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The California Vowel Shift in a Rural Inland Community
Robert J. Podesva, Jeremy Calder, Hsin-Chang Chen, Annette D’Onofrio, Isla Flores Bayer, Seung Kyung Kim, and Janneke Van Hofwegen
2 September 2013
Ideologies about California • Coastal Los Angeles
representative of entire state • Concerns with appearances and
driving routes • Distinctive way of speaking
• GOOSE fronting • Stuart, Julian
• GOAT fronting • roads, Bernardino, coma
Introduction Research Question • To what extent do speakers in Shasta County – an inland, non-urban
community in the North – participate in the California Vowel Shift (CVS)?
Claims • Older components of the shift are robustly attested in Shasta County
and may be markers of the variety. • Newer components are more strongly socially stratified and index a
distinctively urban Californian character type. • We propose an account for how the social meaning of the shift has
influenced the trajectory of change.
San Francisco Bay Area Podesva 2011 Hall-Lew 2009, 2011 Eckert 2008 Mendoza-Denton 2008 Moonwomon 1987 Luthin 1987 Los Angeles Metro Area/Santa Barbara Grama & Kennedy 2009 Fought 1999 Hagiwara 1997
Goals of Project • Address dearth of work on non-urban, non-coastal areas of state • Capture Californians’ experiences in their own words Data Collection • Different field site each year (3 so far) • ‘Scouting’ trip to make contacts • 10-15 students/faculty visit site (September) for about 2 weeks • ‘Snowball sampling,’ mixed demographics • Roughly 130 sociolinguistic interviews per site • Word lists, map tasks
2010: Merced
2012: Bakersfield
2011: Redding
2013: Analysis Retreat
Major Migration Patterns 1930s: ‘Dust Bowl’ migration 200,000 migrants from Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Arkansas
California Vowel Shift (CVS)
THOUGHT
GOAT
FOOT
GOOSE
DRESS
FACE
KIT
FLEECE
TRAP LOT
TOO BOOT POOL
TOE BOAT BOWL
BOUGHT
BOT BAN BAT
BEET
vowels under investigation here
30 Interviewees
15 Country-oriented 15 Town-oriented
8 Female 7 Male 7 Female 8 Male
19 - 69 20 - 86 18 - 73 18 - 63
Sample
Country Orientation
Not intentionally sampled this way; emerged as a salient distinction
Criteria
• Did they live outside of the town of Redding (rural area)?
• Do they express preferences for the rural lifestyle?
• Do they express discomfort/disdain with city living?
• Do they make their livelihood from agricultural/rural pursuits?
“SF ain’t Nor-Cal” “Them city laws”
North-South Border
Data Analysis • All interviews orthographically transcribed in Transcriber • Praat TextGrids created using University of Pennsylvania FAVE aligner • Hand-corrected (up to) 25 tokens for each vowel class per speaker • F1 and F2 measured for each token (N > 6,000) via Praat script • Bark transformed Hz values, normalized with Watt and Fabricius (2002) • Degree of shifting calculated as distance from each token to the mean
of a stable, non-shifting reference vowel
• Statistical analysis: mixed effects linear regression model on distance
• Fixed factors: age, sex, orientation • Random effects: speaker, word, preceding and following environments
Euclidean distance • BOOT - BEET (BOOT fronting) • TOO - BEET (TOO fronting) • BAN - BEET (BAN raising) • BOT - BOUGHT (BOT-BOUGHT mrgr) • BOUGHT - BOT (BOT-BOUGHT mrgr)
F2 distance • BOAT - BEET (BOAT fronting) • BAT - BEET (BAT backing) • TOOK - BEET (TOOK fronting) • BOOK - BEET (BOOK fronting) • TOE - BEET (TOE fronting)
BOT-BOUGHT Merger: effects of age
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
Amber_Reynolds
BEET
BOT
POOL
BOUGHT
Amber 19 F Town
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.81.
41.
21.
00.
8
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
John_Felch
BEET
BOT
POOL
BOUGHT
John 86 M Town
• BOT and BOUGHT are in the process of merging and are almost entirely merged.
BOT-BOUGHT Merger: effects of orientation
Both Townies and Countryfolk merge BOT and BOUGHT.
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
town
BEET
BOT
POOL
BOUGHT
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.81.
61.
41.
21.
00.
80.
6
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
country
BEET
BOT
POOL
BOUGHT
Town Country
BOOT Fronting: effects of age, orientation, and gender
TOO Fronting:
• younger front more
BOOT Fronting:
• younger front more • among Countryfolk, younger
males front more • no Townie gender difference
Town Country
M
F
M
F
BOOT Fronting
The fronting of the high back vowels, TOO and BOOT, is well established in Redding.
