scholarly journals Variation and change in Toronto heritage Cantonese

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holman Tse
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Multiple Comparisons ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Internal Motivation ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Generation Female

Abstract This paper presents the first sociophonetic study of Cantonese vowels using sociolinguistic interview data from the Heritage Language Variation and Change in Toronto Corpus. It focuses on four allophones [iː], [ɪk/ɪŋ], [uː], and [ʊk/ʊŋ] of two contrastive vowels /iː/ and /uː/ across two generations of speakers. The F1 and F2 of 30 vowel tokens were analyzed for these four allophones from each of 20 speakers (N = 600 vowel tokens). Results show inter-generational maintenance of allophonic conditioning for /iː/ and /uː/ as well as an interaction between generation and sex such that second-generation female speakers have the most retracted variants of [ɪk/ɪŋ] and the most fronted variants of [iː]. This paper will discuss three possible explanations based on internal motivation, phonetic assimilation, and phonological influence. This will illustrate the importance of multiple comparisons (including inter-generational, cross-linguistic, and cross-community) in the relatively new field of heritage language phonology research.

scholarly journals Vowel shifts in Cantonese?

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83
Author(s):  
Holman Tse
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Hong Kong Cantonese

Abstract This paper addresses Labov’s principles of vowel chain shifting in Toronto and Hong Kong Cantonese based on sociolinguistic interviews from the Heritage Language Variation and Change in Toronto Project. The analysis is based on normalized F1 and F2 values of 33,179 vowel tokens from 11 monophthongs produced by 32 speakers (8 from Hong Kong, 24 from Toronto). In Toronto, results show retraction of [y] by generation but fronting of [i] by age. In Hong Kong, age is a significant predictor for the lowering of [ɪ], [ʊ], [ɔ], and for the fronting of [ɔ] and [i]. Overall, there is more vowel shifting in Hong Kong than in Toronto and the shifting is consistent with Labov’s Principles.

scholarly journals Heritage Tagalog Phonology and a Variationist Framework of Language Contact

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Pocholo Umbal ◽  
Naomi Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Mixed Effects Modeling ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Using Data

Heritage language variation and change provides an opportunity to examine the interplay of contact-induced and language-internal effects while extending the variationist framework beyond monolingual speakers and majority languages. Using data from the Heritage Language Variation and Change in Toronto Project, we illustrate this with a case study of Tagalog (r), which varies between tap, trill, and approximant variants. Nearly 3000 tokens of (r)-containing words were extracted from a corpus of spontaneous speech of 23 heritage speakers in Toronto and 9 homeland speakers in Manila. Intergenerational and intergroup analyses were conducted using mixed-effects modeling. Results showed greater use of the approximant among second-generation (GEN2) heritage speakers and those that self-report using English more. In addition, the distributional patterns remain robust and the approximant appears in more contexts. We argue that these patterns reflect an interplay between internal and external processes of change. We situate these findings within a framework for distinguishing sources of variation in heritage languages: internal change, identity marking and transfer from the dominant language.

scholarly journals Using human-centred design to develop an innovative female condom

2021 ◽  
pp. bmjinnov-2020-000534
Author(s):  
Patricia S Coffey ◽  
Maggie Kilbourne-Brook
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Female Condom ◽  
Barrier Method ◽  
Sexually Transmitted ◽  
Dual Protection ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Female Condoms ◽  
Generation Female ◽  
Human Centred Design

ObjectiveThe female condom is a non-hormonal barrier method that can protect from unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV. Female condoms are an important contribution to women’s reproductive health globally as they are the only woman-initiated method currently available that can provide dual protection. This article describes how human-centred design (HCD) was applied to the development of the Woman’s Condom—a second-generation female condom.MethodsA multidisciplinary team pioneered the application of HCD principles to develop a novel reproductive health product. The Woman’s Condom design incorporated feedback from both female and male users from multiple sites in the USA and Cuernavaca, Mexico; Durban, South Africa and Khon Kaen, Thailand to inform product development.ResultsWe developed and tested more than 50 design iterations reflecting various solutions to user-related concerns. The final locked design confirmed that the Woman’s Condom was easy to use, stable, comfortable and provided satisfactory sensation during sex for both partners. The ‘dissolving capsule’ to facilitate insertion and ‘soft cling’ design are key innovative features of the Woman’s Condom.ConclusionThe Woman’s Condom is a second-generation female (or internal) condom product that has been shown to be highly acceptable to users throughout the world. The Woman’s Condom’s special design features enable easy insertion, secure fit during use, good sensation and easy removal. Engaging users as codesigners through an HCD approach resulted in a female condom that meets the needs of women and men from diverse regions.

