American Speech recent issues

CONTRIBUTORS' COLUMN

2008-09-16

"GOOD OLD IMMIGRANTS OF YESTERYEAR," WHO DIDN'T LEARN ENGLISH: GERMANS IN WISCONSIN

Wilkerson, M. E., Salmons, J. — 2008-09-16

One myth about language and immigration in North America is that nineteenth-century immigrants typically became bilingual almost immediately after arriving, yet little systematic data has been presented for this view. We present quantitative and qualitative evidence about Germans in Wisconsin, where, into the twentieth century, many immigrants and their descendants remained monolingual, decades after immigration had ceased. Even those who claimed to speak English often had limited command. Quantitative data from the 1910 Census, augmented by qualitative evidence from newspapers, court records, literary texts, and other sources, suggest that Germans of various socioeconomic backgrounds often lacked English language skills. German continued to be the primary language in numerous Wisconsin communities, and some second- and third-generation descendants of immigrants were still monolingual as adults. Understanding this history can help inform contemporary debates about language and immigration and help dismantle the myth that successful immigrant groups of yesterday owed their prosperity to an immediate, voluntary shift to English.

THE LOW-BACK MERGER IN THE STEEL CITY: AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGLISH IN PITTSBURGH

Eberhardt, M. — 2008-09-16

This article investigates the status of the low-back vowels in African American English in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the vowels have been merged since at least the late 1800s. The low-back merger is currently spreading across much of the United States, but to date, its incidence in African American speech has been found to be limited. This article draws from a sample of 34 African Americans native to Pittsburgh. Using data from a word list along with an acoustic analysis of the low-back vowels in conversational speech from sociolinguistic interviews, this article shows that African Americans in Pittsburgh have merged the low-back vowels, thus sharing in this feature of the local phonological system. The article also explores the sociohistorical conditions that facilitated the spread of the merger from white to African American speech in the region.

PARIS HILTON, BRENDA FRAZIER, BLOGS, AND THE PROLIFERATION OF CELEBU-

Brown, D. W. — 2008-09-16

In 1939, Walter Winchell coined celebutante in recognition of young Brenda Frazier's status and fame. More recently, celebu- has detached and become a productive combining form. Part of that productivity can be ascribed to its felicitous phonological properties. Many celebu- coinages, however, appear in blogs. Thus, the productivity of celebu- results from the specific register conditions of blogs. The specific case of celebu- reveals much about these conditions—the need for semantic economy, the saliency of humor, the function of nominalization, as well as the role of critique and sometimes cruelty. Additionally, celebu- coinages illustrate how blogs have emerged as sites of linguistic innovation.

CELEBU- WORD LIST: AN INTERESTING FORAY INTO CALCULATING RELEVANCE

Barnhart, D. K. — 2008-09-16

AMONG THE NEW WORDS

Glowka, W., Barrett, G., Barnhart, D. K., Melancon, M., Salter, M., Miller, G. — 2008-09-16

LINGUISTIC EMANCIPATION AFTER KING

Brown, D. W. — 2008-09-16

A DEFINITE(?) MAYBE

Marlow, D. W. — 2008-09-16

CONTRIBUTORS' COLUMN

2008-06-18

FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY

Barrett, G. — 2008-06-18

(ING): A VERNACULAR BASELINE FOR ENGLISH IN APPALACHIA

Hazen, K. — 2008-06-18

In order to provide a contemporary description of Appalachian English, this article investigates the (ING) variable in Appalachian speech, explaining both the linguistic and social constraints on variation. Data from 67 West Virginia speakers are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed for grammatical context, preceding and following place of articulation, sociogeographic orientation, age, sex, ethnicity, social class, and interview context. Results indicate that the only linguistic conditioning factor for this speech community is the syntactic category. Socially, the patterns of variation are considerably more complex than the grammatical patterns. Reflecting the sociogeographic boundary found by previous scholars, a Southern-Northern divide exists in the production of variants: the Southern speakers have a higher rate of the alveolar variant than the Northern speakers. The other social factors work within this sociogeographic divide. Yet, contrary to most references to Appalachian rates of (ING), speakers in this sample are far from categorical, with rates ranging from 1% to 96% for the alveolar variant.

MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS: REACTIONS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGLISH

Rahman, J. — 2008-06-18

This article examines the attitudes of a group of middle-class African Americans toward varieties that are available to them for helping to project the attitudes, stances, and affiliations that they perceive as effective in negotiating social and professional environments where vastly distinct linguistic norms may prevail. The research uses subjective reaction tests, interviews, and an online survey to ask questions about the significance of "sounding black" in judgments the participants make about standardness, social class, and appropriateness of speech styles for various environments. The research also examines linguistic features that contribute to the social judgments. Results show a correlation between the perception of African American identity and judgments that occur in other areas; the consultants value AAVE as their heritage language, but see standard African American English as the one variety that can meet the demands of all environments.

AMONG THE NEW WORDS

Glowka, W., Barrett, G., Barnhart, D. K., Melancon, M., Salter, M. — 2008-06-18

LANGUAGE, ETHNICITY, AND SOCIAL IDENTITY: Language and Ethnicity

Gooden, S. — 2008-06-18

LOCATING SOCIAL MEANING IN TALK: A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF STYLE: Style: Language Variation and Identity

Eberhardt, M. — 2008-06-18

HILL BILLY: THE EARLIEST KNOWN AFRICAN AMERICAN USAGES

Huber, P., Drowne, K. — 2008-06-18

THE VERY BIG CLASS PROJECT: COLLABORATIVE LANGUAGE RESEARCH IN LARGE UNDERGRADUATE CLASSES

Van Herk, G. — 2008-06-18

TEACHING VARIATION: USING IM IN THE INTRODUCTORY LINGUISTICS CLASSROOM

Amberg, J. S., Vause, D. J. — 2008-06-18

SERVICE-LEARNING AS AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND LINGUISTIC EQUALITY

Charity, A. H., Harris, J., Hayes, J., Ikeler, K., Squires, A. — 2008-06-18

REVIEW: AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGLISH AND THE COMPOSITION CLASSROOM: A Teacher's Introduction to African American English: What a Writing Teacher Should Know

Brown, D. W. — 2008-06-18

CONTRIBUTORS' COLUMN

2008-05-30

LINGUISTIC RUIN? LOL! INSTANT MESSAGING AND TEEN LANGUAGE

Tagliamonte, S. A., Denis, D. — 2008-05-30

This article presents an analysis of Instant Messaging (IM), a one-to-one synchronous medium of computer-mediated communication. Innumerable articles in the popular press suggest that increasing use of IM by teens is leading to a breakdown in the English language. The analyses presented here are based on a unique corpus involving 72 teenagers and over a million words of natural, unmonitored IM. In addition, a corpus of speech from the same teenagers is examined for comparison. Targeting well-known IM features and four areas of grammar, we show that IM is firmly rooted in the model of the extant language. It reflects the same structured heterogeneity (variation) and the same dynamic, ongoing processes of linguistic change that are currently under way in contemporary varieties of English. At the same time, IM is a unique new hybrid register, exhibiting a fusion of the full range of variants from the speech community—formal, informal, and highly vernacular.

ACOUSTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF UTAH'S CARD-CORD MERGER

Bowie, D. — 2008-05-30

Several claims have been put forward to explain the character of Utah's card-cord merger, in which is variably produced as . Instances of words containing from the running speech of a Utahn who variably exhibits the merger were rated by a panel of speakers on whether they were produced as or , allowing utterances to be classified as merged (into ), unmerged, or intermediate. Merged and unmerged instances were not found to be separated cleanly when taking just F1 and F2 into consideration, but looking at F1, F2, and F3 simultaneously resulted in a clean split between those categories, with the intermediate cases falling along the border between them. Further, the formant values did not match up with any simple articulatory explanation for the merger and its attendant distinction. Not only does this demonstrate that Utah's card-cord merger is the result of the simultaneous manipulation of multiple articulatory features, it raises the possibility that clear separation between phonetic categories could be found in other cases that might generally be expected to have some overlap.

