Academic literature on the topic 'Regional phonological variation'

Contrary to previous “sociolinguistic folklore” that African American (Vernacular) English has a uniform structure across different parts of the US, recent studies have shown that it varies regionally, especially phonologically (Wolfram, 2007; Thomas & Wassink, 2010). However, there is little research on how Americans perceive AAE variation. Based on a map-labeling task, we investigate the folk perception of AAE variation by 55 participants, primarily African Americans in Columbus, Ohio. The analysis focuses on the dialect regions recognized by the participants, the linguistic features associated with different regions, and the attitudes associated with these beliefs. While the perceived regional boundaries mostly align with those identified by speakers in previous perceptual dialectology studies on American English, the participants consistently identified linguistic features that were specific to AAE. The participants recognized substantial phonological and lexical variation and identified “proper” dialects that do not necessarily sound “white”. This study demonstrates the value of considering African Americans’ perspectives in describing African American varieties of English.

Phonology has many variants of study which could be uses as linguistic research, as well as regional language that exist in Indonesia. So it raises to interest of writer to research one of regional language around the neighborhood. It is Pulau Rengas dialect which used by Pulau Rengas people that stay at Pulau Rengas village at Bangko Barat subdistrict, Merangin regency in Jambi province. 
 This is a linguistic research, using descriptive methode and library research to discuss about data in a way to processing and develop it using theories, such as phonology, morphology, word formation and language change theory. The research is about change sound and phonemes that occur at Pulau Rengas dialect compare by Indonesian language. First step of writer to research Pulau Rengas dialect is collect raw data that get from informants, then grouping it. In this research, writer discuss about changes, deletion and addition phonemes in vocabularies at initial, medial and final position. 
 According this research, writer get formulas how the sound is changing which become something unique in Pulau Rengas dialect. The uniqueness is different way of pronounciation from the Indonesian language in the same meaning

This article examines variation in American Sign Language (ASL) signs produced with a 1 handshape, which include signs of nearly all grammatical classes. Multivariate analysis of more than 5,000 tokens, extracted from informal conversations among more than 200 signers in seven different regions of the United States, indicates that variation in the form of these signs is conditioned by multiple linguistic and social factors. Significant factor groups include grammatical function and features of the preceding and following segments, as well as a range of social constraints including age, regional origin, and language background. Two findings are especially notable. First, although the results for preceding and following segment effects show evidence of progressive and regressive assimilation, grammatical function is the first-order linguistic constraint on the use of two of the three main variants. Second, signers in all regions of the United States show similar patterns of variation, thus providing evidence that ASL signers constitute a single “speech” community.

AbstractThis study reports on an experiment with twenty preschool children (3;1–4;7) in York, UK to investigate the earliest stage of children's socioperceptual development. The children discriminate between different groups of speakers based on their pronunciation of phonological regional variables diagnostic of the North and South of England. An improvement across the age range uncovers a developmental stage when children are able to interpret variation as socially meaningful. This is comparable with developments in sociolinguistic production during the preschool years, as previous studies have found. Three measures associated with linguistic input (children's age and gender, local versus nonlocal parents) have an impact on the children's performance. The results are interpreted through an exemplar theoretic account, highlighting the role of input and the combined storing and accessing of both linguistic and social information.

It is not difficult to find grammatical and lexical markers of Fiji English. But are there any phonological features that identify an individual as a speaker of this regional variety of English? For the vast majority of Fiji Islanders, English is their second (or third) language, and their accents clearly identify their linguistic background (e.g., indigenous Fijian or Indo-Fijian). However, one pronunciation feature seems to be shared by a vast majority of speakers of English in Fiji: the deletion of yod in non-primary stressed /Cju/ syllables. This article considers variation in yod pronunciation according to ethnicity, age, gender, and education and examines whether yod deletion is a phonological shibboleth of Fiji English or merely a feature of L2 English.

ABSTRACTThis article examines patterns of variation and change in the phonology of the regional French of Alsace, within an overarching framework of regional dialect levelling (Kerswill, 2003) in the French of France. Data are drawn from an original corpus gathered in Strasbourg and a small village in a rural area of the Bas-Rhin. We analyse two well-known regional features in spontaneous speech: (h), the variable realisation of initial [h], and (ʒ), the non-assimilatory devoicing of /ʒ/. We focus on the effect on the variation observed of the major extra-linguistic variables of age, gender and social class as well as urban or rural community. While the results for class and location follow expected patterns, whereby working-class and rural speakers show higher rates of traditional non-standard variants, the principal observation is the decline and, in the case of (ʒ), apparent loss of such features. We thus provide new evidence in support of supralocalization, not only in the urban context but also in the rural location. The results for gender are however less clear-cut: there is an interaction with age, class and location, and disruption of the usual pattern of female-led adoption of supralocal norms.

