Phillip M. Carter
Phillip M. Carter (PhD, Duke University; email: pmcarter @ FIU dot edu) is a sociolinguist and scholar of language and culture in immigrant and ethnolinguistic minority communities. He works interdisciplinarily, moving between quantitative and qualitative approaches to sociolinguistics, anthropology, critical discourse analysis, ethnography, social psychology, Latinx studies, and critical theory. His scholarship addresses a range of issues of contemporary concern, including the relationship between social formations and linguistic variation, immigration and bilingualism, Spanish language change in the U.S., maintenance and shift of Spanish in the U.S. and popular discourses about language.
Carter's current research projects are designed to understand the complexities of language dynamics in sociolinguistically-rich Miami. With a team of graduate student researchers, Carter has led the first large-scale, systematic study of English in South Florida. The ongoing research, known as The Miami English Project, seeks to document the unique variety of English spoken mostly by people of Hispanic / Latino origin in South Florida, and to understand the ways in which bilingualism and sustained contact with Spanish has influenced its development. Carter has also been involved in the study of language perceptions and attitudes in Miami and has conducted research on: 1) the implicit perceptions of Spanish and English (matched-guise), 2) the implicit perceptions of Spanish dialects (perceptual dialectology), and 3) implicit biases and automatic preference for Spanish and English in Miami (implicit-association test).
Carter also works as a language expert in the media and has appeared on CNN en español, Noticiero Univisión, Noticiero Telemundo, and Inside-Edition. He has also been interviewed for radio, print, and Internet stories about language, culture, and politics by The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC-Mundo, CNN, MSN-Latino, Fox Latino, Caracol Radio, Actualidad Radio, and many others.
He has authored and co-authored numerous chapters in books and papers in leading international journals, such as Journal of Sociolinguistics, English World Wide, Language in Society, American Speech, Spanish in Context, and Language and Linguistics Compass. Carter is also the co-author of Languages in the World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language_(Blackwell) with Julie Tetel Andresen (Duke University), available now on Amazon http://goo.gl/63kStv
Carter is currently Professor of Linguistics and English, and Director of the Center for the Humanities in an Urban Environment (humanities.fiu.edu) at Florida International University
Carter's current research projects are designed to understand the complexities of language dynamics in sociolinguistically-rich Miami. With a team of graduate student researchers, Carter has led the first large-scale, systematic study of English in South Florida. The ongoing research, known as The Miami English Project, seeks to document the unique variety of English spoken mostly by people of Hispanic / Latino origin in South Florida, and to understand the ways in which bilingualism and sustained contact with Spanish has influenced its development. Carter has also been involved in the study of language perceptions and attitudes in Miami and has conducted research on: 1) the implicit perceptions of Spanish and English (matched-guise), 2) the implicit perceptions of Spanish dialects (perceptual dialectology), and 3) implicit biases and automatic preference for Spanish and English in Miami (implicit-association test).
Carter also works as a language expert in the media and has appeared on CNN en español, Noticiero Univisión, Noticiero Telemundo, and Inside-Edition. He has also been interviewed for radio, print, and Internet stories about language, culture, and politics by The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC-Mundo, CNN, MSN-Latino, Fox Latino, Caracol Radio, Actualidad Radio, and many others.
He has authored and co-authored numerous chapters in books and papers in leading international journals, such as Journal of Sociolinguistics, English World Wide, Language in Society, American Speech, Spanish in Context, and Language and Linguistics Compass. Carter is also the co-author of Languages in the World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language_(Blackwell) with Julie Tetel Andresen (Duke University), available now on Amazon http://goo.gl/63kStv
Carter is currently Professor of Linguistics and English, and Director of the Center for the Humanities in an Urban Environment (humanities.fiu.edu) at Florida International University
