Pronunciation of L2 English in Afrikaans Speakers Who Have Relocated to Aotearoa- New Zealand
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Pronunciation of L2 English in Afrikaans speakers who have relocated to Aotearoa- New Zealand Grant Richard Howie A thesis in fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand August 2018 Abstract An ever greater number of South Africans are relocating to New Zealand and now comprise the fifth largest group of migrants in the country. Among this group, there are first language (L1) Afrikaans speakers who bring with them qualifications, skills, and more importantly, their distinct second-language English. It appears that these Afrikaans speakers quickly adapt to the pronunciation of New Zealand English (NZE). The present study seeks to shed light on changes which occur in the pronunciation of Afrikaans-speaking South Africans living in New Zealand. The results of the present study show that there is a difference in the L2 English pronunciation between Afrikaans speakers in New Zealand and their counterparts in South Africa. The L2 English pronunciation of Afrikaners in New Zealand is shown generally to approximate towards the articulation of NZE. Several factors appeared to influence differences in pronunciation, for example gender, identity change, having a NZE- speaking partner, and exposure to the L2. Afrikaans speakers in New Zealand seem to identify more readily as Kiwis than with their South African English counterparts. The present study concludes with the suggestion that, along with other factors, a change in identity apparently facilitates a change in pronunciation toward NZE pronunciation. The findings provide a novel perspective on the Afrikaans language in New Zealand, and offer a new perspective on the influence of identity on second language acquisition. Key words: Afrikaans, Afrikaans English, L2, New Zealand English, second language acquisition, SLA, pronunciation, identity, dialect change, SDA ii Acknowledgements The journey through this thesis was not often an easy ride and it would not have been possible without the help and support of so many people around me. Their understanding, advice and patience during the last four years made this thesis an enjoyable experience throughout. First and foremost, I would like to thank my primary supervisor, Dr Moyra Sweetnam Evans, who, at every step of way, offered unconditional support, promptly answered questions, and all but adopted me into her family. I must truly express my gratitude for her support and understanding through a particularly distressing time during my PhD which gave me the strength to persevere against what I believed were insurmountable odds. I can never thank her enough. Our impromptu meetings and all the laughter truly made this journey an experience worthy of remembering. I would also like to thank my secondary supervisor, Dr Hunter Hatfield, for translating the language of statistics into something I could understand and subsequently use. His advice made the entire methodology and analysis so much easier to produce. There were so many people who made this possible in their own ways. I would like to thank my good friends; Rose Gleeson for listening to my ideas, patiently putting up with my rants; Leigh Sullivan, who did all this as well as being conscripted into reading a couple of my chapters and providing feedback; and Megan Kliegl for the lunchtime catch-ups about anything else other than my thesis. I must also thank Dr Jo Oranje (the Doctor at Reception) for the advice, printing help, laughs and chats. It made those long days so much shorter. I also wish to thank Dr Karen McLean for the proof- reading and kind comments during the last stages of this thesis. The positive notes made it so much easier to deal with. iii I want to express my gratitude to my partner, Mauro, who came into my life during the last year of my PhD. His unconditional love and support gave me strength to continue and his own incredible work ethic rubbed off on me, facilitating the most productive year of my PhD. I only hope that I can support him as much through his PhD as he has for me through mine. I would also like to express my gratitude to the University of Otago for providing me with a PhD scholarship and the Humanities division for assisting me with their conference funding for my first international conference. Lastly, I would never have begun my journey into the depths of the PhD without the backing of my parents, Jan and Ian Howie. Their support and encouragement (and constant enquiries about my progress) motivated me throughout this journey. My work habits, love of education and drive to achieve stem from the way I was raised and for this, I cannot express my gratitude enough. iv My loving parents whose unwavering support lit up the darkest of nights and illuminated the path to strength, acceptance and success. To them, I dedicate this thesis. v Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xi List of Charts ............................................................................................................................... xii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. xiii Abbreviations and Conventions ............................................................................................. xvi Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.0 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background of the Study ....................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Significance of the Study ....................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Layout of the Thesis ............................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction to the Literature Review and the Dialects ......................................................... 9 2.0 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 9 2.1 New Zealand English .......................................................................................................... 10 2.2 South African English .......................................................................................................... 14 2.3 Afrikaans ............................................................................................................................... 19 2.3.1 Afrikaans in Pre-Apartheid South Africa ...................................................................... 20 2.3.2 Afrikaans in the Post-Apartheid Era - a New South Africa ........................................ 22 2.4 Afrikaans identity ................................................................................................................ 24 2.4.1 The first phase (1902-1947) ............................................................................................... 26 2.4.2 Phase two and the imagined community of Afrikaners.............................................. 27 2.4.3 Third Phase: The decline of Afrikaans and Post-Apartheid Revival ......................... 32 2.4.4 Afrikaans-Speaking Migrants in New Zealand ............................................................ 38 2.5 Afrikaans English ................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter 3 ..................................................................................................................................... 44 The Description of Consonants ................................................................................................ 44 vi 3.0 Overview ............................................................................................................................... 44 3.1 The Stops /p/, /t/, /k/ ............................................................................................................. 48 3.2 The consonant /r/ .................................................................................................................. 52 3.3 The fricative /h/ ..................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 4 ..................................................................................................................................... 58 The Description of Vowels .......................................................................................................