Lynn Clark

Exploring the role of token frequency in phonological change: Evidence from TH-Fronting in east-central Scotland

Recent research on frequency effects in phonology suggests that word frequency is often a significant motivating factor in the spread of sound change through the lexicon. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding the exact nature of the relationship between phonological change and word frequency. This article investigates the role of lexical frequency in the spread of the well-known sound change TH-Fronting in an under-researched dialect area in east-central Scotland. Using data from a corpus of conversations compiled over a two-year period by the first author, we explore how the process of TH-Fronting is complicated in this community by the existence of certain local variants which are lexically restricted, and we question to what extent the frequency patterns that are apparent in these data are consistent with generalisations made in the wider literature on the relationship between lexical frequency and phonological change.

The acquisition of sociolinguistic evaluations among Polish-born adolescents learning English: evidence from perception

In order to achieve full native-like competence in a second language, speakers must also acquire sociolinguistic awareness in that language. This paper reports the results of a study investigating the acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness among immigrant Polish adolescents learning English in the UK. This paper asks whether Polish-born adolescents living in the UK can identify different varieties of British English as well as their native-speaker peer group can and whether they share similar evaluations of these varieties of English as their native-speaker peer group. The results of a variety recognition survey suggest that Polish-born adolescents now living in the UK are not yet able to identify different varieties of English. However, the vast majority of evaluations carried out by Polish- and UK-born adolescents were not statistically different. Furthermore, we see clear evidence of the acquisition of the muted evaluations typically associated with the two varieties of English that are most positively and negatively evaluated among the UK-born adolescents: received pronunciation and Birmingham English. We suggest that our study provides a snapshot of the initial stages of the acquisition of attitudes towards variation in a second language.

Testing claims of a usage-based phonology with Liverpool English t-to-r

The variable phenomenon in which /t/ can be realized as a tap or rhotic approximant in varieties of Northern British English (commonly referred to as t -to- r , Wells 1982: 370) has received some attention in English linguistics as debates have appeared over how best to model its phonology (e.g. Carr 1991; Docherty et al . 1997; Broadbent 2008). The occurrence of t -to- r seems to be constrained by the preceding and following phonological environment in a largely systematic way and so it is often accounted for within a rule-based model of grammar. Problematically, however, the rule does not apply blindly across the board to all words which fit the specified phonological pattern. Instead, t -to- r shows evidence of being lexically restricted, and this fact has recently encouraged a usage-based interpretation. Until now, there has been relatively little attempt to test the usage-based thesis directly with fully quantified data gleaned from naturally occurring conversation. This article investigates the extent to which certain usage-based predictions can account for variation attested in t -to- r in Liverpool English. Using oral history interviews with Liverpool English speakers born in the early 1900s, we examine the usage-based predictions first proposed by Broadbent (2008) that t -to- r is more likely in (a) high-frequency words and (b) high-frequency phrases. There is some support for the importance of lexical frequency as a motivating factor in the use of t- to- r , but our data do not fully support either of these claims wholesale. We suggest that t -to- r is not constrained simply by word frequency or phrase frequency alone, but by a combination of both. Finally, we explore the possibility of employing notions from Cognitive Grammar such as schema strength (e.g. Taylor 2002; Bybee 1995: 430) in our interpretation of these data.

Re-examining vocalic variation in Scottish English: A Cognitive Grammar approach

The existing literature on vocalic variation in Scottish English has shown that variation tends to pattern according to the age, gender, and socioeconomic class of the speaker. However, studies that employ these gross social categories are unable to explain the variation that exists within these categories. This article therefore presents an alternative approach. Based on data from 16 adolescents who form a community of practice in west Fife, Scotland, this article attempts to consider both social and cognitive motivations for linguistic variation. The theoretical framework of Cognitive Grammar is particularly well-suited to incorporating sociolinguistic variation, and this article illustrates how an exploration of frequency effects and schematic organization can lead to a more insightful understanding of the patterning of two vocalic variables in a community. This article also explores the implications of these findings for our understanding of the place of sociolinguistics in cognitive theories of linguistics.

Exploring Listeners' Real-Time Reactions to Regional Accents.

