Like in English and como, como que, and like in Spanish in the speech of Southern Arizona bilinguals

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-207
Author(s):  
Joseph Kern
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Contact Situation

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This study analyzes the use of like in English and como, como que, and like in Spanish in the speech of bilinguals from Southern Arizona to assess the possible influence of like in English on its equivalents in Spanish in a language contact situation in which English is the majority language. Design/Methodology/Approach: Drawing on a discourse-pragmatic variationist approach, this study analyzes the use of like in English and its Spanish equivalents in recorded conversations between nine pairs of young Spanish-English bilingual friends from Southern Arizona. Data and Analysis: 3389 tokens of like in English and its Spanish equivalents from 18 hours of recorded conversations (9 hours in each language) were analyzed quantitatively. The analysis assesses the relative frequencies of these variants and their syntactic positioning as clause-external discourse markers and clause-internal discourse particles. The independent variables of the analysis were the language of the conversation and the sex and language dominance of the participants. Findings/Conclusions: Contact with English did not appear to radically influence the use of como, como que, and like in Spanish in the speech of these bilinguals. In the speech of the same bilinguals, like in English was much more frequent and occurred in many more syntactic positions than its Spanish equivalents. Originality: This is the first study of discourse-pragmatic features in contact to analyze the use of discourse markers and discourse particles in both the donor and the recipient language in the speech of the same bilinguals. Significance/Implications: These results contribute to our knowledge of the limited interaction of linguistic repertoires in the speech of bilinguals at the discourse level even in language contact situations with a majority language. They also underline the ability of bilinguals to both understand and reproduce the subtleties of the use of these features in the two languages they speak.

scholarly journals Acquiring allophonic structure and phonetic detail in a bilingual community: The production of laterals by Sylheti-English bilingual children

2020 ◽  
pp. 136700692094718
Author(s):  
Sam Kirkham ◽  
Kathleen M. McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Acoustic Measurements ◽  
Sound System ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Phonetic Detail

Aims and objectives: In this study, we consider the acquisition of allophonic contrast and phonetic detail in lateral consonants by second-generation Sylheti-English bilingual children in London, UK. Design/methodology/approach: Acoustic analysis was conducted on productions of /l/ by Sylheti bilingual children, Sylheti monolingual adults and English monolingual children. Data and analysis: Tokens of /l/ were elicited across initial, medial and final word positions from 14 bilingual Sylheti-English children, 10 monolingual English children, and 4 monolingual Sylheti adults. Acoustic measurements of F2–F1 were analysed using Bayesian linear mixed-effects modelling. Findings and conclusions: Our results show that bilingual children produce monolingual-like positional patterns in Sylheti, with very clear laterals in all positions. In contrast, bilinguals produce monolingual-like positional allophony in English, but they differ in phonetic detail, with bilinguals producing much clearer laterals than monolingual children across all positions. Originality: This study is the first to examine the development of allophonic contrast and phonetic detail in both of a bilingual’s languages in a contact scenario. This provides new insights into how contact varieties adopt aspects of structure and detail from each language. We also report valuable data from Sylheti-English bilinguals, who are an understudied community. Significance/limitations: Our study highlights the value of considering structural and detailed aspects of cross-linguistic sound systems, whereby one aspect may show monolingual-like patterns and another aspect may show distinctive patterns. We propose that the results in this study represent the development of a new sound system out of language contact, with second-generation bilingual children producing a hybrid system that combines influences from both heritage and host languages.

Home-comers as a source of language contact: Return Azorean emigrants’ English code-switching practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-154
Author(s):  
Emily Linares
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Performance Data ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
The Status ◽  
Level I ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
The Individual

Abstract The aim of this paper is two-fold: first, it seeks to highlight the potential of return emigrants — or home-comers — to introduce lexical change in their first language (L1). Second, it represents a contribution to Lusophone linguistics and Romance linguistics more broadly in examining speech performance data from home-comers of an under-researched Portuguese variety, a dialect of Azorean Portuguese. Drawing on Backus’s notion of entrenchment, I first present home-comers as a possible source of language change due to their contact with and potential use of L2 lexical items encountered abroad, and I highlight the Azores as an important yet overlooked site for language contact and change. In analyzing spontaneous oral narratives of emigration collected in the Azores, I demonstrate how home-comers’ ideological attitudes and linguistic resources serve as the ground on which linguistic changes occur. After examining the import of performance data on the individual level, I consider the status of a particular lexical category of code-switches — English discourse markers (i.e. ‘so’ and ‘you know’) — in Romance and their potential to become lexicalized and regarded as Portuguese in this particular contact situation.

