Pax Americana? Accent attitudinal evaluations in New Zealand,Australia and America

This study describes a series of evaluations of gender pairs of New Zealand English, Australian English, American English and RP-type English English voices by over 400 students in New Zealand, Australia and the U.S.A. Voices were chosen to represent the middle range of each accent, and balanced for paralinguistic features. Twenty-two personality and demographic traits were evaluated by Likert-scale questionnaires. Results indicated that the American female voice was rated most favourably on at least some traits by students of all three nationalities, followed by the American male. For most traits, Australian students generally ranked their own accents in third or fourth place, but New Zealanders put the female NZE voice in the mid-low range of all but solidarity-associated traits. All three groups disliked the NZE male. The RP voices did not receive the higher rankings in power/status variables we expected. The New Zealand evaluations downgrade their own accent vis-a`-vis the American and to some extent the RP voices. Overall, the American accent seems well on the way to equalling or even replacing RP as the prestige—or at least preferred—variety, not only in New Zealand but in Australia and some non-English-speaking nations as well. Preliminary analysis of data from Europe suggests this manifestation of linguistic hegemony as 'Pax Americana' seems to be prevalent over more than just the Anglophone nations.     

The social stratification of tongue shape for postvocalic /r/ in Scottish English1

The sociolinguistic modelling of phonological variation and change is almost exclusively based on auditory and acoustic analyses of speech. One phenomenon which has proved elusive when considered in these ways is the variation in postvocalic /r/ in Scottish English. This study therefore shifts to speech production: we present a socioarticulatory study of variation of postvocalic /r/ in CVr (e.g. car) words, using a socially‐stratified ultrasound tongue imaging corpus of speech collected in eastern central Scotland in 2008. Our results show social stratification of /r/ at the articulatory level, with middle‐class speakers using bunched articulations, while working‐class speakers use greater proportions of tongue‐tip and tongue‐front raised variants. Unlike articulatory variation of /r/ in American English, the articulatory variants in our Scottish English corpus are both auditorily distinct from one another, and correlate with strong and weak ends of an auditory rhotic continuum, which also shows clear social stratification.     

The globalisation of vernacular variation

Work on variation and change in New Zealand English has identified a shift from older, more British-like norms to newer, more American-like ones in the last half century. The shift seems to affect lexical items, and phonological variables. This paper considers some general principles found, in the social sciences, to be associated with globalisation and considers what the theoretical and methodological implications are for the study of language variation if we talk about changes like those taking place in New Zealand English as being the effects of globalisation (or, more specifically, Americanisation). A study showing that New Zealanders have very different attitudes to variants that sociolinguists have lumped together in the past, suggests that globalisation with localisation is an important principle for variationists to take into account. It is suggested that variables hitherto analysed as being the consequence of globalisation might be better thought of as reflecting a 'broadening of the vernacular base'.     

A majority sound change in a minority community: /u/-fronting in Chicano English

Many sociolinguistic studies have found that minority groups are not participating in the sound changes characteristic of the majority community. This study, however, presents evidence that /u/-fronting, a sound change observable in California Anglo speakers, is found in the minority Mexican-American community as well, among speakers of Chicano English. Furthermore, while a high percentage of variation research has focused on correlating sociolinguistic variables with traditional social factors (age, gender, and social class being the most common), the results of this research underscore the need to analyze variation within the context of those social categories that are of particular significance to the specific community being studied, as well as the importance of incorporating interactions among social factors into a sociolinguistic analysis.     

New-dialect formation and Southern Hemisphere English: The New Zealand short front vowels

There are two conflicting hypotheses concerning the nature of the New Zealand English short vowel system. One is that this system is conservative and that it is distinguished from the system of English English by changes which have taken place in the latter. The other hypothesis is that New Zealand English is, on the contrary, innovative, and that it is English English which has remained conservative. Drawing on hitherto unavailable data and on recent empirical studies in New Zealand, this paper concludes that both of these hypotheses are to a certain extent wrong and to a certain extent correct.     

