent labels related to “accentedness”: Broad, Strong, and Soft, as provided by 349 Greater Manchester residents. This analysis finds that these descriptors were clustered in separate areas of Greater Manchester, suggesting that they were being used to describe perceptually distinct varieties of English. In order to uncover the nuances in these folk-linguistic terms, we consider how they correlate with other concepts emerging from the dataset, finding that they are being used to differentiate between varieties with contrasting social associations. By combining innovative approaches, this study demonstrates how the subtleties of folk-linguistic modes of awareness can be uncovered through in-depth analysis of the terminology employed to describe linguistic variation on a very local scale. In so doing, it paves the way for further development of draw-a-map techniques that will enable similarly nuanced analysis in different regions, thus pushing the sub-discipline forward.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":"119 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140708918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nicholas Henriksen, Lorenzo García-Amaya, Micha Fischer, Jessica Czapla, Natalie Dakki, Amber Galvano, Sarah Khansa, Ellie G. Maly, Zoe Phillips, Vidhya Premkumar, Stepan Topouzian, Thomas Wiaduck
Abstract Sociodemographic information, such as a speaker’s regional origin, is intimately related to the judgments and social evaluations that listeners assign to that speaker. This association between linguistic form and social information can also lead to linguistic profiling, a harmful form of discrimination. The present study examines the geographic classifications and social attitudes attributed to ten phonetic variants used within regional varieties of Iberian (i.e., European) Spanish. We are specifically interested in understanding listeners’ geographical classifications and language attitudes held toward Andalusian Spanish, which is a less privileged regional variety spoken in Spain’s southern region, as compared to north-central Peninsular Spanish (NCPS). The results of an online survey show that 165 listeners were fairly consistent when geographically classifying Andalusian-sounding stimuli as originating from the south of Spain. Importantly, the respondents also attributed less favorable social meaning to the Andalusian-sounding stimuli in comparison to the NCPS-sounding stimuli. We link the findings to broader themes in sociolinguistics, such as language-based discrimination, linguistic insecurity, and the social motivations of language change.
{"title":"Perceptions of regional origin and social attributes of phonetic variants used in Iberian Spanish","authors":"Nicholas Henriksen, Lorenzo García-Amaya, Micha Fischer, Jessica Czapla, Natalie Dakki, Amber Galvano, Sarah Khansa, Ellie G. Maly, Zoe Phillips, Vidhya Premkumar, Stepan Topouzian, Thomas Wiaduck","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2023.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2023.6","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Sociodemographic information, such as a speaker’s regional origin, is intimately related to the judgments and social evaluations that listeners assign to that speaker. This association between linguistic form and social information can also lead to linguistic profiling, a harmful form of discrimination. The present study examines the geographic classifications and social attitudes attributed to ten phonetic variants used within regional varieties of Iberian (i.e., European) Spanish. We are specifically interested in understanding listeners’ geographical classifications and language attitudes held toward Andalusian Spanish, which is a less privileged regional variety spoken in Spain’s southern region, as compared to north-central Peninsular Spanish (NCPS). The results of an online survey show that 165 listeners were fairly consistent when geographically classifying Andalusian-sounding stimuli as originating from the south of Spain. Importantly, the respondents also attributed less favorable social meaning to the Andalusian-sounding stimuli in comparison to the NCPS-sounding stimuli. We link the findings to broader themes in sociolinguistics, such as language-based discrimination, linguistic insecurity, and the social motivations of language change.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136062233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper revisits the question of national varieties in German, a concept that still has not found solid empirical proof, at least not from a quantitative-etic perspective. The question raised is how data collected in the course of the international research project, Variantengrammatik des Standarddeutschen (Handbook of Grammatical Variation in Standard German), and the application of spatial statistical methods to geographical variant distribution patterns can contribute to this discussion. With the aid of Factor Analysis and spatially modified clustering of variant distribution patterns it is shown that—at least from a quantitative/corpus linguistic point of view—there is no evidence for assuming nation-specific varieties. Importantly, this result does not imply the existence of a homogenous German standard language; rather, it is argued that geographical variation does not self-evidently legitimize the assumption of standard varieties.