scholarly journals Stance-taking via ya′ani / ya′anu: A discourse marker in a Hebrew-Arabic language contact situation

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Michal Marmorstein ◽  
Yael Maschler
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Functional Association ◽  
Colloquial Arabic ◽  
Contact Situation

ABSTRACTWe explore two stance-taking patterns in casual Hebrew conversation involving ya′ani/ya′anu, a discourse marker originating in colloquial Arabic. In the first, ya′ani/ya′anu, the same as Arabic yaʕni (lit. ‘it means’), frames reformulations of prior discourse serving to enhance interpersonal involvement and mutuality regarding the interlocutor's stance toward what has been said, thereby constructing intersubjectivity. The second pattern consists of a prosodic variant, ya′ani/ya′anu, functioning as a double-voiced ironic hedge. The latter is an innovation of Hebrew, brought about by its functional association with Hebrew ke′ilu ‘like’. The two uses of ya′ani/ya′anu elucidate two different processes that discourse markers in language contact situations may undergo: persistence of lexically motivated metalingual meaning, and extension of lexically unmotivated meaning. The considerably low frequency of ya′ani/ya′anu vis-à-vis ke′ilu is explained by its devaluated social meaning in current Israeli discourse, as an index of nonhegemonic religious and ethnic groups such as Arabs and Mizrahi Jews. (Discourse markers, language contact, stance-taking, (re)formulations, irony, metalanguaging, indexicality, intersubjectivity)*

Yiddish–Slavic language contact in multilingual songs: Describing deliberate code-switching

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110369
Author(s):  
Anna Verschik
Keyword(s):  
Structural Change ◽  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Folk Songs ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Parts Of Speech ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
Multilingual Communication ◽  
Research Questions

Aims and objectives/purposes/research questions: The aim of the article is to describe what language contact phenomena are present. The research questions are as follows: (a) what types of code-switching (CS) are at work; (b) is there any preference for any particular type of CS; and (c) what Jewish (seemingly) monolingual songs in Slavic languages can tell us about contact varieties of Slavic used by Jews. Design/methodology/approach: Collecting texts of Yiddish–Slavic and Jewish folk songs in Slavic languages; and qualitative analysis of CS and structural change. Data and analysis: Sixty-two Slavic–Yiddish texts were chosen from Jewish songs’ collections and CS instances analysed. Findings/conclusions: Both insertions and alternations are present but alternations are preferred. There is an asymmetry between Yiddish insertions into Slavic (nouns) and Slavic insertions into Yiddish (all parts of speech). Alternations may be just renditions of the same meaning in another language but most often they play the same role as in naturalistic speech described in the literature on multilingual communication (change of topic, addressee, etc.). Originality: Previous research on multilingual Jewish songs concentrated on the choice of languages and interpretation of the symbolic role that each language plays but not structural analysis of multilingual texts. Significance/implications: Now that some tendencies are identified, it remains to be seen whether naturalistic Yiddish–Slavic speech exhibits the same patterns of CS.

Key observations from a survey about Six Sigma implementation in Brazil

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abel Ribeiro de Jesus ◽  
Jiju Antony ◽  
Herman Augusto Lepikson ◽  
Carlos Arthur M. Teixeira Cavalcante
Keyword(s):  
Six Sigma ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Methodological Strategy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a survey on Six Sigma and key observations on which variables/management practices are the most important for a successful Six Sigma implementation, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the practices observed in companies in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – Five research questions were proposed, and an exploratory field study was carried out. A sample of 103 questionnaires was obtained. In total, 26 independent variables were analyzed, with a factor analysis reducing this number to 14, for which three main constructs were observed. Findings – Large manufacturing industries are implementing the Six Sigma program in Brazil. Three main constructs were observed to be critical for the success of Six Sigma. The strengths and weaknesses of the 14 independent variables studied within each construct were found. Practical implications – This paper has practical implications in that companies can use the conclusions of this study to improve their implementation of the Six Sigma program. Social implications – This research may initiate cooperation between the companies within the study and academia, which may lead to a better understanding of Six Sigma within these organizations. Originality/value – The originality of this study is that the survey was conducted with companies in Brazil, a country that suffers from a lack of information on Six Sigma programs. A robust methodological strategy was used that determined the three most important constructs for successful implementation of Six Sigma.

scholarly journals Variation in the use of discourse markers in a language contact situation

