The acquisition of variation: Arab Migrants’ acquisition of (ING) and Coronal Stop Deletion in Wellington by Rania Ali Zarour A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies Victoria University of Wellington (2018) Zarour 2018 Copyright statement The author of this thesis (including any appendices and schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) she has given Victoria University of Wellington certain rights to use such Copyright, including administrative purposes. This page must form part of any such copies made. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see https://www.victoria.ac.nz/fgr/current-phd/ip). I Zarour 2018 Dedication To my wonderful parents, loving Husband, amazing children and coffee table. II Zarour 2018 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to offer my greatest gratitude for my father who has always been there for me, believed in me, and who has always been willing to encourage my academic endeavours. I would also like to acknowledge the contribution made by various people who have been involved in this project over the last few years. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors: Miriam Meyerhoff and Janet Holmes, whose knowledge and advice on all matters has been invaluable. I would also like to acknowledge the help provided by Paul Warren, who gave me access to the New Zealand Spoken English Database, Daniel Ezra Johnson, who has been kind enough to help me with statistics-related matters as well as invaluable knowledge and insights for the use of R and Rbrul, and Lisa Woods who has also helped me with my statistical endeavours. Secondly, I would also like to thank the administrative staff at the school of Linguistics, and Applied Language studies especially Janet Attrill for all the help and advice she has provided over the years, always having a spare key for me to get to the office. Finally, I would like to offer my gratitude to all the participants who took part in the study, who, without exception, were generous with their time, hospitality, and willingness to help. Thank you. III Zarour 2018 Abbreviations and Acronyms 1. CSD: Coronal stop deletion 2. (ING): Coronal and velar alterations 3. NS: Native speakers 4. NNS: Non-native speakers 5. NZE: New Zealand English 6. NZSED: New Zealand Spoken English Database 7. AM: Arab migrants 8. L1: First language 9. L2: Second language IV Zarour 2018 Abstract This dissertation investigates the patterns of acquisition found among Arab migrants to Wellington for two stable variables: coronal stop deletion (CSD) and (ING). CSD is the alternation between retained and deleted final consonant clusters, i.e. /wɛst/ vs. /wɛs/ and (ING) is the realisation of the final nasal in unstressed word-final syllables i.e. /dɹaivɪŋ/ vs. /dɹaivɪn/. CSD is a phonological variable that is mainly conditioned by articulatory constraints while (ING) is a morpho-phonemic variable with syntactic conditioning as well. An emerging trend in variationist sociolinguistics is to study variation in non-native varieties by analysing how far non-native speaker (NNS) patterns of variation replicate constraints on variation found among native speakers (NS) of a target variety. This study applies variationist methods to investigate the following questions: 1. What are the linguistic and the non-linguistic constraints that condition variation in the production of (ING) and CSD among NS in the New Zealand Spoken English Database (NZSED) in Wellington? 2. What are the linguistic and the non-linguistic constraints that condition variation in the production of (ING) and CSD among Arab migrants in Wellington (AM)? 3. Based on the results for (1) and (2), is there any evidence for “transformation under transfer” (Meyerhoff, 2009a) Interpretation of the results is done in line with the so-called “three lines of evidence”, and considers significant and non-significant constraints, constraint hierarchies and rank ordering of constraints (Tagliamonte & Temple, 2005). I consider the proposition that AMs, of all ages, are prone to transformation under transfer of NS constraints on the variables CSD and (ING), mainly illustrating strong and weak transfer. It is expected that old and middle-aged AMs will have patterns different from those found among young AMs . V Zarour 2018 I also consider the possibility that articulatory constraints may be more readily transformed by AMs into ethnolectal marking, whereas grammatical constraints may be more likely to be strongly transferred by AMs. Old and middle-aged AMs seem to be more likely to display strong transfer of NS constraints, but they do not seem to be using variation in the L2 stylistically. By contrast, young AMs stylistically use articulatory constraints to convey important social indexicalities. The results suggest that oold and middle-aged AMs with developing grammars are like NS children acquiring variation of their L1, in the sense that old and middle-aged AMs are sensitive, in both CSD and (ING), to dialect-specific constraints on variation as they display strong transfer of the highest ranked NS constraint, be it articulatory or grammatical in nature; they also seem to perceive NS frequencies of occurrence of variables. Old and middle-aged AMs have an advantage over NS-children in their cognitive abilities that enable them to apply global constraints on variation by filtering their previous exposure to English, to replicate grammatical constraints of the L2 variables. Old and middle- aged AMs also seem to replicate the articulatory constraints that are perceptually salient, or that can host L1 transfer. They sometimes innovate articulatory constraints that are meaningful to them probably because of the influence of their L1. Young AM, who have arrived in New Zealand at an age of six years or younger, would be expected to illustrate strong transfer for stable variables like CSD and (ING). The results, nevertheless, illustrate that although young AMs share the same significant constraints found among NS of NZSED, they have different rank orderings, internal hierarchies and frequency of variants. Young AM, unexpectedly, diverge from NS norms and exhibit weak transfer of NS articulatory constraints on CSD, while they show strong transfer of NS grammatical constraints for the variable (ING). I suggest that young AMs seem to be using articulatory constraints in the L2 stylistically, to convey important social indexicalities. VI Zarour 2018 In addition, young AMs seem to hold an intermediate status between NS of NZSED and first-generation AM. Like old and middle-aged AMs, they replicate global-grammatical constraints on (ING) with an internal hierarchy that follows the Labovian nominal-verbal continuum, rather than the local, internal hierarchy. This suggests that (ING), as a morphophonemic variable with syntactic interfaces, has less room for the stylistic use of variation patterns as a reflection of identity marking. Articulatory constraints may be more subject to L1 transfer and these may become a marker of ethnicity among a Second- generation of migrants. VII Zarour 2018 Table of contents Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................... - 1 - 1.1 Variationist Sociolinguistics ...................................................................................................... - 1 - 1.2 Thesis structure ......................................................................................................................... - 9 - 1.3 The social profile of Arabs in New Zealand ............................................................................. - 10 - Chapter 2: Literature review ......................................................................................... - 13 - 2.1 The Complexity of the acquisition of variation by NNS .......................................................... - 13 - 2.2 The acquisition of variation in migration contexts ................................................................. - 20 - 2.2.1 The acquisition of variation in multilingual metropolises ............................................... - 22 - 2.2.2 The acquisition of variation in low-linguistically-diverse contact settings ...................... - 25 - 2.2.3 Reallocation, rejection and creation of constraints among NNS acquiring variation in an L2 (weak transfer and created constraints) ................................................................................... - 33 - 2.3 The variables of this study ...................................................................................................... - 36 - 2.3.1 Coronal stop deletion in English (CSD) ............................................................................. - 38 - 2.3.2 Coronal and velar nasal alternation in (ING) ................................................................... - 44 - 2.4 Summary and Objectives of the study .................................................................................... - 51 - Chapter 3: Methodology ............................................................................................... - 53 - 3.1 Data collection ........................................................................................................................ - 55 - 3.1.1 New Zealand Speaking English database (NZSED): Native Speaker corpus ..................... - 55 - 3.1.2 Non-native speakers: AM corpus ..................................................................................... - 58 - 3.2.2 The sociolinguistic interview ............................................................................................ - 67 - 3.3 Transcription and coding ........................................................................................................ - 69 - 3.3.1 Coding coronal stop deletion (CSD) ................................................................................. - 71 - 3.3.2 Coding (ING) ..................................................................................................................... - 79 - 3.4 Number of tokens per speaker, Type-token ratio and excluded tokens ................................ - 83 - 3.5 Preparing the data for analysis - data cleaning....................................................................... - 84 - 3.6 Statistical tools: R and Rbrul ................................................................................................... - 85 - 3.6.1 Regression analysis and mixed-models ........................................................................... - 88 - 3.6.2 Identifying the best models ............................................................................................. - 92 - 3.6.3 Correlation and interaction among constraints ............................................................... - 94 - 3.6.4 Initial modelling ............................................................................................................... - 98 - 3.7 Chapter summary.................................................................................................................. - 100 - Chapter 4: Results ....................................................................................................... - 101 - VIII Zarour 2018 4.1 Results for CSD among NS of NZSED ..................................................................................... - 103 - 4.1.1 Results for non-parametric regression for CSD among NS of the NZSED ...................... - 103 - 4.1.2 Results for parametric regression for CSD among NS of NZSED .................................... - 108 - 4.1.3 Competing hypotheses and multiple models ................................................................ - 115 - 4.2 Results for CSD among AMs .................................................................................................. - 118 - 4.2.1 Results for non-parametric regression for CSD among AMs: all age groups ................. - 119 - 4.2.2 Results for parametric regression for CSD among AMs: all age groups ........................ - 120 - 4.3 Results for CSD among separate age-groups of AMs ........................................................... - 124 - 4.3.1 Results for non-parametric regression for CSD among old and middle-aged AMs ....... - 124 - 4.3.2 Results for non-parametric regression for CSD among young AMs ............................. - 126 - 4.3.3 Results for parametric regression for CSD among old and middle-aged AMs .............. - 128 - 4.3.4 Results for parametric regression for CSD among young AMs ...................................... - 131 - 4.4 Summary: CSD findings among NS of NZSED and AMs ......................................................... - 134 - 4.5 Results for (ING) among NS of NZSED ................................................................................... - 136 - 4.5.1 Results for non-parametric regression for (ING) among NS of NZSED .......................... - 136 - 4.5.2 Results for parametric regression for (ING) among NS of NZSED .................................. - 139 - 4.6 Results for (ING) among separate age-groups of AMs ......................................................... - 142 - 4.6.1 Results for non-parametric regression for (ING) among AMs: all age groups ............... - 142 - 4.6.2 Results for parametric regression for (ING) among AMs: all age groups ...................... - 143 - 4.6.3 Results for parametric regression among old and middle-aged AMs ........................... - 146 - 4.6.4 Results for parametric regression for (ING) among young AMs .................................... - 147 - 4.7 Summary: (ING) findings among NS of NZSED and AMs ....................................................... - 150 - 4.8 Chapter summary.................................................................................................................. - 152 - Chapter 5: Discussion ................................................................................................. - 153 - 5.1 Discussion of the patterns of variation for the variable CSD among NS of NZSED ............... - 154 - 5.1.1 The three lines of evidence outlined for CSD among NS of NZSED ............................... - 154 - 5.2 Summary of the discussion of results for CSD among NS of NZSED ..................................... - 172 - 5.3 Discussion of the patterns of variation for the variable CSD among old and middle-aged AMs .. - 173 - 5.3.1 The three lines of evidence outlined for CSD among old and middle-aged AMs .......... - 175 - 5.4 Conclusions for CSD among old and middle-aged AMs ........................................................ - 184 - 5.5 Placing old and middle-aged AMs in the context of other first-generation migrants acquiring variation in contact settings ........................................................................................................ - 186 - 5.6 Discussion of the patterns of variation for the variable CSD among young AMs ................ - 192 - 5.6.1 The three lines of evidence outlined for CSD among young AMs ................................. - 193 - IX
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