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Books by Phillip M. Carter
Part I Linguistic Preliminaries: Approach and Theory
Introductory Note: On Language 1
1 All Languages Were Once Spanglish 3
The Mexican State of Coahuila y Tejas 3
What Is Language? 4
How Many Languages Are There? 6
How and When Did Language Get Started? 9
The Structure of Spanglish 13
Final Note: The Encounter of Spanish and English on Television in the
United States 17
Exercises 18
Discussion Questions 20
Notes 20
References 21
Further Reading 21
2 The Language Loop 22
The Australian Walkabout 22
Introducing the Language Loop 23
Language and Cognition 26
Language, the World, and Culture 28
Language and Linguistic Structure 31
Language, Discourse, and Ideology 32
On Major and Minor Languages 33
Final Note: The Contingencies of Time, Place, and Biology 35
Exercises 37
Discussion Questions 37
Notes 38
References 38
Further Reading 39
3 Linguistics and Classification 40
The Role of Sanskrit in Philology 40
Of Linguistics, Philology, Linguists, and Grammarians 42
Genetic Classification 46
Areal Classification 48
Typological Classification 51
Functional Classification 55
Final Note: The Role of Sanskrit in India Today 57
Exercises 58
Discussion Questions 59
Notes 60
References 60
Further Reading 61
Part II Effects of Power
Introductory Note: On Power 63
4 Effects of the Nation-State and the Possibility of Kurdistan 65
Lines Are Drawn in the Sand 65
The Status of Language on the Eve of the Nation-State 66
The Epistemology of the Nation-State 69
The French Revolution, German Romanticism, and Print Capitalism 71
Standardization and the Instilling of Vergonha 75
Language and Individual Identity 76
What’s Race Got to Do with It? 78
The Problematic Race–Nation–Language Triad 79
Final Note: The Kurds Today – Different Places, Different Outcomes 84
Language Profile: Kurdˆı / [Kurdish (Indo-European)] 85
Exercises 90
Discussion Questions 91
Notes 91
References 92
Further Reading 93
5 The Development of Writing in the Litmus of Religion and Politics 94
The Story of the Qur’¯an 94
Magico-Religious Interpretations of the Origins of Writing 95
Steps Toward the Representation of Speech 97
Types of Writing Systems 100
Religion and the Spread of Writing Systems 105
The Always Already Intervention of Politics 108
Orality and Literacy 111
Final Note: Azerbaijan Achieves Alphabetic Autonomy 114
Language Profile: [Arabic (Afro-Asiatic)] 114
Exercises 119
Discussion Questions 122
Notes 123
References 124
Further Reading 124
6 Language Planning and Language Law: Shaping the Right to Speak 125
Melting Snow and Protests at the Top of the World 125
Language Academies: The First Enforcers 127
Another Look at Prescriptivism 129
Making Language Official: A Tale of Three Patterns 131
Language Policy and Education: A Similar Tale of Three Patterns 139
Language Planners and Language Police 144
Final Note: Choosing Death or Life 146
Language Profile: [Tibetan (Sino-Tibetan)] 147
Exercises 152
Discussion Questions 153
Notes 154
References 155
Further Reading 156
Part III Effects of Movement
Introductory Note: On Movement 159
7 A Mobile History: Mapping Language Stocks and Families 161
Austronesian Origin Stories 161
Population Genetics and Links to Language 162
A Possible Polynesian Reconstruction 166
Linguistic Reconstructions Revisited 168
Proto-Indo-European and Its Homeland 173
Other Language Stocks and Their Homelands 176
Models of Spread 183
Lost Tracks 186
Final Note: On Density and Diversity 187
Language Profile: ‘Olelo Hawai‘i [Hawaiian (Austronesian)] 187
Exercises 194
Discussion Questions 195
Notes 195
References 196
Further Reading 197
8 Colonial Consequences: Language Stocks and Families Remapped 198
Eiffel Towers in Vietnam 198
Time-Depths and Terminology 199
The Middle Kingdom: Government-Encouraged Migrations 201
Linguistic Geography: Residual Zones and Spread Zones 203
Spreading Eurasian Empires: The Persians, Mongols, Slavs, and Romans 206
Religions as First Nations and Missionaries as Colonizers 213
English as an Emergent Language Family 215
Final Note: Creoles and the Case of Krey` ol Ayisyen 218
Language Profile: Ti´eng Việ t [Vietnamese (Austro-Asiatic)] 219
Exercises 223
Discussion Questions 226
Notes 226
References 228
Further Reading 229
9 Postcolonial Complications: Violent Outcomes 230
Tamil Tigers Create New Terrorist Techniques 230
What’s in a Name? Burma/Myanmar 232
Modern Sudan: The Clash of Two Colonialisms 235
The Caucasian Quasi-States: Two Types of Conflict 238
Poland’s Shifting Borders 242
Terrorism on the Iberian Peninsula: Basque and the ETA 244
