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A Sociophonetic Study of Aberdeen English: Innovation and Conservatism

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A Sociophonetic Study of Aberdeen English: Innovation and Conservatism A Sociophonetic Study of Aberdeen English: Innovation and Conservatism Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie des Fachbereiches 05 der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen vorgelegt von Thorsten Brato aus Essen 2012 Dekan: Prof. Dr. Magnus Huber 1. Berichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Magnus Huber 2. Berichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Raymond Hickey To my parents Contents Figures ........................................................................................................ x Tables ....................................................................................................... xii Maps ...................................................................................................... xviii Abbreviations ............................................................................................xix 1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 2 Non-linguistic setting: Aberdeen and North East Scotland ......................... 3 2.1 The historical developments up to 1970 ........................................................ 4 2.2 The effects of the oil boom ............................................................................. 6 2.3 The social structure of the city today ........................................................... 15 3 The linguistic situation in Scotland ........................................................ 23 3.1 A brief history of Scots and Scottish English ................................................ 23 3.2 The polar structure of Scots and Scottish Standard English and the current sociolinguistic situation ................................................................... 25 3.3 Previous research on regional and social variation in Scots and SSE phonology ..................................................................................................... 30 3.3.1 Consonant variation ............................................................................ 32 3.3.1.1 Stops and affricates................................................................ 32 3.3.1.2 Fricatives ............................................................................... 33 3.3.1.3 Nasals .................................................................................... 34 3.3.1.4 Liquids ................................................................................... 34 3.3.2 Vocalic variation ................................................................................. 35 3.4 Previous accounts of the language in North-East Scotland ........................... 37 3.5 The status of Scots in Aberdeen and the North-East ..................................... 39 4 Theoretical frameworks ......................................................................... 43 4.1 Dialect contact .............................................................................................. 43 4.1.1 Spatial diffusion................................................................................... 45 4.1.2 Linguistic processes in and outcomes of dialect contact ..................... 49 4.1.3 The importance of children and teenagers in contact-induced change ................................................................................................. 53 4.2 Assessing innovation and conservatism ........................................................ 57 5 Research context and research propositions ........................................... 61 5.1 Aberdeen in the context of previous dialect contact research ...................... 61 5.2 Research propositions ................................................................................... 62 5.2.1 Linguistic processes and outcomes of dialect contact in Aberdeen ............................................................................................. 62 5.2.2 The role of age and other social factors .............................................. 64 5.2.3 Assessing innovation and conservatism using mixed-effects regressions ........................................................................................... 64 viii Contents 6 Methodology ..........................................................................................67 6.1 Study design.................................................................................................. 67 6.1.1 Informant selection .............................................................................. 68 6.1.2 Sociolinguistics questionnaires ............................................................ 70 6.1.3 Linguistic variables chosen for this study ............................................ 71 6.1.4 Recording procedure and types of material......................................... 72 6.2 Phonetic analysis .......................................................................................... 73 6.3 Statistical analysis ......................................................................................... 76 6.3.1 GoldVarb vs. Rbrul .............................................................................. 77 6.3.2 Using mixed-effects modelling in sociolinguistic research .................. 78 6.3.3 Statistical modelling ............................................................................ 81 6.3.4 Interpreting the Rbrul output .............................................................. 84 6.4 Assessing innovation and conservatism ........................................................ 85 7 Linguistic variables ................................................................................93 7.1 (BOOT) ........................................................................................................... 96 7.1.1 Background .......................................................................................... 96 7.1.2 Methodology ........................................................................................ 97 7.1.3 Findings ............................................................................................... 99 7.1.3.1 Interview style ..................................................................... 100 7.1.3.2 Wordlist style ....................................................................... 111 7.1.4 Summary and discussion ................................................................... 114 7.2 (OUT) ........................................................................................................... 115 7.2.1 Background ........................................................................................ 115 7.2.2 Methodology ...................................................................................... 116 7.2.3 Findings ............................................................................................. 119 7.2.3.1 Interview style ..................................................................... 120 7.2.3.2 Wordlist style ....................................................................... 137 7.2.4 Summary and discussion ................................................................... 149 7.3 (HW) ............................................................................................................ 150 7.3.1 Background ........................................................................................ 150 7.3.2 Methodology ...................................................................................... 154 7.3.3 Findings ............................................................................................. 155 7.3.3.1 Interview style ..................................................................... 156 7.3.3.2 Wordlist style ....................................................................... 169 7.3.4 Summary and discussion ................................................................... 171 7.4 (L) ................................................................................................................ 173 7.4.1 Background ........................................................................................ 173 7.4.2 Methodology ...................................................................................... 174 7.4.3 Findings ............................................................................................. 175 7.4.3.1 Interview style ..................................................................... 176 Contents ix 7.4.3.2 Wordlist style ....................................................................... 187 7.4.4 Summary and discussion ................................................................... 190 7.5 (POSTVOCALIC R) ........................................................................................... 191 7.5.1 Background ........................................................................................ 191 7.5.2 Methodology ...................................................................................... 193 7.5.3 Findings ............................................................................................. 194 7.5.3.1 Interview style ..................................................................... 195 7.5.3.2 Wordlist style ....................................................................... 208 7.5.4 Discussion .......................................................................................... 221 7.6 (TH) ............................................................................................................. 224 7.6.1 Background .......................................................................................
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