Linguistic Analysis

It is fascinating how diverse linguistic experience can be even for someone who is only fluent in one language. My personal history, travel experience, education and family background have all shaped the way I use language. Before taking this class I didn't know how dynamic language usage is, and how so many different factors affect how people communicate with each other. I was also not as cognizant of all the biases surrounding different dialects. Unfortunately, dialects are often seen as a less desirable representation of a language. In a social setting, a person can appear to be “higher in station” in life if they speak a version of the language that is determined to be the appropriate dialect. This is because they are perceived as using the “proper” form of the language, often associated with wealth, education or a specific social class. The reverse is possible as well, when cultural influences in spoken language are stereotyped due to the biases associated with certain language varieties. The fact is that language variety is not a reflection of intelligence; it is a reflection of how linguistic properties have altered as a result of environmental, economical and political circumstances.

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My mother’s partner Doug was born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Doug has all the typical Standard Canadian English pronunciations, such as “out and about as [ut ʌn ʌbut] and “don't you know?” as [doʊntʃӕ noʊ]. Standard Canadian English is also known for the caught-cot merger, where [a] and [ↄ] are pronounced the same, which is present in Doug’s speech. And of course, Doug also uses the heavily stereotyped and multifunctional “Eh?” [eɪ].

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There are some interesting lexical variations in his Canadian English. Like most of the American North, Doug uses the word “pop” for a carbonated beverage. He also uses “gas bar” to refer to a gas station and “washroom” instead of bathroom. The word “coasting” is also used to reference what Americans commonly call sledding, such as in the case of “That hill looks gnarly for coasting.” As far as morphological variations, Doug uses the word “sneaked” as a past tense verbal inflection of “sneak”, as opposed to “snuck” which is more common in Standard American English. For example, Doug says [ðæt diɹ̩ snikd əp ↄn mi].

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Doug also has a couple interesting response phrases, such as using the word “giv’er” pronounced [gɪv’ɹ̩] as an affirmative response. In the case of “should I do this beer bong” he replies [gɪv’ɹ̩ bʌdi]. Doug also uses the affirmative response “Fill yer boots” [fɪl jɹ̩ buts] in place of “help yourself”.  There is at least one instance where Doug unconsciously changes the word order typology from SVO to SOV. For the phrase “where are you?” Doug says “Where ya to?” [ẉɛɹ̩ jӕ tu], showing the assimilation of the vowel [u] in /you/ to [ӕ] and omission of the verb ‘to be’ in favor of the preposition “to.” This feature is also common in the Northern and Midland varieties of American English. 

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Doug also has the tendency towards deletion in the phonological process. This can be seen with the skipping of  syllables in some pronunciations, such as [ʒӕɹd͡ʒ] for garage. This is particularly the case for his pronunciation of towns in Nova Scotia whose name ends in “ville.”  For example Wolfville is [wʊlvl̩], Centerville is [sɛnɹ̩fl̩], Kentville is [kɛnfl̩]. Interestingly enough, he does not do this when pronouncing American towns that end in ‘ville’ such as Marysville or Louisville, despite the native speakers in those towns also pronouncing ‘ville’ with a syllabic [l̩]. The final point, which Doug insists be included in this observation, is his correct pronunciation of Canada Geese. Americans frequently refer to Canada Geese as Canadian Geese, changing the noun ‘Canada’ into the adjective ‘Canadian’. 

My father in law, Mike, is a 57 year old man who has lived in the suburbs of Detroit his entire life. Mike has many pronunciations and colloquialisms that can be attributed to the Midland American English and Northern American English variations that are common in Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. For example, his pronunciation of “milk” is [mɛlk] and bag is said as [bɛg] axolotl as [æksʌlætl̩]. However, he does not have the caught/cot merger of [a] and [ↄ] common in midwestern speech. 

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His metaphors and idioms are interesting, though not specific to the northern United States region, such as his use of “it's raining cats and dogs” to mean it's raining a lot. To emphasize speed, he uses the phrase “like a lightning bolt,” for example, he said “He took off like a lightning bolt” in reference to a chipmunk running away very quickly. Mike also uses the phrase “long story short” as a hedge to adhere to the maxim of quantity for conversations. He does this to keep from imposing on another’s negative face with more details than they may be interested in. 

Many of Mike’s midwestern colloquialisms appear to be related to indirect speech acts, owing to manners expected for social interactions in the region. For example, when he accidentally bumps into anyone or is in the way, he says [up] instead of “excuse me.” Mike also says “as it were”, a subjunctive meant to introduce hypothetical information. It acts as a type of hedge meant to allow a description without fully committing to that description, satisfying the conversation maxim of quality. The most synonymous phrase would be “in a way” or “so to speak.” Another indirect speech act he has used is “if you’d like to tag along” as a face saving request to his granddaughter. When describing things, he will often follow up a declarative sentence with “yah know” as a way to yield the floor to his audience to establish agreement.

