Linguistic variation and ethnicity in a super-diverse community: The case of Vancouver English by Irina Presnyakova M.A. (English), Marshall University, 2011 MA (Linguistics), Northern International University, 2004 BA (Education), Northern International University, 2003 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Linguistics Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Irina Presnyakova 2020 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2020 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Declaration of Committee Name: Irina Presnyakova Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Thesis title: Linguistic variation and ethnicity in a super- diverse community: The case of Vancouver English Committee: Chair: Dean Mellow Associate Professor, Linguistics Panayiotis Pappas Supervisor Professor, Linguistics Murray Munro Committee Member Professor, Linguistics Cecile Vigouroux Examiner Associate Professor, French Alicia Wassink External Examiner Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics University of Washington ii Ethics Statement iii Abstract Today, people with British/European heritage comprise about half (49.3%) of the total population of Metro Vancouver, while the other half is represented by visual minorities, with Chinese (20.6%) and South Asians (11.9%) being the largest ones (Statistics Canada 2017). However, non-White population are largely unrepresented in sociolinguistic research on the variety of English spoken locally. The objective of this study is to determine whether and to what extent young people with non-White ethnic backgrounds participate in some of the on-going sound changes in Vancouver English. Data from 45 participants with British/Mixed European, Chinese and South Asian heritage, native speakers of English, were analyzed instrumentally to get the formant measurements of the vowels of each speaker. Interview data were subjected to thematic analysis that aimed to describe to which extent each participant affiliated with their heritage. The results of the descriptive and inferential statistical analysis showed that, first, the vowel systems of these young people are similar and they all are undoubtedly speakers of modern Canadian English as described in previous research (Boberg 2010). Second, all three groups participate in the most important changes in Canadian English: the Canadian Shift, Canadian Raising, the fronting of back vowels, and allophonic variation of /æ/ in pre-nasal and pre-velar positions. Some differences along the ethnic lines that were discovered concern the degree of advancement of a given change, not its presence or absence. Socio-ethnic profiles of the participants created on the basis of the thematic analysis can be roughly put into two categories, mono- and bicultural identity orientation (Comănaru et al. 2018). Great variability is described both within and across groups, with language emerging as one of the most important factors in the participants’ identity construction. Exploratory analysis showed some tendencies in vowel production by speakers with mono- and bicultural orientations, with differences both among and within two non-White groups. The findings of the study call into question both our understanding of the mechanisms of language acquisition and our approach to delimiting and describing speech communities in super-diverse urban centers. iv Keywords: sound change; immigrant; speech community; ethnicity; identity orientation v Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to Dr. Bob (Hyo-Chang) Hong who inspired my pursuit of linguistics vi Acknowledgements This degree would not have been completed without my supervisor, Dr. Panos Pappas. Thank you for taking me on board and pushing me to read, write, research, write, revise and write some more throughout the years. I learned so much about academia, life, and their intersection in our conversations. You have been a great mentor and a friend. I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Murray Munro and Dr. Cécile Vigouroux from SFU and Dr. Alicia Wassink from University of Washington for taking their time to read through this manuscript and provide great comments and suggestions during the defence. I appreciate your expertise and wisdom. My fellow grad students made this long journey enjoyable. I want to send cheers to our 2011 cohort: Stan, Amber, Lindsay, Kayleigh, Kyeong-min, Thuja, as well as to people who came earlier or later: Heidi, Emra, Lisa, Kevin, Kelli, Anne, Matt, Bouchra, Dasha, Zack, Fiona, Sander, Lucas, Lydia, Ethan, Noortje, Luca, Arwa, Trevor, Wafa, Queenie, Cassidy, Mara, Debopam, and Parisa. Emma Mileva, we both finally made it to the top of this metaphorical Grouse Mountain – thank you for being there for me whenever I needed it. Poco Umbal, your comments on my research were vital for shaping it as it is, I am so grateful for that and excited to watch your academic success. Amber Blenkiron, thank you for being such a good buddy and organizing so many parties, trips and outings! Stan Anonby, our infrequent meetings always left me with lots of insights about research and life, thank you for sharing your knowledge. Everyone else, thank you all for shared beers, snacks, conversations and camaraderie over the years! I would like to thank the Department of Linguistics at SFU and all its wonderful professors and stuff for their support and help over the years. Thank you for providing such great role models, sharing your wisdom and teaching tips. Finally, I would like to thank my family in Canada and Russia for their immense support over the years. Nestor P. Navasero, my beloved partner, thank you for listening to my whines, cheering me up, sharing happy and sad moments and just being right there for me, together with Sasha, our son, a real thesis baby who was born in the middle of this degree. Evelyn and Nestor C. Navasero, my dear in-laws, thank you for vii accepting me into your family, taking care of the food, shelter, childcare and everything else when it was most needed, which was throughout these years. Valentina Presnyakova, my mom, and Galina Zdorovennova, my sister, thank you for believing in me. My dad, Eduard Presnyakov, didn’t live to see me completing my degree, but I know that he would be so proud of me and go around the neighborhood telling everyone about it many many times. viii Table of Contents Declaration of Committee ................................................................................................ ii Ethics Statement ............................................................................................................ iii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ...................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... vii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ................................................................................................................ xiv List of Figures............................................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1. Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 1.1. Overview of the project .......................................................................................... 1 1.2. Background ........................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1. Approaches to describing speech communities and ethnic groups in the first wave of sociolinguistics ................................................................................................ 3 Speech community and its membership ................................................................... 4 Alternative treatment of speech communities and ethnic groups in research............ 8 1.2.2. Changing world, changing concepts ............................................................ 11 Diversification of diversity ....................................................................................... 12 The speech community in super-diverse cities ....................................................... 13 Who is the native speaker? .................................................................................... 14 Is White ethnic? ..................................................................................................... 15 1.2.3. From inherited ethnicity to socially constructed ethnic identity ..................... 16 The third wave of sociolinguistics: from an etic to an emic perspective .................. 16 Social psychological studies of bi-cultural identity and acculturation ...................... 18 1.2.4. Approach of the current study ...................................................................... 21 1.3. Local context: Demographics, waves of immigration, and patterns of settlement . 23 1.3.1. History ......................................................................................................... 23 British Columbia: Free land boom .......................................................................... 24