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
Cindy_Hansen
BOOTBEET
BOT
POOL
TOO
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
Nolan_Barnhart
BOOTBEET
BOT
POOLTOO
Nolan 20 M Country
Cindy 59 F Country
BOAT Fronting: effects of age and orientation
TOE Fronting: BOAT Fronting:
M
F
Country
Town
• younger front more • age effect stronger among males • countryfolk front more
• younger front more • countryfolk front more • age effect stronger
among countryfolk
BOAT Fronting
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.81.
41.
21.
00.
8
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
Francis_Albertson
BOAT
BEET
BOT
POOL
TOE
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
Nolan_Barnhart
BOAT
BEET
BOT
POOL
TOE
The fronting of the mid back vowels, TOE and BOAT, is not as advanced in Redding as that of the high back vowels.
Nolan 20 M Country
Francis 68 F Town
• BAN raising more prevalent among younger speakers
BAN Raising:
• BAT backing more prevalent among younger speakers
BAT Backing:
BAT-BAN Split: effects of age
BAT Backing: effects of orientation
• Age effect stronger among Country-oriented speakers
BAN Raising:
• Townies back more than Country-oriented speakers
BAT Backing:
Country
Town
BAT-BAN Split: Shasta County compared to urban areas
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
Ashley_Willits
BAN
BAT
BEET
BOT
POOL
18 F Town
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.81.
41.
21.
00.
8
Variant: ModWFF2/S(F2)
F1/S
(F1)
Meredith_Dunlap
BAN
BAT
BEET
BOT
POOL
37 F Town Rachel
(Eckert 2008)
“Probably the last, like, 5 years.”
The BAT-BAN split is attested in Redding, particularly among the youngest Townies…
…but it is not as advanced as it is in urban areas, like San Jose.
Summary of Findings BOT-BOUGHT merger § The merger has reached completion in Redding. § Countryfolk on the whole are slightly less merged. BOOT and TOO fronting § Younger people front BOOT and TOO more. § Both TOO and BOOT are fronting. BOAT and TOE fronting § Younger people front BOAT and TOE more. § Countryfolk front BOAT and TOE more than Townies. BAT-BAN split § Younger people raise BAN and back BAT more. § Younger Countryfolk raise BAN the most. § Townies back BAT more than Countryfolk.
Summary of Findings BOT-BOUGHT merger § The merger has reached completion in Redding. § Countryfolk on the whole are slightly less merged. BOOT and TOO fronting § Younger people front BOOT and TOO more. § Both TOO and BOOT are fronting. BOAT and TOE fronting § Younger people front BOAT and TOE more. § Countryfolk front BOAT and TOE more than Townies. BAT-BAN split § Younger people raise BAN and back BAT more. § Younger Countryfolk raise BAN the most. § Townies back BAT more than Countryfolk.
One way to look at dialects: in terms of geography
Southern
Northern Cities Californian
Canadian
Another way to look at dialects: in terms of people
Fractal Recursivity
Irvine and Gal (2000: 38) “Fractal recursivity involves the projection of an opposition, salient at some level of relationship, onto some other level. For example, intragroup oppositions might be projected outward onto intergroup relations, or vice versa.”
Intragender
Intergender male
more masculine
less masculine
female
high pitch low pitch Recursivity and Pitch
California
Urban Not Urban
Town Country
Not California
United States
California
Redding
Most speakers exhibit old components of CVS (BOT-BOUGHT merger; BOOT fronting).
New components of CVS (BAT-BAN split) are not as advanced in Redding as in more urban areas of CA.
Townies back BAT more than Countryfolk.
Less Shifted More Shifted Recursivity and California vowels
new shift
‘Californian’
BOT-BOUGHT merger, BOOT fronting
California Character Types Surfers, Valley Girls, Slackers
‘urban’ ‘fun’ ‘laid-back’
NTH ORDER
old shift
BAT backing
Social meanings of the California vowel shift
Southern Vowels in California Countryfolk front BOAT and TOE more than Townies. • The fronting of this vowel is a feature of both Californian and Southern
varieties of American English. Do Countryfolk lead in fronting because they exhibit features of the Southern vowel shift?
Younger Countryfolk lead in the raising of BAN. • Bigham (2005) argues that the raising of BAN is a reflex of the raising
of BEN (a component of the PIN-PEN merger). We have impressionistically observed the PIN-PEN merger in Redding, as well as the other three towns we have visited.
“I still have another ten years to go….”
Conclusion Main Points 1. Dialects index character types and character traits in addition to
region. 2. In the course of change, dialects are first associated with salient
character types, and only afterwards become seen as regional markers.
