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BROZOVSKY-DISSERTATION-2020.Pdf Copyright by Erica Sharon Brozovsky 2020 The Dissertation Committee for Erica Sharon Brozovsky Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Dissertation: Taiwanese Texans: A Sociolinguistic Study of Language and Cultural Identity Committee: Lars Hinrichs, Supervisor Madeline Y. Hsu Mary E. Blockley Ian Hancock Casey A. Boyle Taiwanese Texans: A Sociolinguistic Study of Language and Cultural Identity by Erica Sharon Brozovsky Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2020 Dedication 獻給我的爸爸媽媽 To my parents Acknowledgements This dissertation would have been impossible without my participants, so it is to them that I owe the most gratitude. Thank you for your candor and for opening up your lives to me in so many ways. I feel honored to be the keeper of your stories. In the summer of 2013, my future advisor, Lars Hinrichs, said to me, “You should go to grad school; you’d be good at it.” As a directionless recent graduate, that was enough convincing for me. You taught me that most advising sessions should just be chill conversations over beers, but also pushed me when I needed it. Thank you for believing in me when I was an imposter-syndrome-ridden baby grad student and for your help in shaping me into the scholar I am today. To the rest of my committee members, without your guidance I would be lost. Ian Hancock, I am grateful that you shared with me your wisdom, your humor, and your library. Thank you for your encouragement and confirmation that I was progressing, even when it felt like quite the opposite. And much thanks for reminding me that I needed to stop reading and just start writing. Madeline Hsu, thank you for your patience with me as a new scholar in Taiwanese American studies and for not letting me coast. I want to do justice to my participants and our culture, and you have been instrumental in achieving that goal. Mary Blockley, thank you for making me laugh in every single one of our meetings, and reminding me not to take myself too seriously. You always have the best reading recommendations. Casey Boyle, thank you for stepping up in the last inning and reminding me to keep it chill. Oh, and the memes are great. Thank you to Patricia Schaub, Amy Douglas Stewart, and Cecilia Smith-Morris for always having an answer to my questions and for all your invaluable administrative help. v There are two months that stand out as the most impactful parts of my graduate career. First, July 2017, which I spent at the Linguistic Society of America’s Summer Language Institute in Lexington, Kentucky. That was possibly the first time I was surrounded by other people who are on fire about sociolinguistics, and it was validating and invigorating. A big shout out to my Lingstitute crew(s): Nicole Holliday, Ty Slobe, Jamaal Muwwakkil, Nandi Sims, Rachel Weissler, Joe Fruehwald, Bill Cotter, Anna Bax, Keisha Wiel, and Sal Callesano, and Mark Visonà, Sabrina Zhong, and Collin Smith. And a huge thank you to my instructors, Elaine Chun, Nicole Holliday, Paul Reed, Joe Salmons, and Penny Eckert, for the sociolinguistic foundation I was able to build upon. Second, October 2018, which I spent as a visiting scholar at the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan at the University of Oslo. A huge thank you to my MultiLing sponsor, Unn Røyneland, for the opportunity. Our conversations helped me situate myself and my research interests within the wider body of scholarship on language variation. The time in Oslo would not have been as special without my office-mates: Quentin Williams, Anne Pitkänen-Huhta, and especially Olga Solovova. Thank you all for your input at the beginning stages of my project. We are standing desk warriors. To my 2014 cohort, thank you for the camaraderie. Kayla Shearer, my number one, I cannot imagine graduate school without you. Thank you for all the emotional support and for making me drink more water. I am beyond lucky to have a friend and confidante like you! Jeremy Goheen, I don’t think I would have gotten through those first few semesters TA-ing and AI-ing without our grading parties and long walks with Ella. I’ll always remember to stand on your right side. Jamie Garner, dude, we did it, and I’ve so enjoyed being terrible with you. Nicholas Holterman, our physical time in proximity was short but the most wonderful, and I cherish you. Kayla, Sierra Senzaki, and Emily vi Harring, our biannual margarita night tradition was the best part of every stressful last- week-of-the-semester, and I’m going to miss our lime store shenanigans. To the two guys who