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Sankoff ◽  
Pierrette Thibault ◽  
Naomi Nagy ◽  
Hélène Blondeau ◽  
Marie-Odile Fonollosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Childhood Environment ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Early Childhood Environment ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
French Grammar ◽  
The One

ABSTRACTUse of discourse markers by 17 speakers of Anglophone Montreal French (AMF) showed great variation in individual repertoires and frequency of use. Only five subjects manifested rates of usage comparable to those of native speakers or to their own LI usage in English. In decreasing order of frequency, the speakers used tu sais ‘y'know’; là ‘there’ (the most frequent among L1 Montreal French speakers); bon ‘good’, alors ‘so’, comme ‘like’, and bien ‘well’; and the local discourse conjunction fait que ‘so’. The subjects occasionally made use of the English markers you know, so, like, and well. Québécois French markers with no English equivalent were used by the speakers who had been exposed to French in their early childhood environment. The one marker that showed influence from English was comme, apparently calqued on English like. Overall, frequent use of discourse markers correlated only with the speakers' knowledge of French grammar – evidence that a higher frequency of discourse marker use is the hallmark of the fluent speaker. As a feature that is not explicitly taught in school, mastery of the appropriate use of discourse markers is thus particularly revealing of the speakers' integration into the local speech community.

Modern Greek V V dvandva compounds: A linguistic innovation in the history of the Indo-European languages

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Ralli
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Compound Formation ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
European Languages ◽  
History Of ◽  
Internal Change ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Asian Languages

This paper deals with [V V] dvandva compounds, which are frequently used in East and Southeast Asian languages but also in Greek and its dialects: Greek is in this respect uncommon among Indo-European languages. It examines the appearance of this type of compounding in Greek by tracing its development in the late Medieval period, and detects a high rate of productivity in most Modern Greek dialects. It argues that the emergence of the [V V] dvandva pattern is not due to areal pressure or to a language-contact situation, but it is induced by a language internal change. It associates this change with the rise of productivity of compounding in general, and the expansion of verbal compounds in particular. It also suggests that the change contributes to making the compound-formation patterns of the language more uniform and systematic. Claims and proposals are illustrated with data from Standard Modern Greek and its dialects. It is shown that dialectal evidence is crucial for the study of the rise and productivity of [V V] dvandva compounds, since changes are not usually portrayed in the standard language.

Talking about MOTION in Middle English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Huber
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The Other ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Analysis Of Motion

Chapter 6 begins with an overview of the language contact situation with (Anglo-) French and Latin, resulting in large-scale borrowing in the Middle English period. The analysis of 465 Middle English verbs used to express intransitive motion shows that there are far more French/Latin loans in the path verbs than in the other motion verbs. The range of (new) manner of motion verbs testifies to the manner salience of Middle English: caused motion verbs are also found in intransitive motion meanings, as are French loans which do not have motion uses in continental French. Their motion uses in Anglo-Norman are discussed in terms of contact influence of Middle English. The analysis of motion expression in different texts yields a picture similar to the situation in Old English, with path typically expressed in satellites, and neutral as well as manner of motion verbs being most frequent, depending on text type.

The speakers of minority languages are more multilingual

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110231
Author(s):  
Nina Dobrushina ◽  
George Moroz
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
First Language ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Community ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Research Questions

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The paper tests the hypothesis that the larger the population of language speakers, the smaller the number of second languages mastered by these speakers. Design/methodology/approach: We match the size of the population of 29 Dagestanian languages and the number of second languages spoken by the speakers of these languages from 54 villages, and run a Poisson mixed effects regression model that predicts the average number of second languages spoken by speakers from first-language communities of different size. Data and analysis: Data for this study comes from two sources. The information on the population of Dagestanian languages is based on the digitalized census of 1926. The information on the number of second languages in which the residents of Dagestan are proficient is taken from the database on multilingualism in Dagestan (4032 people). Findings/conclusions: The study supports the hypothesis that the size of language population is negatively correlated with the multilingualism of the language community. Originality: The paper is the first to test the correlation between the size of language population and the level of multilingualism of its speakers using statistical methods and a large body of empirical data. Significance and implications: Population size is a factor that could have influenced patterns of language evolution. The population is interrelated with other factors, one of which is long-standing multilingualism. The methodological lesson of this research is that there is a difference in the level of multilingualism within a range of populations where the largest was about 120,000 people. Limitations: The data is limited to one multilingual region. The revealed correlation probably does not hold for areas where language communities do not interact with their neighbors and even speakers of minority languages can be monolingual, or for the territories where many people migrated and the area where a language is spoken was discontinuous.

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