Nicolai Pharao

Indexical meanings of [s+] among Copenhagen youth: Social perception of a phonetic variant in different prosodic contexts

It is well documented that the same sociolinguistic feature can be used as a sociolinguistic resource with different indexical potentials in different linguistic as well as social contexts. Often, however, indexical meanings of a specific feature are related to or derived from one another. In this article we present the results of a perceptual study of indexical meanings of alveolar versus fronted (s)—[s] versus [sþ]—in different registers. The data consist of responses to male speakers’ use of [s] and [sþ] respectively, in two different registers that may be labelled “modern Copenhagen speech” and “street language.” Results show that the [sþ] indexes femininity and gayness when it occurs in “modern Copenhagen,” whereas the (s)-variation has a different and less significant effect when occurring in “street language.” We discuss the implications for theories of indexical fields and the relation between features and clusters of features in speakers’ perceptions. (Indexical meaning, phonetic variation, fronted /s/, perception of sexual orientation and ethnicity, matched guise technique).

The long and short of (æ)-variation in Danish – a panel study of short (æ)-variants in Danish in real time

After a brief introduction on studies of real time change in general, we focus on the well-known variable of short (æ) in Danish. We study this variation in the speech of 43 speakers from Næstved and Copenhagen respectively. The 43 informants were recorded twice with an interval of around 20 years. They were at the time of the first recording between 25 and 40 years of age and may thus be classified as adults past the critical age for language change. The study shows that speakers do indeed change during their life span but that the changes are not predictable in the sense that some speakers show an increased use of the innovative variant, while others show a decrease. The consequences for the apparent time hypothesis as well as for the Labovian model of linguistic change are discussed.

Sideways: five methodological studies of sociolinguistic interviews

Abstract Five interlocking case studies of variation in and between situations are reported. In all cases a sociolinguistic interview is contrasted with another speech event. The material is from the LANCHART panel study of variation in the Danish speech community in real time. Contrasting speech events are characterized using a genre classification and focusing in each case on the genre dispersion as a measure of how varied the speech event was. Two different phonetic variables are studied, the short (æ) and the (ɛŋ) variable. Four of the five case studies involve adults who also participated in interviews approximately 20 years later. For those informants, a comparison is made with the new recordings in order to evaluate claims of change in real time. Both auditory results and acoustic measurements are documented. The fifth case study concerns youngsters recorded in the new round of recordings (the S2), hence there is no newer recording to compare with. In all cases the older (æ) variable is sensitive to a change in situation whereas the newer (ɛŋ) variable only varies with situation for the young informants. In the final section, we discuss possible consequences for comparability and for the methodology of empirical (socio)linguistics.

Introduction: Tracing the origin of /s/ variation

Abstract This paper provides an introduction to the papers in this special issue on the sociophonetics of /s/. We begin by reviewing some of the principal findings on variation in the production and perception of /s/, summarizing studies in sociolinguistics, experimental phonetics, and laboratory phonology. We go on to identify similarities in the meanings associated with /s/ variation cross-linguistically, and briefly describe how theories of sound symbolism may help us to account for these patterns. We conclude this introductory article with a summary of the contributions to the special issue and a discussion of how together these articles help us to better understand that origin and trajectory of socially meaningful sociophonetic variation.

On the influence of coronal sibilants and stops on the perception of social meanings in Copenhagen Danish

Abstract Previous studies have shown that the same sociolinguistic feature can be used as a sociolinguistic resource with different indexical potentials in different linguistic as well as social contexts. In this paper we present the results of a perceptual study of indexical meanings of fronted and palatalized variants of /t/ in combination with fronted /s/ in different registers of Copenhagen Danish. The data consist of responses to male speakers’ use of the two variants of /t/ in two different registers that we label “modern Copenhagen speech” and “street language.” Results show that the palatalized /t/ affects the indexicality of fronted /s/ with respect to perceived femininity and gayness when it occurs in “modern Copenhagen,” where fronted /s/ has previously been shown to index these traits. However, the variation has a different and less significant effect when occurring in “street language.” Furthermore, the effect is only found in “modern Copenhagen” if the speaker has not previously been heard to produce a fronted /s/. We discuss the implications for theories of the relation between features and clusters of features in listeners’ perceptions.

Hvor svært er det lige? En undersøgelse af genkendelsen af ord med reducerede segmenter

Reduceret udtale af ord er meget udbredt i daglig tale, hvilket betyder at lyttere konstant moder ordformer der afviger fra den distinkte, kanoniske udtale. Denne undersogelse ser pa om der er forskel pa hvor hurtigt og korrekt lyttere genkender reducerede ordformer sammenlignet med distinkte ordformer. Resultaterne af et auditivt lexical decision-forsog viser at segmentel reduktion haemmer forstaelsen bade nar der ses pa svartider og svarkorrekthed. De viser desuden at lyttere oftere identificerer hojfrekvente ord korrekt, uanset om de er reducerede eller distinkte. Resultaterne diskuteres i forhold til modeller for det mentale leksikon og de faktorer der pavirker tendensen til reduktion i lobende tale. Undersogelsen er den forste af sin art for dansk, og den begraenser sig til at undersoge ord praesenteret i isolation. Den bor derfor folges op af flere studier der ogsa inddrager fonetisk, syntaktisk og semantisk kontekst.