本文重新审视了德语的民族品种问题，这一概念仍然没有找到坚实的经验证据，至少没有从定量的角度来看。提出的问题是，国际研究项目Variantengrammatik des Standarddeutschen(标准德语语法变异手册)过程中收集的数据，以及空间统计方法对地理变异分布模式的应用，如何有助于这一讨论。借助因子分析和变异分布模式的空间修正聚类，至少从数量/语料库语言学的角度来看，没有证据表明存在民族特异性变异。重要的是，这个结果并不意味着存在一种同质的德语标准语言;相反，有人认为，地理差异并不能不言而喻地使标准品种的假设合法化。
{"title":"A question of dominance: Statistically approaching grammatical variation in German standard language across borders","authors":"Elisabeth Scherr, Arne Ziegler","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2023.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2023.4","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper revisits the question of national varieties in German, a concept that still has not found solid empirical proof, at least not from a quantitative-etic perspective. The question raised is how data collected in the course of the international research project, Variantengrammatik des Standarddeutschen (Handbook of Grammatical Variation in Standard German), and the application of spatial statistical methods to geographical variant distribution patterns can contribute to this discussion. With the aid of Factor Analysis and spatially modified clustering of variant distribution patterns it is shown that—at least from a quantitative/corpus linguistic point of view—there is no evidence for assuming nation-specific varieties. Importantly, this result does not imply the existence of a homogenous German standard language; rather, it is argued that geographical variation does not self-evidently legitimize the assumption of standard varieties.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46039916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This perceptual-dialectology study investigates how listener-related social factors impact the geographical recognition of regional accents. In contrast to much prior research on English, our focus is on Dutch, which lends itself well to our study, allowing for notable regional accents within a well-defined standard language. Using a map-based recognition task in which 1,578 listeners placed forty representative speakers on a map based on fragments of their speech, we investigated the regional biases in accent recognition and the extent to which each listener’s awareness of these depends on their familiarity and proximity. Education, geographical knowledge, and distance to listeners’ own regions significantly predicted their accent-recognition accuracy. Moreover, we found a curvilinear age effect, which we interpret in terms of age-related changes in geographical and social mobility. We show how these effects in our design lead to meaningful accent-recognition patterns in groups of listeners.
{"title":"Social factors in accent recognition: a large-scale study in perceptual dialectology","authors":"Anne-France Pinget, C. Voeten","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2023.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2023.3","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This perceptual-dialectology study investigates how listener-related social factors impact the geographical recognition of regional accents. In contrast to much prior research on English, our focus is on Dutch, which lends itself well to our study, allowing for notable regional accents within a well-defined standard language. Using a map-based recognition task in which 1,578 listeners placed forty representative speakers on a map based on fragments of their speech, we investigated the regional biases in accent recognition and the extent to which each listener’s awareness of these depends on their familiarity and proximity. Education, geographical knowledge, and distance to listeners’ own regions significantly predicted their accent-recognition accuracy. Moreover, we found a curvilinear age effect, which we interpret in terms of age-related changes in geographical and social mobility. We show how these effects in our design lead to meaningful accent-recognition patterns in groups of listeners.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46401717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The present study explores how two symbolic boundaries—linguistic variety and race—intersect, influencing how Latin American immigrants are perceived in Spain. To this end, 217 Spaniards participated in an experiment in which they evaluated three men along a series of social properties, but they were presented with different combinations of linguistic variety (Argentinian, Colombian, or Spanish) and race (a White or Mestizo photograph). The results of mixed-effects regression models found that linguistic variety conditioned participants’ evaluations of status, occupational prestige, solidarity, and trustworthiness, and both variety and race conditioned evaluations of religiousness. We contend that linguistic features become associated with a specific group of people through rhematization (Gal, 2005; Irvine & Gal, 2000) and, by extension, ideologies link those people with stereotypical characteristics. We conclude that the “ideological twinning” (Rosa & Flores, 2017) of race and linguistic variety can enhance stereotypes toward immigrants and impact their experiences in the receiving country.