went before me, Axel Bohmann and Patrick Shultz, thanks for being both inspirational and a whole lot of fun. And Sal Callesano, from rough classes to Lingstitute to being the only ones left in TELL, I’m so glad we got to commiserate together. I am so fortunate to have people outside of graduate school who were always there to support me. Thank you to the Tsueis, Kristen, Allen, Elliot, Allison, and Owen, for our priceless and precious Monday afternoons together; I hold the title of 朋友 dear to my heart. Thank you to the Tsins for all of your care and home cooked meals, and to Vina Ortiz for encouraging words over breakfasts. Thank you to Pai En Yu, who is always down for a food adventure, knows how to make me cry laughing, and enjoys with me both the highbrow and lowbrow. Our Boston dates are always a highlight of my returns back home. I’m grateful to the Taiwanese American community I’ve become a part of, my cross-country TACL fam. Discovering my own Taiwanese identity was a cornerstone of this dissertation project. Big appreciation to the NYC crew for mind-expanding adventures and discussions. And to my TAP-ATX family, y’all are the best! Thank you to my presidents over the years: Erica Liu, Sharon Hsu, and Justin Chang. Erica, you started something amazing, and I’m so glad you convinced me to be your treasurer. Sharon and Justin, nothing will compare to that Taiwan trip—and if anything, it made all of us a little bit more Taiwanese. Alison Chang, my documentarian, videographer, and friend, thank you for showing me that the work I do is part of a larger narrative, one that matters and is worth following me around the world to film. vii To my roommates Ashley Oliphant, Rui Nakata, and Laura Santoso, thank you for keeping me grounded in the real world. You reminded me that there are things outside of graduate school and that what I’m doing is a big deal. Devon Diggs, thank you for being the best of friends and for being my future lawyer. Our semesterly hangouts kept me motivated to finish. Shout-out to my m8s, Sarah Meloche, Timothy and Elizabeth Raymond, Kate Baker and Gregg Grenier, Erin and Darcie Finn, Jake and Diane Wassenar, and Blake Reeves, for including me even when I was 2000 miles away and for always being the same wonderful people every time we reunited. Kate and Sarah, each time one of the countless emailed letters and handwritten cards we exchanged hit my mailbox, my day was automatically made. Blake, our biweekly Skype dates kept me going, and our Pacific Coast trip is a life highlight. Your support and encouragement have been invaluable, to say the least, and I can’t wait for even more adventuring! I’m so happy that our chats added another member when they turned weekly during lockdown: Nikhil Thorat, thank you for nerding out about language with me, reminding me that I’m doing cool stuff, and just being a genuinely fantastic friend. Shan Koay and Kenny Vo, thank you for encouraging me to celebrate all the small successes and for being the best lockdown family. Even struggle days are great days with y’all around. Plus you made me the luckiest aunt of all time, with Nori and Momo. Shan, you’ve been a supportive ear, a helping hand, an uplifting spirit, and the best Overcooked sous chef of all time. A big thank you to my extended family in Taiwan, and especially to my 阿姨 for taking care of me during the three months I lived there and for keeping me from being too yin. viii The biggest gratitude goes to my parents, my tiger mom and laid-back dad. Mama, you inspire me to be better, to do more, to make you proud. Thank you for encouraging me, for telling me to 加油! 加油! 加油! Dad, our weekly prayer time was instrumental in me finishing this dissertation. Thank you for always knowing how to assuage my insecurities and for being a pattern of faith. And to my baby E, there’s no one who understands me the way that you do. Thank you for making me a big sister and for pushing me, challenging me, and supporting me unconditionally. I love you! ix Abstract Taiwanese Texans: A Sociolinguistic Study of Language and Cultural Identity Erica Sharon Brozovsky, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2020 Supervisor: Lars Hinrichs This dissertation investigates the use of linguistic resources in the expression of sociocultural and ethnic identity in Taiwanese Americans from Texas (Taiwanese Texans) in order to achieve two outcomes: 1) to describe patterns of linguistic variation for a number of local and national variables and 2) to find connections and meaning between those patterns and the identities of the speakers.
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