Qu´eb´ecois Consciousness and the Turbulent 1960s 245
The Zapatista Uprising and Indigenous Languages in Chiapas 247
Final Note: The Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic 249
Language Profile: [Tamil (Dravidian)] 250
Exercises 254
Discussion Questions 255
Notes 256
References 257
Further Reading 257
Part IV Effects of Time
Introductory Note: On Time 259
10 The Remote Past: Language Becomes Embodied 261
Look There! 261
Seeking Linguistic Bedrock 262
The Primate Body and Human Adaptations to Language 263
Evolution in Four Dimensions 269
The Genetic Story 270
Grammatical Categories and Deep-Time Linguistics 275
Complexity and the Arrow of Time 279
Final Note: The Last Stone Age Man in North America 282
Language Pro!le: !X´o˜o [Taa (Khoisan)] 283
Exercises 288
Discussion Questions 288
Notes 289
References 290
Further Reading 291
11 The Recorded Past: ‘Catching Up to Conditions’ Made Visible 292
Mongolian Horses 292
Chapter 3: The Invariable Word in English 294
Chapter 4: The Shift to Head-Marking in French 295
Chapter 5: Writing and e-Arabic 299
Chapter 6: Mongolian Cases 301
Chapter 7: Reformulating Hawaiian Identity 304
Chapter 8: Varieties of Chinese – Yesterday and Today 306
Chapter 9: Juba Arabic Pidgin, Nubi, and Other African Creoles 310
Final Note: Language Change in Progress 313
Language Pro! le: монгол хзл [Mongolian (Mongolic)] 315
Exercises 320
Discussion Questions 321
Notes 322
References 323
Further Reading 323
12 The Imagined Future: Globalization and the Fate
of Endangered Languages 324
Gold in the Mayan Highlands 324
Beyond the Nation-State: The Globalized New Economy 325
Money Talks: What Language Does It Speak? 327
When the Language Loop Unravels 329
Language Hotspots 332
Rethinking Endangerment 334
Technology to the Rescue 336
Anishinaabemowin Revitalization in Wisconsin 339
What Is Choice? 341
Final Note: Our Advocacies 342
Language Profile: K’iche’ [Quich´e (Mayan)] 342
Exercises 347
Discussion Questions 349
Notes 350
References 35
Papers by Phillip M. Carter
2. Miami before and after the Cuban Revolution
3. English in Miami: Is it Southern?
4. Spanish in Miami: What is its "Place"?
5. Conclusions
Citation:
Langauge Variety in the New South: Contemporary Perspectives on Change and Variation (eds Jeffrey Reaser, Eric Wilbanks, Karissa Wojcik, Walt Wolfram). UNC Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. pos 306-320
on Spanish prosody. Findings show that while the oldest generations maintain separate systems of rhythm in Spanish and English, the youngest generation demonstrates prosodic convergence.
Miami, an area we contend is underrepresented in the sociolinguistics literature given the unique contact
situation that has arisen there during the past half century. We focus our attention on four main areas of
theoretical and empirical concern: (1) Spanish–English bilingualism, (2) issues related to the varieties of
Spanish spoken in Miami, (3) issues related to the varieties of English spoken in Miami, and (4) an overview
of languages other than English and Spanish spoken in the region, with particular attention to
Haitian Creole. We conclude with suggestions for future sociolinguistic work in all of these areas.
Este estudio examina las complejidades lingüísticas y sociales del uso de estructuras gramaticales del inglés afroamericano entre adolescentes latinos que asisten a una escuela multi-étnica en Carolina del Norte, un estado del sur de los Estados Unidos. Un análisis cuantitativo de cuatro rasgos gramaticales del inglés vernáculo afroamericano se combina con observaciones etnográficas para esclarecer la relación entre la identidad personal y los procesos sociales que llevan a la incorporación de estos cuatro rasgos en las variedades del inglés que hablan los latinos. El análisis estadístico (realizado en SPSS) reveló que estudiantes latinos de diversos grupos sociales manifiestan estos rasgos en su habla, pero la distribución de su uso difiere del patrón que se evidencia en el habla afroamericana. Se exploran tres dimensiones de la identidad en relación con estos usos diferenciales: (1) el género de los hablantes; (2) la afiliación con las pandillas; y (3) el concepto de raza dentro de la categoría étnica ‘latino.’ [Spanish]
Part I Linguistic Preliminaries: Approach and Theory
Introductory Note: On Language 1
1 All Languages Were Once Spanglish 3
The Mexican State of Coahuila y Tejas 3
What Is Language? 4
How Many Languages Are There? 6
How and When Did Language Get Started? 9
The Structure of Spanglish 13
Final Note: The Encounter of Spanish and English on Television in the
United States 17
Exercises 18
Discussion Questions 20
Notes 20
References 21