{"title":"Stereotypes, language, and race: Spaniards’ perception of Latin American immigrants","authors":"W. Chappell, Sonia Barnes","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2023.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2023.5","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The present study explores how two symbolic boundaries—linguistic variety and race—intersect, influencing how Latin American immigrants are perceived in Spain. To this end, 217 Spaniards participated in an experiment in which they evaluated three men along a series of social properties, but they were presented with different combinations of linguistic variety (Argentinian, Colombian, or Spanish) and race (a White or Mestizo photograph). The results of mixed-effects regression models found that linguistic variety conditioned participants’ evaluations of status, occupational prestige, solidarity, and trustworthiness, and both variety and race conditioned evaluations of religiousness. We contend that linguistic features become associated with a specific group of people through rhematization (Gal, 2005; Irvine & Gal, 2000) and, by extension, ideologies link those people with stereotypical characteristics. We conclude that the “ideological twinning” (Rosa & Flores, 2017) of race and linguistic variety can enhance stereotypes toward immigrants and impact their experiences in the receiving country.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41522428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Variationist research has much to gain from deepening engagement with theories about place, defined as space imbued with social meaning. One challenge that variationists face is how to adapt the complex and multifaceted aspects of place orientation into a single measure that can be included in models of sociolinguistic variation. In this paper, I advocate for an ethnographic approach to place, providing an example from Greater New Orleans, where post-Katrina displacement has highlighted individual connections to place. Using an ethnographically informed multidimensional place orientation metric (MPOM), I examine two local linguistic features among speakers from the suburban town of Chalmette, Louisiana according to place orientation. Via statistical modeling and case study of individual speakers, I demonstrate the value of MPOMs in quantitative analysis of sociolinguistic variation, arguing for further theorization of place orientation in our research and providing a model for variationist sociolinguists interested in engaging more with place theory.
{"title":"Locating place in variationist sociolinguistics: Making the case for ethnographically informed multidimensional place orientation metrics","authors":"Katie Carmichael","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2023.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2023.2","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Variationist research has much to gain from deepening engagement with theories about place, defined as space imbued with social meaning. One challenge that variationists face is how to adapt the complex and multifaceted aspects of place orientation into a single measure that can be included in models of sociolinguistic variation. In this paper, I advocate for an ethnographic approach to place, providing an example from Greater New Orleans, where post-Katrina displacement has highlighted individual connections to place. Using an ethnographically informed multidimensional place orientation metric (MPOM), I examine two local linguistic features among speakers from the suburban town of Chalmette, Louisiana according to place orientation. Via statistical modeling and case study of individual speakers, I demonstrate the value of MPOMs in quantitative analysis of sociolinguistic variation, arguing for further theorization of place orientation in our research and providing a model for variationist sociolinguists interested in engaging more with place theory.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44539481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Recent sociophonetic research has focused on the ways in which race and ethnicity influence language as well as how language is used to construct racial and ethnic identity. Comparisons of the speech of members of one ethnic group across different regions are still uncommon. In this study, fifty-one native American English speakers of Korean descent, hailing from three different dialect areas of the United States (Los Angeles County and Orange County, California; Harris County, Texas; and Gwinnett County, Georgia), were recorded speaking English in casual interviews. Their speech was analyzed for characteristics of local sound patterns in each region, including the Short Front Vowel Shift (California Vowel Shift) and the Southern Vowel Shift, as well as overall Vowel Space Area. All three groups showed evidence of the Short Front Vowel Shift, and none demonstrated the Southern Vowel Shift. The Californian speakers had the smallest vowel spaces, while the Georgian speakers had the largest. We relate these findings to the ways Korean Americans in Texas and California understand their ethnic identity vis-à-vis a kind of metropolitan or urban speech style in a highly multicultural environment, while, in comparison, Korean Americans in Georgia may use vowel space to highlight their orientation toward or away from local mainstream (white) cultural identity.
{"title":"A comparative study of English vowel shifts and vowel space area among Korean Americans in three dialect regions","authors":"Andrew Cheng, Lisa Jeon, Dot-Eum Kim","doi":"10.1017/jlg.2023.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jlg.2023.1","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Recent sociophonetic research has focused on the ways in which race and ethnicity influence language as well as how language is used to construct racial and ethnic identity. Comparisons of the speech of members of one ethnic group across different regions are still uncommon. In this study, fifty-one native American English speakers of Korean descent, hailing from three different dialect areas of the United States (Los Angeles County and Orange County, California; Harris County, Texas; and Gwinnett County, Georgia), were recorded speaking English in casual interviews. Their speech was analyzed for characteristics of local sound patterns in each region, including the Short Front Vowel Shift (California Vowel Shift) and the Southern Vowel Shift, as well as overall Vowel Space Area. All three groups showed evidence of the Short Front Vowel Shift, and none demonstrated the Southern Vowel Shift. The Californian speakers had the smallest vowel spaces, while the Georgian speakers had the largest. We relate these findings to the ways Korean Americans in Texas and California understand their ethnic identity vis-à-vis a kind of metropolitan or urban speech style in a highly multicultural environment, while, in comparison, Korean Americans in Georgia may use vowel space to highlight their orientation toward or away from local mainstream (white) cultural identity.","PeriodicalId":93207,"journal":{"name":"Journal of linguistic geography","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48772458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：