Historical linguistic sources of Kurdish date back just a few hundred years, thus it is not possiInvestigation of the regional variation in Kurmanji, especially its varieties spoken in Turkey, has been almost entirely neglected in the existing literature on Kurdish. In addition to earlier isolated examinations of Kurmanji dialects (cf. MacKenzie, 1961; Ritter, 1971, 1976; Blau, 1975; Jastrow, 1977), native-speaker researchers have recently provided a substantial amount of dialect material across the Kurmanji-speech zone. However, a methodologically-informed evaluation of these observations into a dialect classification is yet to be undertaken. This article aims at providing an initial classification of Kurmanji-internal variation into major regional dialects, based on lexical, phonological and morphosyntactic data collected from five localities in Southeastern Turkey.Cihêrengiya zimanî ya navxweyî di kurmanciyê de: tesnîfeke seretayî ya zaravayan Di nav xebatên li ser zimanê kurdî de, heta niha, vekolîna cudatiyên devok û zaravayên kurmanciyê, bi taybetî ewên di nav sînorên Tirkiyeyê de, hema bi temamî hatiye piştguhkirin. Ji bilî çend xebatên serbixwe yên pêştir li ser zaravayên kurmancî (wek MacKenzie 1961; Ritter, 1971 û 1976; Blau, 1976; Jastrow 1977), di nav van salên dawî de vekolerên kurdîziman qewareyeke mezin a dane û materyelên ji gelek zaravayên kurmanciyê berhev kirine. Lê belê, hêj ev çavdêriyên berbelav bi rengekî metodolojîk nehatine nirxandin ku tesnîfeke zaravayan jê bi dest bikeve. Ev meqale dil dike tesnîfeke seretayî ya zaravayên serekî yên kurmanciyê pêşkêş bike li ser bingehê daneyên peyvî û fonolojîk û rêzimanî yên li pênc deverên başûr-rojhilatê Tirkiyeyê berhevkirî.جیاوازی ناوچەیی لەناو کرمانجیدا: پۆلینبەندییەکی سەرەتایی زاراوەکان لەناو ئەو لێکۆڵینەوانەی کە سەبارەت بە جیاوازی ناوچەیی لە کرمانجیدا ئەنجام دراوە، بەتایبەت ئەوانەی کە لەمەڕ جۆربەجۆری ئەو [زاراوانەی] کە لە تورکیا قسەیان پێ دەکرێ، بەتەواوی لەمەڕ هەبوونی ئەدەبیاتێکی هەبوو بە زمانی کوردی چاوپۆشی دەکرێت. سەرەڕای چەند تاقیکردنەوەیەکی تاک و تەرا سەبارەت بە شێوەزارەکانی کرمانجی کە پێشتر بەئەنجام گەیشتوون (بەراوردی بکەن لەگەڵ مەک‌کینزی، ١٩٦١؛ ڕیتێر، ١٩٧١ و ١٩٧٦؛ بلەو، ١٩٧٦؛ یاسترۆ، ١٩٧٧) لەم ساڵانەی دواییدا توێژەرانی کورد ڕادەیەکی بەرچاو لە مادەی پێویست سەبارەت بە شێوەزارەکانی کرمانجییان لە دەڤەری کرمانجی ئاخێودا دەستەبەر کردووە. هەرچەند بەمەبەستی پۆلینبەندی زاراوەکان، هەتاکوو ئێستا، هەڵسەنگاندنێکی مێتۆدیک و پڕزانیاری لەسەر ئەم تێڕامانانە ئەنجام نەدراوە. ئامانجی ئەم وتارە بریتییە لەوەی کە پۆلینبەندییەکی سەرەتایی لەو جیاوازییە ناوخۆییەی کە لە زاراوە سەرەکییەکانی ناوچە کرمانجی ئاخێوەکاندا هەیە بەدەستەوە بدات و بۆ ئەم مەبەستە توێژینەوەکە لەسەر بنەمای ئەو داتا وشەیی، دەنگناسی و پێکهاتەی ڕێزمانییانە ئەنجام دەدرێت کە لە پێنج ناوچەی باشوری ڕۆژهەڵاتی تورکیا کۆ کراونەتەوە.