Further Reading 21
2 The Language Loop 22
The Australian Walkabout 22
Introducing the Language Loop 23
Language and Cognition 26
Language, the World, and Culture 28
Language and Linguistic Structure 31
Language, Discourse, and Ideology 32
On Major and Minor Languages 33
Final Note: The Contingencies of Time, Place, and Biology 35
Exercises 37
Discussion Questions 37
Notes 38
References 38
Further Reading 39
3 Linguistics and Classification 40
The Role of Sanskrit in Philology 40
Of Linguistics, Philology, Linguists, and Grammarians 42
Genetic Classification 46
Areal Classification 48
Typological Classification 51
Functional Classification 55
Final Note: The Role of Sanskrit in India Today 57
Exercises 58
Discussion Questions 59
Notes 60
References 60
Further Reading 61
Part II Effects of Power
Introductory Note: On Power 63
4 Effects of the Nation-State and the Possibility of Kurdistan 65
Lines Are Drawn in the Sand 65
The Status of Language on the Eve of the Nation-State 66
The Epistemology of the Nation-State 69
The French Revolution, German Romanticism, and Print Capitalism 71
Standardization and the Instilling of Vergonha 75
Language and Individual Identity 76
What’s Race Got to Do with It? 78
The Problematic Race–Nation–Language Triad 79
Final Note: The Kurds Today – Different Places, Different Outcomes 84
Language Profile: Kurdˆı / [Kurdish (Indo-European)] 85
Exercises 90
Discussion Questions 91
Notes 91
References 92
Further Reading 93
5 The Development of Writing in the Litmus of Religion and Politics 94
The Story of the Qur’¯an 94
Magico-Religious Interpretations of the Origins of Writing 95
Steps Toward the Representation of Speech 97
Types of Writing Systems 100
Religion and the Spread of Writing Systems 105
The Always Already Intervention of Politics 108
Orality and Literacy 111
Final Note: Azerbaijan Achieves Alphabetic Autonomy 114
Language Profile: [Arabic (Afro-Asiatic)] 114
Exercises 119
Discussion Questions 122
Notes 123
References 124
Further Reading 124
6 Language Planning and Language Law: Shaping the Right to Speak 125
Melting Snow and Protests at the Top of the World 125
Language Academies: The First Enforcers 127
Another Look at Prescriptivism 129
Making Language Official: A Tale of Three Patterns 131
Language Policy and Education: A Similar Tale of Three Patterns 139
Language Planners and Language Police 144
Final Note: Choosing Death or Life 146
Language Profile: [Tibetan (Sino-Tibetan)] 147
Exercises 152
Discussion Questions 153
Notes 154
References 155
Further Reading 156
Part III Effects of Movement
Introductory Note: On Movement 159
7 A Mobile History: Mapping Language Stocks and Families 161
Austronesian Origin Stories 161
Population Genetics and Links to Language 162
A Possible Polynesian Reconstruction 166
Linguistic Reconstructions Revisited 168
Proto-Indo-European and Its Homeland 173
Other Language Stocks and Their Homelands 176
Models of Spread 183
Lost Tracks 186
Final Note: On Density and Diversity 187
Language Profile: ‘Olelo Hawai‘i [Hawaiian (Austronesian)] 187
Exercises 194
Discussion Questions 195
Notes 195
References 196
Further Reading 197
8 Colonial Consequences: Language Stocks and Families Remapped 198
Eiffel Towers in Vietnam 198
Time-Depths and Terminology 199
The Middle Kingdom: Government-Encouraged Migrations 201
Linguistic Geography: Residual Zones and Spread Zones 203
Spreading Eurasian Empires: The Persians, Mongols, Slavs, and Romans 206
Religions as First Nations and Missionaries as Colonizers 213
English as an Emergent Language Family 215
Final Note: Creoles and the Case of Krey` ol Ayisyen 218
Language Profile: Ti´eng Việ t [Vietnamese (Austro-Asiatic)] 219
Exercises 223
Discussion Questions 226
Notes 226
References 228
Further Reading 229
9 Postcolonial Complications: Violent Outcomes 230
Tamil Tigers Create New Terrorist Techniques 230
What’s in a Name? Burma/Myanmar 232
Modern Sudan: The Clash of Two Colonialisms 235
The Caucasian Quasi-States: Two Types of Conflict 238
Poland’s Shifting Borders 242
Terrorism on the Iberian Peninsula: Basque and the ETA 244
Qu´eb´ecois Consciousness and the Turbulent 1960s 245
The Zapatista Uprising and Indigenous Languages in Chiapas 247
Final Note: The Parsley Massacre in the Dominican Republic 249
Language Profile: [Tamil (Dravidian)] 250
Exercises 254
Discussion Questions 255
Notes 256
References 257
Further Reading 257
Part IV Effects of Time
Introductory Note: On Time 259
10 The Remote Past: Language Becomes Embodied 261
Look There! 261
Seeking Linguistic Bedrock 262
The Primate Body and Human Adaptations to Language 263
Evolution in Four Dimensions 269
The Genetic Story 270