The Formation and Development of New Zealand English: Interaction of Gender-Related Variation and Linguistic Change

This research assesses the relative roles played by men and women in the development of New Zealand English. Real-time evidence on the development of NZ English over the past fifty years is provided by comparison of speakers recorded in 1948 and their present day descendants recorded recently. Elements of two vowel shifts are studied, and particular attention is paid to the vowel variables in words such as MOUTH, TRAP and DRESS. Results indicate that women lead in changes which are new and dynamic, but lag behind men in the use of variables representing older changes. While these results mirror patterns of gender-related variation observed in other contexts, explanations in terms of prestige which are often assumed to account for this pattern of variation are found to be inadequate in the New Zealand case. Rather, a hypothesis in terms of dialect contact, and specifically women's preferred discourse strategies in contact situations, is used to explain the process and progress of linguistic change in NZ English.     

/r/ and the construction of place identity on New York City's Lower East Side1

This paper argues that a group of white residents on the Lower East Side of Manhattan use a New York City English (NYCE) feature – non‐rhoticity in the syllable coda – in the construction of a place identity, one aspect of identity tied to localness and authenticity. A quantitative analysis confirms that the change in progress towards rhoticity in NYCE ( Labov 1966 ) continues to advance slowly, so that non‐rhoticity remains a resource for New Yorkers, imbued with local social meaning. Ethnographic observation of the Lower East Side reveals conflict among residents, which motivates one group to highlight their place identity by using non‐rhoticity. These Lower East Siders utilize micro‐variation of /r/ in stretches of interview talk, increasing non‐rhoticity when discussing neighborhood topics. Results support a social practice approach to stylistic and sociolinguistic variation, where Lower East Siders use /r/ in constructing a place identity in order to present themselves as authentic neighborhood residents.     

Dialect leveling and /ai/ monophthongization among African American Detroiters

In this paper I present evidence that Detroit African Americans are participating in a recent sound change which is typically associated with some White, but not African American, varieties in the American South. Although both Southern White and African American speakers monophthongize /ai/ in pre-voiced phonetic contexts ( tide ), the spread of the monophthongal or glide-reduced variant to pre-voiceless environments ( tight ) is a salient characteristic of some subregions of the Southern U.S. I report a leveling pattern in which /ai/ monophthongization has expanded to the salient pre-voiceless context in Detroit African American English (AAE). I explain this is in terms of a change in the group with whom African American speakers perceive themselves as saliently contrastive.     

Ethnic patterns in the phonetics of Montreal English

Most North American cities no longer display strong ethnic differentiation of speech within the European‐origin population. This is not true in the English‐speaking community of Montreal, Canada, where English is a minority language. Differences in the phonetic realization of vowels by Montrealers of Irish, Italian, and Jewish ethnic origin are investigated by means of acoustic analysis. A statistical analysis of ethnic differences in formant frequencies shows that ethnicity has a significant effect on several variables, particularly the phonetic position of /u:/ and /ou/ and the allophonic conditioning of /æ/ and /au/ before nasal consonants. The unusual tenacity of ethnophonetic variation in Montreal English is explained in light of the minority status of English, and the social and residential segregation of ethnic groups in distinct neighborhoods, which limits their exposure to speakers of Standard Canadian English who might otherwise serve as models for assimilation.     

Sociophonetic variation in a long‐term language contact situation: /l/‐darkening in Welsh‐English bilingual speech

This study investigates /l/‐darkening in the Welsh and English speech of bilinguals in North Wales. Although it is claimed that /l/ is dark in all syllable positions in northern varieties of both languages, there have been no quantitative investigations of this feature which consider cross‐linguistic phonetic differences, the differing nature of language contact between North East and North West Wales, and differences in the way both languages are acquired by speakers. The dataset of 32 Welsh‐English bilinguals, aged 16–18, was stratified by speaker sex, home language, and area. Tokens of /l/ in word‐initial onset and word‐final coda positions were analysed acoustically. The results show cross‐linguistic differences in onset position and that such differences were found to be greater in the speech of female speakers. Differences were also found between the two areas. These results are discussed with reference to the influence of extra‐linguistic factors on speech production and the possible social meaning associated with dark /l/.     