Evaluative reactions to language stimuli are presumably dynamic events, constantly changing through time as the signal unfolds, yet the tools we usually use to capture these reactions provide us with only a snapshot of this process by recording reactions at a single point in time. This paper outlines and evaluates a new methodology which employs audience response data collection techniques to capture listeners’ real-time reactions to variation in a speech signal. Using bespoke audience response software administered via the Web, we provide evidence that (1) listeners’ reactions to language data can be captured in real-time and (2) recent innovations in statistical analysis can isolate relevant points at which participants express positive or negative evaluations. In conclusion, we suggest that, given the right stimuli, real-time changes in evaluative reaction can be correlated with linguistic variation and so can be used as a way of uncovering the features that are salient in a given language variety.

Introduction: what are mergers and can they be reversed?

In his foundational book on accents of English, Wells (1982: 374–5) describes the apparent merger of the vowels in the nurse and north lexical sets in Tyneside English (‘Geordie’) as follows: ‘In the broadest Geordie the lexical set nurse is merged with north , /ɔː/: work [wɔːk], first [fɔːst], shirt [ʃɔːt] (= short ).’

Phonological Repetition Effects in Natural Conversation: Evidence from TH-fronting in Fife

This chapter investigates the phenomenon of TH-fronting, a change in progress which has rapidly spread across some of the major towns and cities of Britain in the last few decades. In Scotland, TH-fronting most commonly refers to the replacement of the voiceless dental fricative [θ] with the voiceless labiodental fricative [f] (see, for example, Stuart-Smith and Timmins 2006; Clark and Trousdale 2009). Several studies have investigated the social motivations for this phonological change in progress in Scotland (e.g. Robinson 2005; Clark 2009; Lawson, forthcoming), but much less consideration has been given to potential structural motivations. This chapter asks whether structural repetition, or priming, can help to explain variation in TH-fronting in a corpus of vernacular Scots speech.

Priming as a Motivating Factor in Sociophonetic Variation and Change

Understanding how and why pronunciations vary and change has been a dominant theme in variationist sociolinguistics (Labov, , ). Linguistic variability has also been an area of focus in psychology and cognitive science. Work from these two fields has shown that where variation exists in language, an alternative form, once used, persists in working memory and has a greater chance of reuse (Bock, ; Bock & Loebell, ; Branigan, Pickering, & Cleland, ). While there have been efforts to connect priming research with sociolinguistics at the level of grammar (Poplack, ; Travis, ), there has been less work which explicitly considers the potential role of priming as a motivating factor in accent variation and change. This paper explores the role of priming in a socially conditioned sound change. There are two main findings: (a) phonetic variants with the same voicing tend to cluster together in naturally occurring speech and (b) repetition of phonetic form interacts with widely attested sociolinguistic predictors of variation. I argue that there are benefits to both cognitive science and sociolinguistics from this synergy: Incorporating research from cognitive science into sociolinguistics provides us with a better understanding of the factors underpinning a sound change in progress; incorporating insights from sociolinguistics into cognitive science shows that priming does not always operate in the same way for all speakers.

Research Methods in Language Variation and Change: Using participant observation and social network analysis

Introduction The use of participant observation and social network analysis (SNA) were popularized in sociolinguistics by James and Lesley Milroy in the 1980s with their application of various measurements of network strength to data collected from three working class communities in Belfast. The technique was introduced as a method for studying sociolinguistic variation between individuals who were not discernible in terms of socio-economic class. Labov’s (2006 [1st edn. 1966]) model of language variation and change attempted to correlate linguistic variation with ‘global’ social categories such as social class, age and sex. Eckert (2005) describes studies which employ these methods as ‘first wave’. These studies typically show regular and replicable patterns of linguistic variation where often the use of vernacular variants strongly correlates with low socio-economic status. However, this approach is unable to explain the variation that continues to exist within larger social categories. Second wave studies (e.g. Rickford 1986; Milroy 1987a) employ ethnographic methods of data collection and SNA in an attempt to better understand the patterning of linguistic variation in a local context. Although highly innovative in the 1980s, the use of these techniques, especially SNA, has received heavy criticism (see e.g. Murray 1993). However, the techniques of SNA have advanced greatly in other disciplines and now incorporate more sophisticated mathematics (e.g. clique analyses based on graph theory) and more detailed methods of data collection. Dodsworth and Hume suggest that ‘linguists could construct more useful measures of network integration and investigate many more qualities (both quantitative and qualitative) of social network data’ (2005: 290). This chapter discusses one attempt to do just that.