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Additionally, Mike also participates in the indirect communication ritual of the “midwestern goodbye.” This is a great example of both negative and positive face saving techniques used to uphold the maxims of conversation. The long goodbye contains much social context that is not always easily read by an outsider. Mike first uses a spatial deixis and declares “I should probably head out.” This indirect comment then leaves the host in a position to offer hospitality and insist on a longer stay without imposing on their negative face. After is when the actual goodbye process begins, which involves short conversations and personal goodbyes to each individual, often accompanied by handshakes or hugs. This long goodbye is ended when he reaches the door with shoes on and again says goodbye collectively to everyone present before finally leaving. This type of goodbye is shared among his family, as well as with his bowling friends and is very common in the midwest. 

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I have spent a lot of time in southern California and Nevada, so I'm fairly acquainted with the Chicano variety of English, but I never really considered that different Spanish speaking countries in Latin America would produce different varieties of Spanish-English accents. Prior to this course, I thought that Chicano English was just what a Spanish speaker sounded like when they spoke English. When someone learns a second language, the mother language inevitably transfers certain aspects and sounds into the speaker's second language speech. The way the mother tongue forms sounds can produce phonetic constraints that have an effect on our vocals. Our bodies are trained to create certain sounds when we are young and accents come from the phonological processes resulting from those constraints.

However, not all Spanish-speaking countries produce the same Spanish influenced English variety. This semester I was lucky enough to have a Spanish professor from Argentina, Professor Doncel. She has a very distinct way of talking that is specific to her region and I was instantly fascinated by the variety of English she speaks. It sounds very different from Chicano or any other English variety I have heard. 

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Prof. Doncel has a tendency to switch to English when she is trying to get her point across or make sure she is understood. She frequently uses both English and Spanish within her speech; beginning her first clause in English then switching to Spanish, such as “How do we use it? Por ejemplo…” or uses Spanish as the signal to return to the topic, such as “let's go back to the vocabulario. Para tu tarea necesitarás…”  She seems to do the reverse in her email communications, using Spanish in the first clause and following with English, such as “No te preocupes por documentación. Thanks for letting me know about Monday's absence.”

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The most distinct characteristics of her speech are her pronunciation of /ing/ as [Ɛn], dropping the [g] sound completely and modifying the vowel sound from [i] to [Ɛ]. This is common in Southern American English. Additionally, she has a tendency to voice interlabial fricatives that are uttered at the beginning of a word, so [θ] is pronounced as [ꝺ]. For example “I was thinking” is pronounced [aI] [wʌs] [ꝺinkƐn]. Prof. Doncel has a distinctly soft way of speaking even though she isn't soft-spoken. I think this can be attributed to her lenition of /c/, /s/, and /t/, causing some of her consonants to be uttered as [ʃ], particularly within consonant clusters. An example of this is the word “things” is pronounced [sinʃ] and construction is [kǝnsɺʌhʃn̩]. Most likely this lenition is due to the consonant cluster phonetic constraints within Spanish.

 

Her dialect shares many traits with Chicano English, including the pronunciation of [I] sounds as [i]. Another similarity is replacing [ӕ] with [Ɛ] as well as the tendency to pronounce /l/ and /ll/ with a [j]. This is seen in the word umbrella, which she says as [ʌbɺƐjʌ]. She also has the tendency to pronounce /o/ as [ʌ], such as [sʌw] for “so”, [nʌ ͪ] for “no”, and [nʌɾ] for ‘not’ as well as dropping /t/ or using a flap at the end of a word, such as [iʃ] for [its]. So the result is ‘it's not mandatory’ is [Iʃ] [nʌ] [mƐndƐɾɺi].

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The final significant trait of her speech is her use of “hmmm?” as a finishing turn signal to yield the floor to her students, allowing them the opening to ask questions. All of these factors contribute to Prof. Doncel’s unique variety of Argentinian Spanish influenced English. 

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During this course I learned the importance of learning languages early, particularly before the age of ten. There are many benefits to being bilingual, including improvements to cognitive and sensory processing (Marian). In my household we predominantly speak English because that is what my husband and I grew up speaking. We speak beginner level Spanish as well, to help me study Spanish and to teach my daughter a second language. I have also used a label maker to label things in our house in Spanish to help us learn vocabulary. This class really inspired me to create a home environment that supports bilingualism. 

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My daughter loves to sit cross-legged in front of me with my english-to-spanish vocab cards, showing me the spanish side and waiting for me to speak the word before translating to english. Recently I decided to switch to children's books in Spanish, so we can draw context from the pictures in order to understand the story, creating a more immersive experience. It’s important to me that my daughter is introduced to Spanish early so she has an advantage speaking it later in life, but I also want to teach her the importance of language variety. Language ultimately starts with children, and the best way to combat biases against language and dialects is to impress the importance of these varieties on the next generation. 

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References

Marian V, Shook A. The cognitive benefits of being bilingual. Cerebrum. 2012 Sep;2012:13. Epub 2012 Oct 31. PMID: 23447799; PMCID: PMC3583091.

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