Quoting ethnicity: Constructing dialogue in Aotearoa/New Zealand1

Within the system of direct quotation, speakers have a number of resources at their disposal from which they can select to construct dialogue. This article presents an investigation of the ways in which Maori and Pakeha English speakers deploy these resources. The analysis reveals extensive differences in the construction of dialogue between Maori and Pakeha which include, but are not limited to, quantitative differences in the use of individual verbs of quotation. Distinct effects of tense/temporal reference and mimetic re‐enactment permeate the systems, and patterns of use surrounding the zero quotative emerge as central to many points of differentiation. It is argued that these patterns form distinct strategies in the deployment of quotative resources and in this sense are indexical of ethnic identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand.     

Developing integrated rural tourism: Actor practices in the English/Welsh border

This paper examines community attitudes and distinctive practices that shape local responses to integrated rural tourism (IRT) development in the lagging rural region of the English/Welsh border area. The focus is on how actors acquire attributes as a result of their relations with others and how these assumed identities are performed in, by and through these relations. The location of this lagging rural region is particularly interesting as it is divided by a national boundary which not only impacts on administrative, planning and tourism marketing structures, but also contributes to the construction of fluid place identities (Murdoch and Pratt, 1997 describe ‘fluid space’ as having ‘no fixed points of reference, no privileged points of view, simply a swirling, viscous, partially stable, partially enclosed movement of social entities’ (p. 64) that may be described as Welsh, English, or a mixture of both. In order to reflect the variety of opinions and concerns in the region, responses were drawn from different actor-groups: local businesses, resource controllers, gatekeepers, institutions, community members and visitors. Results indicate that, while most were in favour of a greater integration of tourism with actors' aspirations, local resources and activities, there was an element of longing for a deux ex machina to put in place real change in the region.     

Beyond Bluff oysters? Place identity and ethnicity in a peripheral coastal setting

Studies of culture and place form a long tradition in geography but, within rural studies, less attention has been given to the ways in which contrasting ethnicities intersect with specific places and landscapes. Recently, an increasing number of authors have noted how dominant Anglophone, western, ethnicities (frequently labelled ‘white’) have been privileged in British, Australian and New Zealand settings and this paper engages that literature. We use a detailed case study of place identity in Southern New Zealand to show how a composite appreciation of ethnicity provides a deeper understanding of place identity. As such we demonstrate how place and ethnicity intersect via diverse landscapes, social interaction sites and cultural practices.     

Another chapter in the story of /r/: ‘Labiodental’ variants in British English

In this article we trace the history of [bnu;]-like variants of British English /r/. Although [bnu;] has generally been dismissed as an infantilism, or indicative of affected or disordered speech, it seems to have become established as an accent feature of non-standard south-eastern accents. We present tentative evidence to suggest this may be related to the presence of similar variants in the London East End Jewish community. After summarising previous discussions of [bnu;], we concentrate on a sociophonetic study of /r/ variants used by speakers from Derby and Newcastle. [bnu;] is found in both cities, with a higher incidence in Derby. Acoustic evidence suggests that the spreading variants are qualitatively different from [?]. We conclude that the spread of [bnu;] is part of a general and widespread process of accent levelling.     

Thinking systemically about fieldwork education—A third way

Abstract

This paper reviews fieldwork education initiatives in a number of Australian States and New Zealand and within the United Kingdom throughout the 1990s. This provides the context for a review of parallel developments of fieldwork education in Western Australia—including the development of a Joint Schools/AASW/Employing Agencies Coordinating Committee, a fieldwork syllabus, two levels of professional supervision training and an enhanced fieldwork assessment manual. As a contrast to the government-driven initiatives in fieldwork education in the UK and the prescribed profession/school of social work-driven requirements in the Australian/New Zealand literature, a community development model of working systemically with multiple stakeholders is presented as a third way in which a multi-layered change initiative is developed, implemented and reviewed. The writer argues for greater attention to core practice tasks and to rigorous assessment processes within fieldwork education, and the active involvement of industry, as essential for educating competent and confident social workers.     

