My slides about Language Variation and Change with respect to speaker Ethnicity, given for the lectures on Sociolinguistics at the University of Oxford in Fall 2009.

1. Linguistic Variation& Ethnicity Sociolinguistics Week 7 Dr. Lauren Hall-Lew

2. correlates of linguistic variation Age SEC Gender Ethnicity

3. “Many discussions of ethnicity begin with the struggle to define ‘it’.” – Fishman 1985 vs. race vs. nationality vs. religion vs. culture vs. language

4. “Many discussions of ethnicity begin with the struggle to define ‘it’.” – Fishman 1985 vs. race vs. nationality vs. religion vs. culture vs. language “The expression of ‘collective, intergenerational cultural continuity,’ i.e. the sensing and expressing of links to ‘one’s own kind’ … collectivities that … share putative ancestral origins.”

5. Barth 1969 An ethnic group: is largely biologically self-perpetuating shares fundamental cultural values … makes up a field of communication and interaction has a membership which identifies itself, and is identified by others, as constituting a category distinguishable from other categories of the same order

6. Joseph 2004 ethnic identity is focused more on common descent and on a cultural heritage shared because of common descent … national identity is focused on political borders and autonomy … racial identity [is] focused, like ethnic identity, on common descent and cultural heritage, but conceived on a grander scale, for example ‘black’ identity as opposed to Wolof identity.

7. Labov 1963 (1972):Martha’s Vineyard

8. Labov 1963 (1972):Martha’s Vineyard

9. Labov 1963 (1972):Martha’s Vineyard Centralization of vowels in price & mouth English, Portuguese, Wampanoag Indians

10. Labov 1963 Centralization of the price vowel

11. Labov 1963 Centralization of the mouth vowel

12. determining categories The analysis depends on the choosing the appropriate categories The task of the sociolinguist is to determine what matters to speakers, themselves One way to do this is to see how categories are constructed in discourse

13. ideological processes Iconization naturalizes the link between a category and a property Erasureis the process in which ideology, in simplifying the sociolinguistic field, renders some persons or activities invisible. Fractal recursivity involves the projection of an opposition, salient at some level of relationships, onto come other level. Irvine & Gal 2000

14. determining categories Identifying these processes helps the analyst determine which social categories are most likely relevant to interpreting language variation and change The linguist must be careful to not engage in further processes of erasure, recursivity, or iconization First-wave sociolinguistics is guilty of this: e.g., treating African American English (AAE) as regionally homogenous

15. ethnicity & LVC First Wave claims: “participation” Labov 2001:506 “All speakers who are socially defined as white, mainstream, or Euro-American, are involved in the [sound] changes to one degree or another … But for those children who are integral members of a sub-community that American society defines as ‘non-white’ -- Black, Hispanic, or native American – the result is quite different. No matter how frequently they are exposed to the local vernacular, the new speech patterns of regional sound change do not surface in their speech.”

16. ethnicity & LVC First Wave claims: “participation” Labov2001:506 “All speakers who are socially defined as white, mainstream, or Euro-American, are involved in the [sound] changes to one degree or another … But for those children who are integral members of a sub-community that American society defines as ‘non-white’ -- Black, Hispanic, or native American – the result is quite different. No matter how frequently they are exposed to the local vernacular, the new speech patterns of regional sound change do not surface in their speech.”

17. ethnicity & LVC First Wave definitions of community Labov2001:216 “…the limits of the speech community here defined are confined to the white majority, excluding African American and most Hispanic speakers.” Erasure: ethnicity among whites; regional variation among non-whites

18. ethnicity & LVC Second Wave argumentation ethnographic methods reliance on categories important to the members of the community correlations with variants reveal these categories, and how they’re related to one another

19. ethnicity & LVC Third Wave argumentation ethnographic methods linguistic variables are part of speakers’ own construction of (ethnic) identities and categories linguistic variables are just one set of social practices, part of whole combined styles correlations between ethnic categories and linguistic variables provide a window into how ethnic identities are constructed

20. Current Studies

21. Studies in the UK Historically less focus on ethnicity compared to linguistics in North America Increasing interest, especially in London Shifts and increases in immigration WWII & related economic pressures Majority EU immigrants, but (more) saliently immigrants from former colonies

22. Foreign-born population: by ethnic group, April 2001, UK UK born in 2001: 92% White Foreign born in UK in 2001: 53% White http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=1312&Pos=1&ColRank=2&Rank=480

23. The non-White population: by ethnic group, April 2001, UK http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=764&Pos=2&ColRank=2&Rank=224

24. Sharma 2009: London Asians Some London communities are > 75% South Asian Southall: one of these; primarily Punjabi-heritage

25. Sharma 2009 Lx variable /t/-retroflection (as well as glottalization, and vocalic variables) 3 groups Gen 1 (all ages) Gen 2-mid & Gen 2-young Contrasting social conditions & ethnic experiences in London

27. (Also, competence of British English in Gen 2-mid; so adual competence group, maintaining both systems; greater use of style shifting.)

28. Gen 2-young reinterprets the Punjabi English feature as part of a new, young British Punjabi style

31. Studies in the US The non-white population: by ethnic group, est. 2006, U.S. (U.S. = 26% non-white, vs. 8% in the U.K.)

32. Studies in the US Vast majority of work on African American English (and varieties of it) Increasing work on Spanish-influenced varieties of English (e.g., Chicano English) as well as U.S. varieties of Spanish Very little work on English LVC among Asian Americans (or among Native American Indians)

33. Hall-Lew 2009: San Francisco Asians Chinese Americans: Largest & longest in-residence group of Asians in the U.S. Some San Francisco communities are > 50%

34. Hall-Lew 2009 The Sunset District: Asian (mostly Chinese) European (many Irish) Lx variables merger & fronting known features of California English 30 people, ages 16-76

35. Hall-Lew 2009 The Merger of lot & thought: Enid, Chinese American, age 76: unmerged … we shop, we walk … Maya, Chinese & Filipino, age 24: merged … talk a lot …

36. Hall-Lew 2009 Merger: Enid, Chinese American, age 76: unmerged … we shop, we walk … Maya, Chinese & Filipino, age 24: merged … talk a lot …

37. Hall-Lew 2009 Merger: Enid, Chinese American, age 76: unmerged … we shop, we walk … Maya, Chinese & Filipino, age 24: merged … talk a lot …

39. Hall-Lew 2009 The Fronting of goat: April, European American, age 18 … I kind of associate that … Monica, Chinese American, age 16 … um, so Stern Grove has this like …

40. Hall-Lew 2009 Fronting: April, European American, age 18 … I kind of associate that … Monica, Chinese American, age 16 … um, so Stern Grove has this like …

41. Hall-Lew 2009 Fronting: April, European American, age 18 … I kind of associate that … Monica, Chinese American, age 16 … um, so Stern Grove has this uh rep …

43. Other Current LVC Topics Pan-ethnic styles (e.g., MLE) Ethnic resources gaining broader social meanings, available for wider use Style-switching & the role of the interviewer

44. A Promising LVC Topic Bi-/Multiethnic or Mixed Race identities

46. mock styles

47. crossing & passing

48. accent hallucination

49. linguistic profilingAbove variation discourse structure conversation structure Language contact Bi-/Multilingualism code-switching

50. lauren.hall-lew@ell.ox.ac.uk