Hands off the metadata!: Comparing the use of explicit and background metadata in crowdsourced dialectology

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamsin Blaxter ◽  
David Britain
Keyword(s):  
Language Variation ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Background Information ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dialect Variation ◽  
Regional Dialect

Abstract In this article we assess the extent to which we can collect plausible data about regional dialect variation using crowdsourcing techniques – the BBC Future Survey – without explicitly gathering any user metadata, but relying instead on background information collected by Google Analytics. In order to do this, we compare this approach with another crowdsourced survey, operated from a smartphone application, which examines the same site – the British Isles – but which explicitly asks users to submit detailed social background information – the English Dialects App (EDA) (Leemann et al. 2018). The EDA has the disadvantage that there is a considerable user drop-off between completing the dialect survey and completing the social metadata questionnaire. The BBC Future Survey, however, only collects information on where users are physically located when they complete the survey – not where they are from or even where they live. Results show that the BBC Future Survey produces a plausible snapshot of regional dialect variability that can complement other more sophisticated (expensive, time-consuming) approaches to investigating language variation and change. We suggest the approach constitutes a digital-era rapid anonymous survey along the lines of Labov (1972), serving similar aims, with similar success, but on a much much larger scale.

scholarly journals Toxicity and bioaccumulation of 2,2', 4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE47) in a laboratory aquatic food chain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Rachel Awad
Keyword(s):  
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Dietary Exposure ◽  
Maternal Exposure ◽  
Water Exposure ◽  
Aquatic Food Chain ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
Aquatic Food

Rising levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been ovserved in the environment, humans, and animlas. Studies have shown that these compounds can elicit toxic effects in animals (e.g. neurotoxicity and thyroid toxicity). This research investigated the effects of BDE47 on the survival and reproduction of Daphnia magna over two generations. The impacts of water-borne exposure were compared to dietary exposure using the following treatments: dosed water (DW), dosed algae (DA) and dosed water and algae (DWA). In the first generation, significant impacts on reproduction were observed in daphnids in the DA and DWA treatments. In the second generation, no significant impacts on reproduction were observed indicating a recovery from maternal exposure. When second generation daphnids were exposed to BDE47, there was high mortality in the DWA treatment anad reduced reproduction in all dosed treatments. Dietary exposure to BDE47 had a more profound impact on daphnid reproduction than water exposure. In the second generation, dietary exposure affected both survival and reproduction and water exposure reduced reproduction, indicating that maternal exposure was a factor.

Classroom Based Dialect Awareness in Heritage Language Instruction: A Critical Applied Linguistic Approach

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
College Level ◽  
Heritage Learners ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
First Year College ◽  
Dialect Awareness ◽  
Linguistic Approach

The present paper argues that while the Spanish for Heritage Learners (SHL) profession has given ample attention to sociolinguistic issues such as linguistic standards and language variation in teacher training, it has not yet given sufficient attention to the promotion of dialect awareness among heritage learners themselves. After discussing the role of dialect in heritage language pedagogy, I review some of the ways in which dialect awareness has been fostered in existing SHL textbooks and ancillary materials. I argue that these approaches can be sharpened by attending to the social functions of language variation. I present a critical applied linguistic approach to dialect awareness that focuses on the indexical aspects of language variation in society. I discuss three strands of this approach to dialect awareness: functions of dialects, distributions of dialects, and evaluation of dialects. Finally, I suggest some activities to present these strands in a first year college level Spanish for heritage learners class.

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