Maps,markets and Merlot: The making of an antipodean wine appellation

Rural places acquire value in different ways and geographers have adopted a range of approaches to understand the way value is created in land and place. This paper analyses the case of the Gimblett Gravels wine district in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. This district has been transformed over the space of 20 years from a peri-urban wasteland to, now, one of the most sought-after and expensive winegrowing areas in the country. In this process of revaluation, several forces were evident. There was an economic–environmental process, by which grape growers and winemakers learned that the district possessed the ability to produce consistent harvests of high quality red grapes and, consequently, land was purchased at ever-increasing rates. There was then a deliberate attempt to ‘construct’ the Gimblett Gravels district in the market place, the result of concerted co-operative action by winegrowers in the district to promote the idea of a Gimblett Gravels terroir in a registered trademark. Finally, we can see that the revaluation of the district has also been related to the wider social acceptance of wine as a fashionable commodity. These processes have occurred in a virtual legislative vacuum in New Zealand regarding the protection and regulation of geographical indicators, though this may soon change. Thus, to understand the value of place, it is argued that we need a multi-faceted approach that incorporates environmental and economic processes alongside political regulation and social construction.     

‘Talkin' Jockney’? Variation and change in Glaswegian accent1

This paper presents an analysis of language variation and change in a socially stratified corpus of Glaswegian collected in 1997. Eight consonantal variables in read and spontaneous speech from 32 speakers were analysed separately and then together using multivariate analysis. Our results show that middle‐class speakers, with weaker network ties and more opportunities for mobility and contact with English English speakers, are maintaining traditional Scottish features. Working‐class adolescents, with more limited mobility and belonging to close‐knit networks, are changing their vernacular by using ‘non‐local’ features such as TH‐fronting and reducing expected Scottish features such as postvocalic /r/. We argue that local context is the key to understanding the findings. Mobility and network structures are involved, but must be taken in conjunction with the recent history of structural changes to Glasgow and the resulting construction of local class‐based language ideologies which continue to be relevant in the city today.     

Think really different: Continuity and specialization in the English dual form adverbs

This paper analyses variation between ‐ly and ‐ø in English dual form adverbs by examining conversational data from York, U.K. Using multivariate analysis and the comparative method we assess the constraint ranking, significance and relative importance of external factors (age, sex, education level) and internal factors (lexical identity, function and meaning). The results show that ‐ly is dominant and has increased dramatically in apparent time. However, cross‐tabulations with individual lexical items reveal that this correlation with speaker age is restricted to a single item–really. In conjunction with evidence from the history of English, we suggest that this does not reflect ongoing developments in English adverb formation, but is the result of continuous renewal in the encoding of ‘intensity’. In contrast, separate analysis of the other adverbs shows that variation between ‐ly and zero is retained in part as a socio‐symbolic resource, in particular for marking less educated male speech. Underlying this social meaning however, is a linguistic constraint which operates across all speakers. The zero adverb encodes concrete, objective meaning–a tendency which can be traced back 650 years or more. This provides yet another example of the interface between social and historical developments in language variation and change.     

Distributional Phonetic Learning at 10 Months of Age

Infant phonetic perception reorganizes in accordance with the native language by 10 months of age. One mechanism that may underlie this perceptual change is distributional learning, a statistical analysis of the distributional frequency of speech sounds. Previous distributional learning studies have tested infants of 6–8 months, an age at which native phonetic categories have not yet developed. Here, three experiments test infants of 10 months to help illuminate perceptual ability following perceptual reorganization. English‐learning infants did not change discrimination in response to nonnative speech sound distributions from either a voicing distinction (Experiment 1) or a place‐of‐articulation distinction (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, familiarization to the place‐of‐articulation distinction was doubled to increase the amount of exposure, and in this case infants began discriminating the sounds. These results extend the processes of distributional learning to a new phonetic contrast, and reveal that at 10 months of age, distributional phonetic learning remains effective, but is more difficult than before perceptual reorganization.