THE "LECTURER'S OK" REVISITED: CHANGING DISCOURSE CONVENTIONS AND THE INFLUENCE OF ACADEMIC DIVISION

Schleef, E. — 2008-05-30

This article examines the structural markers okay, alright, right, and now and discusses the use and functions of these structures in the speech of Humanities and Natural Sciences instructors in 24 American university lectures. It then investigates whether there is a correlational link between different structural markers and the academic division, age, and sex of the speaker. This article argues that cross-disciplinary differences in preferred teaching styles and content in lectures across different academic divisions are major factors determining variations in the use of structural markers in academic settings, while age plays only a minor role, and gender none at all.

AMONG THE NEW WORDS

Glowka, W., Swanson, S. W., Presley, S., Barnhart, D. K., Barrett, G. — 2008-05-30

NEGOTIATING MEDICAL COMMUNICATION: The Discourse of Hospital Communication: Tracing Complexities in Contemporary Health Organizations

Tamasi, S. — 2008-05-30

A NEW APPROACH TO AN OLD TOPIC: A History of the English Language

Hayes, M. — 2008-05-30

NO WORD LEFT BEHIND: The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English: A Crunk Omnibus for Thrillionaires and Bampots for the Ecozoic Age

Peters, M. — 2008-05-30

CONTRIBUTORS' COLUMN

2007-12-27

SIZE MATTERS

Adams, M. — 2007-12-27

GULLAH NEGATION: A VARIABLE ANALYSIS

Weldon, T. L. — 2007-12-27

This article provides a variable analysis of negation in Gullah and considers the implications of the observed patterns of variability for the debate over the history and development of African American English (AAE). For many years now, linguists have debated over the possibility of an AAE-creole connection and have hypothesized in particular about the putative role of Gullah (or a Gullah-like creole) on the origins and development of AAE. In recent years, negation has become a central topic in this debate, with examinations of variable negation in both early and contemporary varieties of AAE. However, practically no analysis has been done on the system of variable negation in Gullah. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature by providing a quantitative analysis of variable negation in both copula and noncopula constructions in Gullah. While no definitive claims are made about the AAE-Gullah connection based on this analysis, certain patterns in the data, such as the alternation between ain't and didn't in past contexts, allow for the possibility of a historical connection between the two varieties.

VOWEL DURATION IN THREE AMERICAN ENGLISH DIALECTS

Jacewicz, E., Fox, R. A., Salmons, J. — 2007-12-27

The article reports on an acoustic investigation into the duration of five American English vowels, those found in hid, head, had, hayed, and hide. We compare duration across three major dialect areas: the Inland North, Midlands, and South. The results show systematic differences across all vowels studied, with the longest durations in the South and the shortest in the Inland North, with the Midlands in an intermediate but distinct position. More generally, the sample differs from and complements other work on this question by including detailed evidence from relatively small, cohesive areas, each within a different established dialect region.

LIKE AND LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY: DISENTANGLING FACT FROM FICTION

D'Arcy, A. — 2007-12-27

The selective attention paid to the language of adolescents has led to the enduring belief that young people are ruining the language and that, as a consequence, the language is degenerating. One feature of contemporary vernaculars that is often held up as exemplification of these ideological principles is like, the "much-deplored interjection... that peppers the talk of so many of the unpliant young these days" (Wilson 1987, 92). There is, in fact, an intricate lore surrounding like. It includes the idea that like is meaningless, that women say it more than men do, and that it is an Americanism, introduced by the Valley Girls. This article systematically addresses ideologically driven myths about the uses and users of like. Drawing on empirical data, it seeks to disentangle the facts from the fiction that has been cultivated in the general social consciousness. It is argued that most beliefs about like are either false (e.g., meaninglessness, Valley Girl creationism) or too broad to reflect any coherent reality (e.g., the role of women). However, in examining individual beliefs about like, it becomes clear that each contributes to the perpetuation of others in important and nontrivial ways.

AMONG THE NEW WORDS

Glowka, W., Swanson, S. W., Presley, S., Barnhart, D. K., Barrett, G. — 2007-12-27

QUOTATIONS AND CULTURE: The Yale Book of Quotations

Bailey, R. W. — 2007-12-27

AMERICAN DIALECTS RENDERED ACCESSIBLE: American Voices: How Dialects Differ from Coast to Coast

Mabbett, M. — 2007-12-27