Talking to Strangers – a Sociolinguistic Experiment
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TALKING TO STRANGERS – A SOCIOLINGUISTIC EXPERIMENT: VARIATION IN INITIAL DYADIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SPANISH-SPEAKERS IN EARLY 21 st CENTURY BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA by MARY ANN DZIUGIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2010 Copyright © by Mary Ann Dziugis 2010 All Rights Reserved To honor my extraordinary parents, Anne Gayle and Clarence E. Frizzell ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chairperson, Dr. Laurel Smith Stvan, and the members of my committee, Dr. Jinny K. Choi and Dr. Jerold A. Edmondson, for their guidance and encouragement with this project. Also at UTA, I would like to thank Dr. Nancy A. Rowe for her invaluable statistical assistance. It should be noted, however, that any errors in this material are strictly mine. In terms of the photo interlocutor prompter sheet that I created for use with the survey questionnaire, I would like to thank Dr. Carl E. Johnson for his idea and Mrs. Norma Laje- Ficarra for her aid in developing the tool. Most of all I want to thank my husband, Alfredo, for his patience and for his support as my research assistant and computer wizard. I would also like to acknowledge the support provided by family, friends, and acquaintances in Argentina who were informants and/or interlocutors in this research. September 23, 2010 iv ABSTRACT TALKING TO STRANGERS – A SOCIOLINGUISTIC EXPERIMENT: VARIATION IN INITIAL DYADIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SPANISH-SPEAKERS IN EARLY 21 st CENTURY BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA Mary Ann Dziugis, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2010 Supervising Professor: Laurel Smith Stvan What are the chances of a dyad of Spanish-speaking strangers using informal address in casual, initial interactions in Buenos Aires, Argentina, today? To discover the pattern(s) of contemporary address, the Principal Investigator (PI) conducted a sociolinguistic experiment focusing on strangers’ initial interactions to minimize the influence of Brown and Gilman’s (1960) dimensions of power and solidarity on address variation. To gather natural and reported speech, the PI used mixed methodologies: participant observation, TV news, survey questionnaires, and interviews. She enhanced the authenticity of reported speech via the use of her new tool—a photo interlocutor prompter sheet. The research consisted of a triangulated quantitative exploration of extra-linguistic variables with qualitative insights gained via one-on-one interviews. Quantitative findings revealed: (i) older speakers use informal to address younger interlocutors, (ii) symmetrical dyads of Junior generation (18-29) and Middle generation (30-49) speakers use informal address—regardless of gender, and (i) even symmetrical dyads of Senior generation (50+) v females use informal extensively. While many of the interviewed Argentines equated the increase in informal address with the loss of good manners, others viewed “Argentine Light”, a term used to label the use of informal with strangers in casual interactions, as a less prejudicial way of speaking. Based on feedback, the PI attributes strangers’ spontaneous use of informal address to Brown and Gilman’s (1989) dimension of ‘affect’ i.e. likability, affinity. This synchronic sociolinguistic experiment, which benchmarks the pervasiveness of “Argentine Light” in Buenos Aires, serves as a model litmus test for future sociolinguistic fieldwork. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ xi Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………..………..….. ..................................... 1 1.1 Setting the Stage .............................................................................................. 2 1.2 Focusing on Spanish-Speakers in Buenos Aires, Argentine ........................... 4 1.3 Research Scope and Questions ...................................................................... 4 1.4 Organization of This Dissertation ..................................................................... 5 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Preview of Useful Resources ........................................................................... 7 2.2 Evolution and Indicators of Spanish Address in Buenos Aires ........................ 8 2.3 Chronological Overview of Theories, Methodologies, and Studies ............... 20 2.4 Summary Comments ..................................................................................... 38 3. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................... 40 3.1 Selecting Research Methods ......................................................................... 41 3.2 Survey Questionnaires (SQ) .......................................................................... 43 3.3 Interviews (IV) ................................................................................................ 52 3.4 Participant Observation (PO) ......................................................................... 57 3.5 TV News Reports (TV) ................................................................................... 60 3.6 Summary Comments ..................................................................................... 63 vii 4. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ............................................................................... 64 4.1 Inferential Analysis and Results of SQ, PO, and TV Data ............................. 64 4.2 Descriptive Analysis and Results of SQ, PO, and TV Data ........................... 75 4.3 Assorted PO Anecdotes ............................................................................... 100 4.4 Highlights of IV Feedback ............................................................................ 102 4.5 Summary Comments ................................................................................... 132 5. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................. 133 5.1 Using SQ Settings to Justify Triangulating Mixed Methodologies ............... 133 5.2 Summarizing and Triangulating Informal Quantitative Data ........................ 135 5.3 Applying Quantitative/Qualitative Results to Research Questions .............. 144 5.4 Summary Comments ................................................................................... 148 6. CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................... 149 6.1 The Present Presence of Informal Address ................................................. 149 6.2 Benefits of Research .................................................................................... 152 6.3 Future Areas of Research ............................................................................ 153 APPENDIX A. SQ PHOTO INTERLOCUTOR PROMPTER SHEET ................................................. 155 B. SQ AND IV FORMS IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH ..................................................... 157 C. SQ TABLES: ADDRESS BOUNDARIES, GAPS, AND OVERLAPS ........................ 164 D. SQ ADDRESS: GENERATION/GENDER DYADS ................................................... 170 E. SQ SETTINGS: GENERATION/GENDER DYADS ................................................... 177 F. PO ADDRESS: GENERATION/GENDER DYADS .................................................... 184 G. TV ADDRESS: GENERATION/GENDER DYADS .................................................... 191 H. SURVEY COMMENTS AND INTERVIEW DATA ..................................................... 198 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 234 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................ 238 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 3.1 Matrix of Thirty-Six Generational/Gender Dyads ..................................................................... 41 3.2 Mixed Methodologies Used ...................................................................................................... 42 4.1 Nine Generational Dyads ......................................................................................................... 75 4.2 Four Gender Dyads .................................................................................................................. 75 4.3 Conceptual Illustration of Descriptive SPSS Cross-tabulations Output ................................... 76 5.1 Junior speakers: Distribution of twelve gender dyads using the same address ................... 134 5.2 Middle speakers: Distribution of twelve gender dyads using the same address .................. 134 5.3 Senior speakers: Distribution of twelve gender dyads using the same address................... 134 5.4 Total speakers: Distribution of thirty-six