Grammatical Categories and Deep-Time Linguistics 275
Complexity and the Arrow of Time 279
Final Note: The Last Stone Age Man in North America 282
Language Pro!le: !X´o˜o [Taa (Khoisan)] 283
Exercises 288
Discussion Questions 288
Notes 289
References 290
Further Reading 291
11 The Recorded Past: ‘Catching Up to Conditions’ Made Visible 292
Mongolian Horses 292
Chapter 3: The Invariable Word in English 294
Chapter 4: The Shift to Head-Marking in French 295
Chapter 5: Writing and e-Arabic 299
Chapter 6: Mongolian Cases 301
Chapter 7: Reformulating Hawaiian Identity 304
Chapter 8: Varieties of Chinese – Yesterday and Today 306
Chapter 9: Juba Arabic Pidgin, Nubi, and Other African Creoles 310
Final Note: Language Change in Progress 313
Language Pro! le: монгол хзл [Mongolian (Mongolic)] 315
Exercises 320
Discussion Questions 321
Notes 322
References 323
Further Reading 323
12 The Imagined Future: Globalization and the Fate
of Endangered Languages 324
Gold in the Mayan Highlands 324
Beyond the Nation-State: The Globalized New Economy 325
Money Talks: What Language Does It Speak? 327
When the Language Loop Unravels 329
Language Hotspots 332
Rethinking Endangerment 334
Technology to the Rescue 336
Anishinaabemowin Revitalization in Wisconsin 339
What Is Choice? 341
Final Note: Our Advocacies 342
Language Profile: K’iche’ [Quich´e (Mayan)] 342
Exercises 347
Discussion Questions 349
Notes 350
References 35
2. Miami before and after the Cuban Revolution
3. English in Miami: Is it Southern?
4. Spanish in Miami: What is its "Place"?
5. Conclusions
Citation:
Langauge Variety in the New South: Contemporary Perspectives on Change and Variation (eds Jeffrey Reaser, Eric Wilbanks, Karissa Wojcik, Walt Wolfram). UNC Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. pos 306-320
on Spanish prosody. Findings show that while the oldest generations maintain separate systems of rhythm in Spanish and English, the youngest generation demonstrates prosodic convergence.
Miami, an area we contend is underrepresented in the sociolinguistics literature given the unique contact
situation that has arisen there during the past half century. We focus our attention on four main areas of
theoretical and empirical concern: (1) Spanish–English bilingualism, (2) issues related to the varieties of
Spanish spoken in Miami, (3) issues related to the varieties of English spoken in Miami, and (4) an overview
of languages other than English and Spanish spoken in the region, with particular attention to
Haitian Creole. We conclude with suggestions for future sociolinguistic work in all of these areas.
Este estudio examina las complejidades lingüísticas y sociales del uso de estructuras gramaticales del inglés afroamericano entre adolescentes latinos que asisten a una escuela multi-étnica en Carolina del Norte, un estado del sur de los Estados Unidos. Un análisis cuantitativo de cuatro rasgos gramaticales del inglés vernáculo afroamericano se combina con observaciones etnográficas para esclarecer la relación entre la identidad personal y los procesos sociales que llevan a la incorporación de estos cuatro rasgos en las variedades del inglés que hablan los latinos. El análisis estadístico (realizado en SPSS) reveló que estudiantes latinos de diversos grupos sociales manifiestan estos rasgos en su habla, pero la distribución de su uso difiere del patrón que se evidencia en el habla afroamericana. Se exploran tres dimensiones de la identidad en relación con estos usos diferenciales: (1) el género de los hablantes; (2) la afiliación con las pandillas; y (3) el concepto de raza dentro de la categoría étnica ‘latino.’ [Spanish]
analysis of non-linguists’ beliefs toward language in Florida, reports on the results of a study using Preston’s draw-a- map technique (1989), processed with ArcGIS (Montgomery & Stoeckle 2013).
Florida. A map which depicted a minimally-labeled outline of the State of Florida was given to 46 participants. A second map, which depicted the outline of Miami-Dade county, was also given; the present study focuses only on the State of Florida maps. When collected, the maps were scanned and geo-referenced into ArcGIS, a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based tool used to process perceptual dialectology data using techniques outlined by Montgomery and Stoeckle (2013).
Analysis of the map data shows that participants perceive the state of Florida as a multidimensional language continuum from the state line in the north to the southern tip of the peninsula.
These findings suggest that South Florida residents connect language varieties strongly with distinct geographic and perceived sociocultural spaces.