Next Steps 1. Other field sites 2. Other ethnic groups 3. Morphosyntactic features 4. Other phonetic features
• Southern vowel shift • Realization of /s/ • Creaky voice • Rhythm
Thank you!
C O M M E N T S? Q U E S T I O N S ?
Many thanks to Penny Eckert for funding this project, our interviewees for their time, and the rest of the Voices of California Shasta County Team: Eric Acton, Ellie Ash, Sam Bowman, Penny Eckert, Roey Gafter, Kate Geenberg, Jason Grafmiller, Ed King, John Rickford, Tyler Schnoebelen, and Jessica Spencer. Thanks also to Jane Stuart-Smith and audiences at Stanford Sociolunch, the University of Lethbridge, and the Sound Change Actuation Workshop at the University of Chicago for valuable feedback.
BOT-BOUGHT Merger: Model
Est. MCMC mean
HPD 95lowe
r
HPD 95uppe
r
pMCMC Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) 0.08 0.0824 0.0502 0.1126 0.0001 0
age 0.0006 0.0006 0.0001 0.0011 0.0172 *
sexmale 0.0025 0.0015 -0.018 0.021 0.881 n.s.
orientationtown -0.0246 -0.025 -0.0456 -0.0046 0.0174 *
BOOT Fronting: Models TOO Fronting: Est. MCMC
mean HPD95 lower
HPD95 upper pMCMC Pr
(>|t|)
(Intercept) 0.1617 0.1602 0.0947 0.2259 0.0001 0
age 0.002 0.002 0.0012 0.0029 0.0001 ***
orienttown 0.0191 0.0185 -0.0165 0.0545 0.3006 n.s.
sexM 0.0026 0.0021 -0.0311 0.0368 0.9014 n.s.
BOOT Fronting: Est. MCMC
mean HPD95 lower
HPD95 upper pMCMC Pr
(>|t|)
(Intercept) 0.3875 0.3845 0.3225 0.45 0.0001 0
I(age-mean(age)) 0.0081 0.0084 0.0062 0.0106 0.0001 0
sexF 0.0094 0.0109 -0.0572 0.077 0.7406 n.s.
orientationtown 0.0952 0.0957 0.036 0.1558 0.0018 *
I(age-mean(age)):sexF -0.0063 -0.0065 -0.0098 -0.0033 0.0002 **
I(age-mean(age)):orienttown -0.0053 -0.0053 -0.0083 -0.0021 0.0024 **
sexF:orienttown -0.0344 -0.0379 -0.119 0.0467 0.3664 n.s.
I(age-mean(age)):sexF:orienttown 0.0053 0.0053 0.0009 0.0094 0.0152 *
BOAT Fronting: Models TOE Fronting:
BOAT Fronting:
Est. MCMC mean
HPD95 lower
HPD95 upper
pMCMC Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) 0.4647 0.4654 0.429 0.5029 0.0001 0
sexmale 0.0174 0.0165 -0.0093 0.0437 0.2234 n.s.
I(age-mean(age)) 0.0035 0.0036 0.0025 0.0046 0.0001 ***
orienttown 0.0372 0.0376 0.0083 0.0637 0.0084 *
I(age-mean(age)):orienttown) -0.0019 -0.0019 -0.0033 -0.0005 0.0056 *
Est. MCMC mean
HPD95 lower
HPD95 upper
pMCMC Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) 0.4647 0.4687 0.411 0.5288 0.0001 0
age 0.0016 0.0015 0.0006 0.0025 0.0012 **
sexmale -0.0907 -0.0926 -0.1604 -0.022 0.0126 *
orienttown 0.0479 0.047 0.0174 0.0761 0.002 **
age:sexmale 0.0021 0.0021 0.0007 0.0034 0.0044 **
BAT-BAN Split: Models BAN Raising:
BAT Backing:
Est. MCMC mean
HPD95 lower
HPD95 upper
pMCMC Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) 0.3637 0.364 0.3008 0.4264 0.0001 0
I(age-mean(age)) 0.0045 0.0045 0.0027 0.0062 0.0001 ***
orienttown 0.0429 0.0415 -0.0046 0.0861 0.076 0.1388
sexmale 0.0457 0.0461 0.0024 0.0896 0.0414 +
I(age-mean(age)):orienttown -0.0028 -0.0028 -0.0051 -0.0006 0.015 +
Est. MCMC mean
HPD95 lower
HPD95 upper
pMCMC Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) 0.3223 0.3234 0.2879 0.3573 0.0001 0
age -0.0013 -0.0013 -0.0018 -0.0007 0.0001 ***
sexmale -0.0106 -0.0101 -0.0314 0.0113 0.348 0.4392
orientationtown 0.022 0.0222 -0.0002 0.0441 0.053 +