Place names as a site of indexical meaning: The perception of place names in Austin, TX
This study analyzes the perception of monolingual and bilingual place names in Austin, TX. A matched-guise experiment was created by digitally manipulating speech from a map-task with 4 monolingual and 4 Spanish-English bilingual Austinites, varying only in place name pronunciations. Monolingual names (Manor, Burnet) varied between ‘local’ ([ˈme.nɝɹ], [ˈbɚɹ.nɪt]) and ‘non-local’ ([ˈmæ.nɝɹ], [bɚɹ.ˈnɛt]). Spanish names (Guadalupe, Manchaca) varied between English and Spanish phonology. 127 listeners in Austin evaluated the 16 guises and distractors. Mixed effects linear regressions found that for monolingual names, speakers with ‘local’ variants were perceived as more Austinite. However, for bilingual names, non-Hispanic listeners perceived speakers with Spanish phonology as less local; Hispanic listeners perceived speakers with Spanish phonology as more respectful. The implications are (i): differences in perceptions of Spanish versus English names reflect monoglot language ideologies of who is an authentic local; (ii) place name variation is a rich site of socio-indexical information.
Articulation of /s/ has been linked with gender identity, such that women exhibit fronter /s/ than men. While previous research has focused on White speakers, it remains unclear if the same gendered patterns exist among African-American (AA) speakers. Examining gender-balanced samples of non-urban AA Bakersfieldians and urban AA Rochesterians, we examine the social effects on /s/ frontness. Statistical analyses reveal no gender difference in /s/ articulation among Bakersfield AAs, with men being just as fronted as women. However, a gender pattern exists among Rochester AAs, with women being significantly more fronted than men. Given the history of racial tensions in Bakersfield, it is possible that Bakersfield AA men avoid using a feature ideologically linked to countryness among White speakers in the region (Podesva & Van Hofwegen 2016). But in Rochester, a gender difference is likely driven by salient urban personae like the Hood Kid and the Mobile Black Professional.
Placing race: Constructing African American identity via vocalic variation
This paper addresses critiques of homogenization in the study of African American Language by assessing African Americans’ use of vocalic variables to construct different identities. Drawing on sociolinguistic interviews, I examine regionalized, racialized, and classed vocalic patterns among three personae: The Mobile Black Professional (MBP), The Hood Kid (HK), and The Biker. The comparison of vocalic variables across these black personae reveals complex ways in which race articulates with regional identity. The constructions of HKs rely on a regional variable that is racialized as black, while the constructions of The Biker and MBPs’ rely on the uptake of the linguistic capital racialized as white in the linguistic markets of their respective generations. I argue that vocalic variation is mediated by personae, which draw on different constellations of semiotic resources for different social ends.
Breksit or Bregzit: When political ideology drives language ideology
'Brexit' was coined for the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership in the EU. We analyze variation in the pronunciation of 'Brexit' ([bɹɛksɪt] vs. [bɹɛgzɪt]) to explore how that contrast has been ideologically linked to political meanings. We find that neither a production study nor a Matched Guise Study support the same indexical relations that are prevalent in Twitter metacommentary. Variation in 'Brexit' does not appear to correlate with any social factors in production and only in limited ways in perception. The social meanings indexed on Twitter are highly varied, and any ‘kernel of similarity’ (Podesva 2008) seems to be an indexing of the (political) Other, rather than a specific political stance. In contrast to variables that become politicised via non-political indexicalities (Hall-Lew et al., 2010; 2012; 2017), variation in 'Brexit' appears to be ideologised from the indexical potential of phonetic markedness in combination with a divisive political issue.