In this talk, we build on recent research (e.g. Alfaraz 2003, Carter & Lynch 2013) that seeks to map out the perceptual and attitudinal dimensions of the sociolinguistic landscape in Miami, which is complicated by at least three factors: 1) varying degrees of Spanish / English bilingualism among immigrant and locally-born Latinos, 2) cross-generational language shift from Spanish to English and the corresponding Spanish attrition that attends it, and 3) the sheer diversity of Spanish dialects currently present in South Florida. Miami is now the United State’s most Latino major city (79%), but also the city with the largest foreign-born population (60%), making it also one of the most linguistically diverse as well. The 2010 Census reported that the largest national-origin groups in Miami were Cubans, Colombians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, but Miami’s Spanish-speaking scene includes an increasing number of Spaniards, Argentines, Chileans, Dominicans, Mexicans, and others. In short, Miami is now home to every large national-origin group in the Spanish-speaking world. This socio-demographic situation raises important questions about the way the language varieties of these groups are being figured socially.
We present the findings of a social psychological experiment nested within a perceptual dialectology study conducted among adolescent Spanish / English bilinguals living in the greater Miami area. The instrument consisted of the voices of four male residents of Miami who were asked to read a short text in their home variety of Spanish. These varieties included Peninsular (Madrid), Highland Colombian, Cuban, and Mexican (D.F.). All men were college educated in their respective countries of origin, are professionally employed in Miami, and are between the ages of 25-40. 150 participants, all Miami Spanish speakers, were asked to listen to these recordings and to rate each on a 5-point Likert scale for a range of personal characteristics, including physical attractiveness, intelligence, work ethic, friendliness, and trustworthiness. For each voice heard, participants were given some background information about the speaker, including their country of origin. In certain cases, the country of origin label matched the country of origin of the speaker (label: Cuba, speaker: Cuba), but in other cases, the labels and voices were mismatched (label: Cuba, speaker: Mexico). This manipulation allows us to separate assessments of language varieties based in elements of the speech signal (i.e., dialect features) from strictly social information (i.e., national-origin labels).
Data were analyzed statistically using SPSS and results point to a number of complex interactions among dialect, dialect label, personal characteristic, and various attributes of the participants, such as country of origin. In this talk we will focus on two significant effects observed in the data: 1) a dialect effect, which accounts for significant differences in perceptual rankings across speakers, and 2) a labeling effect, which accounts for the role of incorrectly labeled dialects. The major finding for the first effect is that dialects differ significantly from one another according to the personal characteristic in question, while the major finding for the second effect is that a national-origin labels override dialect features in the speech signal, but only for certain dialect / label permutations.
Large-scale demographic change taking place in the U.S. South due to immigration from Latin America provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine the contours of ethnic identification as they assume new forms in local contexts. The current investigation is a case study focusing on the speech of one adolescent Guatemalan American female, “Montana,” who figures as a prominent member of a popular African American 7th-grade girls’ friendship group. As a core member of this group, the semiotics of Montana’s presentation of self – including hairstyle, dress, and makeup – generally coincide with those of the AA girls. Yet, despite the overwhelming similarity between Montana and the AA girls in her friendship group, a quantitative analysis of Montana’s language use shows highly nuanced patterns of both convergence and divergence with African American English at the grammatical, phonological and phonetic levels.
Employing methods similar to those in other sociolinguistic ethnographies, this study is based in participant observation taking place over the ’08-09 school year at “Bedlington Middle School,” located in an ethnically diverse region of central North Carolina. In order to demonstrate the complexities of Montana’s cross-ethnic stylization, variationist analyses were performed for seven features of AAE: 4 syntactic / morphosyntactic variables (past tense copula leveling, 3rd-person inflectional –s absence, copula deletion, invariant BE) and 3 phonological ones (syllable coda CCR, fricative stopping, velar nasal fronting). Additionally, phonetic analyses of well-attested segmental and suprasegmental features of Latino varieties were conducted. Segmental variables considered diagnostic of Latino English include: resistance to pre-nasal raising of [ash] (Thomas 2001); monophthongal and ‘un-fronted’ [o] and [u] (Penfield & Ornstein-Galicia 1985; Godinez & Maddieson 1985; Fought 1999); and raised, fronted glides for the diphthong [ai] (Wolfram et al. 2004). For each of these, measurements were taken for F1 and F2, for all speakers in the group for a minimum of 25 tokens using PRAAT (Boersma & Weenink 2011). Because prosodic rhythm has been identified as a salient aspect of some Latino varieties (Thomas & Carter 2006; Carter 2005; Fought 2003), “Montana’s” rhythmic production was analyzed alongside that of her African American peers using the Pairwise Variability Index (Lowe & Grabe 1995), a method that quantifies syllable- or stress-timing by comparing the duration of adjacent syllables while controlling for speaking rate.
Results show complex alignment with AAE and Latino English, with Montana demonstrating a clear split between morphosyntax and phonology, such that her frequency of use for AAE grammatical features is significantly less than that of her friends, while her use of AAE phonological features is more closely aligned with them. Phonetic analyses show that while Montana largely resists characteristic segmental features of Latino English, she nevertheless maintains more syllable-timed prosody than her African American friends. These results are considered in light of contemporary theory on subject formation.
