Programme

Variation in Production and Perception: Intersection of Place and Socio-Ethnic Identity in The Afrikaans Vowel System

Andries W. Coetzee, University of Michigan

Variation in Afrikaans is structured both regionally and socially, with the major regional division being between Northeastern and Southwestern varieties, and the major socio-ethnic division between so-called “White” and “Coloured” Afrikaans. South African society still reflects the colonial and apartheid era vestiges of separation between ethnicities, a division that is reflected in the production and perception patterns in Afrikaans. In this presentation, I will explore how these differences are manifested in the Afrikaans vowel system, arguing for the following: (i) Although the vowel system is characterized by both socio-ethnic (Coloured vs. White) and regional (Northeastern vs. Southwestern) differences, the socio-ethnic differences are more robust than the regional differences. This reflects the ongoing impact of the apartheid era separation between the Coloured Afrikaans and White Afrikaans speech communities. (ii) Afrikaans listeners are conscious about at least some aspects of these differences, and adjust their perceptual strategies accordingly. I will argue that the social context of Afrikaans (separation between Coloured and White Afrikaans communities) remains the primary determinant of variation in the Afrikaans vowel system. Based on patterns observable in the data, I will also ask whether there are indications of possible post-apartheid convergence or divergence between Coloured and White Afrikaans.

Indexical decision: Exploring experimental approaches to social and lexical meaning

Nicolai Pharao, University of Copenhagen

Variation in speech production is perceived and given meaning by interlocutors. This is a central tenet of contemporary sociolinguistics where steadily increasing amounts of studies within the third wave examine socially meaningful variation in interaction. Within this approach, a strand of speaker perception studies using experimental approaches have been conducted to elucidate the relationship between different types of phonetic variation in running speech and how co-occurrence impacts social meaning. In this talk, I will attempt to provide a comprehensive picture of the processes of socially meaningful listening while also pointing to issues that require further work, and where experimental approaches may prove useful. One such area is the relationship between the processing of social and lexical meaning as listeners encounter variation in the phonetic signal. Drawing on data collected for a dialect of Danish where participants were given both a Personalised Implicit Association Task and a Lexical Decision task, I want to explore how sociophonetic and psycholinguistic methods may be combined to further understand the interrelationship of social and lexical meaning in speech. 

to be announced