A uniform dialect of Canadian English (CE) encompasses a wider territory than that of any other regional variety (Priestley (1951); Woods (1979); cf. Scargill and Warkentyne (1972) for suggested subdivisions; cf. also Bernard (1969) versus Horvath (1985) for the scope of Australian English, another widespread variety). This is a result of converging influences in Canada of varieties of British English and of Northern and Midland American (von Baeyer 1977; Woods 1979). The components of CE are a distinctive body of lexical items marked foremost by compounding, with many borrowings from French and the native Indian languages (Avis 1973; Harris 1975; Gregg 1979), certain minor syntactic features along with the stereotypical use of ‘eh’ (Avis 1978; Bailey 1982; Chambers 1986), and a ‘General’ Canadian accent, recognized as urban and educated, spreading westward from Ontario to the Pacific, and affecting even eastern Maritime speech (Gregg 1984a; Avis 1986; cf. Kinloch 1983). Within this broad framework (Avis 1973, 1986; Gregg 1984a), however, certain social and regional distinctions appear when phonological variability is considered within the Labovian model of sociological co-variation (e.g. Labov 1966, 1972; Trudgill 1974; Milroy 1987). A comparison of phonological items from two recent and concurrent sociodialectal surveys, one in eastern Canada for Ottawa (Woods 1979) and the other on the Pacific Coast for Vancouver (Gregg 1984b), reveals certain points of phonetic divergence socially and regionally, together with differential rates of sound change (de Wolf 1988).

The question addressed in this article is whether it is possible to identify the time of the emergence of Frisian from the rest of West Germanic. Some of the criteria used in determining the chronology of Frisian language history are evaluated in terms of their temporal and spatial aspects. Phonological features that appear to differentiate languages from a present-day perspective disappear in a haze of synchronic and diatopic allophonic alternations. Reconstructions of the order of phonological developments often turn out to be best-fit interpretations of changes whose precise character, age and location are hard to determine. Besides, reconstructions of regional distribution are obscured by subsequent migrations and dialect shifts. Consequently, the splits in a language family tree are not bifurcations, but bushes of variation, where only hindsight allows an identification of the chronology and the decisive factors involved.

C'est dans l'interaction sociale, lieu d'occurrence premier du langage parlé (Local, 2003) que la parole est apprise, qu'elle est produite quotidiennement et qu'elle évolue. De nouvelles approches interdisciplinaires de l'étude de la parole, notamment la sociophonétique ou les récents développements de l'interaction conversationnelle, ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives dans la modélisation du traitement de la parole. Une question centrale à cette entreprise est la caractérisation des représentations mentales associées aux sons de la parole. Pour traiter cette question, nous utilisons l'approche exemplariste du traitement de la parole, qui propose que les sons de la parole sont mémorisés en incorporant des informations contextuelles détaillées. Nous présentons une nouvelle tâche interactionnelle, GMUP (pour "Group ’em up"), destinée à recueillir les réalisations de matériel phonologique finement contrôlé produit par deux interactants dans un cadre expérimental écologiquement valide. Les variables phonologiques décrivent les différences existant entre deux variétés de français parlé, le français standard et le français méridional. Des outils de reconnaissance automatique de la parole ont été développés pour évaluer la convergence phonétique, observable de l'évolution des représentations mentales, à deux niveaux de granularité : au niveau catégoriel de la variable phonologique et au niveau plus fin, subphonémique. L’emploi de mesures acoustiques détaillées à grande échelle permet de caractériser finement les différences inter-individuelles dans l'évolution de la forme des réalisations acoustiques associées aux représentations mentales en interaction conversationnelle<br>It is in social interaction, the primary site of the occurrence of spoken language (Local, 2003) that speech is learned, that it is produced everyday and that it evolves. New interdisciplinary approaches to the study of speech, particularly in sociophonetics and in recent developments in conversational interaction, open new avenues for modeling speech processing. A central question in this enterprise relates to the caracterization of the mental representations of speech sounds. We address this question using the exemplarist approach of speech processing, which proposes that speech sounds are stored in memory along with detailed contextual information. We present a new interactional task, GMUP (which stands for "Group ’em up"), designed to collect realizations of highly-controlled phonological material produced by two interactants in an ecologically valid experimental setting. The phonological variables describe differences between two varieties of spoken French, Northern French and Southern French. Automatic speech recognition tools were developed to evaluate phonetic convergence, an observable of the evolution of the mental representations of speech, at two levels of granularity: at the categorical level of the phonological variable and at a more fine-grained, subphonemic level. The use of large-scale detailed acoustic measures allows us to finely caracterize interindividual differences in the evolution of the acoustic realizations associated with the mental representations of speech in conversational interaction

This chapter describes sociolinguistic variation and change in sign languages, the natural language of deaf communities. Factors that drive sociolinguistic variation and change in both spoken- and signed-language communities are broadly similar. Social factors include, for example, a signer’s age group, region of origin, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Linguistic factors include phonological processes such as assimilation and reduction, and grammaticalization. Deaf signing communities are invariably minority communities embedded within larger majority communities whose languages are in another entirely different modality, and which may have written systems and extensive written literatures, unlike sign languages. The chapter exemplifies sociolinguistic variation in signed languages at the levels of phonology, lexicon, and grammar.