Bucholtz, Mary. 1999. “You da Man:” Narrating the Racial Other in the Production of White Masculinity. Journal of Sociolinguistics 3: 443-60.
Carter, Phillip M. 2005. Quantifying rhythmic differences between Spanish,
English, and Hispanic English. Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to
Romance Linguistics: Selected Papers from the 34th Linguistic Symposium on
Romance Languages. 63-75.
Carter, Phillip. 2007. Phonetic Variation and Speaker Agency: Mexicana Identity in a North Carolina Middle School. In: Papers from NWAV 35, ed. Toni Cook and Keelan Evanini. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 13.2: 1-14.
Chun, Elaine W. 2001. The Construction of White, Black, and Korean American Identities through African American Vernacular English. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 11: 52-64.
Coupland, Nikolas. 2001. Dialect stylization in radio talk. Language in Society 30.3: 345-375.
Cutler, Cecilia A. 1999. Yorkville Crossing: White Teens, Hip Hop, and African American English. Journal of Sociolinguistics 3: 428-42.
Eckert, Penelope. 2000. Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Oxford: Blackwell.
Fought, Carmen. 1999. A majority sound change in a minority community: /u/-fronting in Chicano English. Journal of Sociolinguistics 3:5-23.
Fought, Carmen. 2003. Chicano English in Context. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Godinez, Manuel, Jr., and Ian Maddieson. 1985. Vowel differences between Chicano and General Californian English? International Journal of the Sociology of Language 53:43-58.
Mendoza-Denton, Norma. 2008. Homegirls: Language and Cultural Practice among Latina Youth Gangs. Malden: Blackwell.
Penfield, Joyce, and Jacob L. Ornstein-Galicia. 1985. Chicano English: An Ethnic Contact Dialect.
Rampton, Ben. 1995. Crossing: Language and ethnicity among adolescents. London: Longman.
Thomas, Erik R. 2001. An Acoustic Analysis of Vowel Variation in New World English. Publication of the American Dialect Society 85. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
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The current paper seeks to narrow this gap by considering several ways in which Latino adolescents use language to negotiate the complexities of “Mexican” identity and the oftentimes conflicting cultural meanings associated with Spanish. Employing field methods similar to those used in other school-based sociolinguistic ethnographies (Bucholtz 1999; Eckert 1989/2000; Heller 1999; Mendoza-Denton 2008), this study draws on conversational and ethnographic data collected during a semester-long investigation of “Bedlingtion Middle,” a predominately African American school in central North Carolina. Three sets of findings having to do with the relationship between language and identity will be presented. First, three distinctive identity formations are identified in light of the broader cultural context of the school. These include Mexican-identified, Mexican-gang-identified, and African American-oriented Latino students. Second, patterns of language use for these groups, which involve bilingual code-mixing, AAE, and a continuum of Spanish fluency, are presented in light of Bedlington’s overall sociolinguistic landscape and Latino social formations. Finally, structural forces shaping the conditions of possibility for Latino identity, which include unofficial prohibitions on Spanish and the role of ESL in de facto ethnic segregation, will be discussed.
The study of Spanish and English contact situations in the United States context is well documented in the dialectology and sociolinguistic literatures. Unsurprisingly, the majority of this work is conducted with methods developed within these disciplines, namely neighborhood sampling, the use of sociolinguistic interviews, and quantitative variationist analysis of a limited set of morphosyntactic variables. As a result, a great deal has been apprehended about varieties of Spanish in the United States. When taken together, however, the results of these studies begin to tell a singular, univalent narrative about the decline of Spanish in the US, which we argue may partially be an artifact of disciplinary methods rather than a reflection of the sociolinguistic situation itself.
Thus, we present an analysis of apparent-time change in the Spanish of a Mexican American community in Texas, tracing the trajectories of three morphosyntactic variables and one phonetic variable across three generations of speakers. The standard variationist analysis of quantitative variables using VARBRUL points to the type of generational Spanish attrition previously documented throughout the Southwest United States. However, when we consider the findings from three additional methodological approaches—language use/attitude surveys, historical archive research, and non-sociolinguistic interviewing—the community linguistic situation looks more complicated. Rather than generational Spanish attrition, we instead find a pattern of acquisition in the youngest generation. Qualitative archival work points to rapid attrition in the first two generations resulting from institutional factors that discouraged the use of Spanish from the late 19th Century well into the mid-20th Century. Similarly, quantitative survey results show an increase in positive attitudes toward Spanish in the youngest generation. Thus, our findings show that traditional variationist methods are but one part of the sociolinguistic puzzle. Cross-disciplinary methods play a vital role in capturing the nuances of community-based sociolinguistic research and dislodging sociolinguistic results from disciplinary a priori narratives.
As a result of the socio-demographic changes, Miami is now both the most Latino large city in the U.S. (79%) and the most foreign-born (65%). It is also most likely to be the most bilingual large city in North America and the most dialectally-diverse Spanish speaking city in the world. The richness of the sociolinguistic landscape raises important questions about the ways in which Miami’s linguistic diversity is mentally represented and enacted in social interaction. How are Spanish and English perceived in terms of sociocultural prestige? Which language is thought to be most valuable for success in Miami’s boom-and-bust economy? Do Latinos and non-Latinos differ in their perceptions of English and Spanish? Is Cuban Spanish perceived more favorably than other varieties, given the historical predominance and socioeconomic success of Cuban Americans? How do perceptions of Spanish dialects interact with non-linguistic social cues, such as information about family national-origin to shape perceptions of speakers?
In this talk, I present the findings of two ongoing perceptual studies conducted with over 500 residents of Miami-Dade County. The first is a matched guise experiment to test perceptions of English and Spanish across a range of sociocultural and socioeconomic factors. The second is a perceptual dialectology (Preston 1989; Niedzielski 1999) study nested within a social psychological experiment that tests the interaction of so-called “bottom-up” stimuli (three Spanish dialects – Cuban, Colombian, Peninsular) and “top-down” stimuli (national origin labels). Findings are considered in light of competing national narratives about Spanish in the United States: Spanish-as-threat (Chavez 2008) and Spanish-as-commodity (Dávila 2008).
As a result of the socio-demographic changes, Miami is now both the most Latino large city in the U.S. (79%) and the most foreign-born (65%). It is also most likely to be the most bilingual large city in North America and the most dialectally-diverse Spanish speaking city in the world. The richness of the sociolinguistic landscape raises important questions about the ways in which Miami’s linguistic diversity is imagined. How are Spanish and English perceived in terms of sociocultural prestige? Which language is thought to be most valuable for success in Miami’s boom-and-bust economy? Do Latinos and non-Latinos differ in their perceptions of English and Spanish? Is Cuban Spanish perceived more favorably than other varieties, given the historical predominance and socioeconomic success of Cuban Americans? How do perceptions of Spanish dialects interact with non-linguistic social cues, such as information about family national-origin?
In this talk, I present the findings of two ongoing perceptual studies conducted with over 500 residents of Miami-Dade County. The first is a matched guise experiment to test perceptions of English and Spanish across a range of sociocultural and socioeconomic factors. The second is a perceptual dialectology study nested within a social psychological experiment that tests the interaction of so-called “bottom-up” stimuli (three Spanish dialects – Cuban, Colombian, Peninsular) and “top-down” stimuli (national origin labels). Findings are considered in light of Miami’s changing socio-demographic and sociolinguistic scene.
The study was conducted with some 200 Latino and non-Latino residents of Miami; about half of the Latino participants reported Cuban heritage. Believing they were listening to eight different speakers, study participants were in fact only played speech samples of four speakers who each read a short text in two “guises” (Spanish and English). Participants were then asked to rate each voice heard on a 7-point Likert-scale for a range of personal characteristics, such as intelligence, ambition, work ethic, physical attractiveness, and so on. They then answered hypothetical questions about each “speaker’s” estimated income, profession, and family history. In addition, participants were asked a set direct questions to gauge their explicit attitudes toward Spanish and English, such as 'how do you feel when a salesperson address you first in Spanish?' Results of the perception experiment show that the English-speaking guises were favored for a majority of the personal characteristics studied, including 'intelligence' and 'physical attractiveness.' However, Latino and non-Latino participants tended to differ in their perceptions of the languages. For example, non-Latino participants favored the Spanish guises for "ambition," while the Latino participants favored the English guises. Moreover, the negative associations between the various traits and Spanish were for the most part driven by the Latino participants. Non-Latino participants, in contrast, were more varied in their assessments of the guises, sometimes preferring the English speakers, but other times preferring the Spanish speakers. Finally, no interaction was found for Latino participants between these perceptions and the answers to the direct questions, which constitute 'explicit' language attitudes. In other words, what one says about Spanish (e.g., 'I like hearing it' or 'I don't like hearing it') seems to have very little impact on the way actual speakers are perceived in context. These data are considered in light of competing national narratives about Spanish.
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Journalist: Andres Viglucci
Link:
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https://theconversation.com/spanish-use-is-steady-or-dropping-in-us-despite-high-latino-immigration-85357