Language Contact and Dialect Contact: Cross-Generational Phonological Variation in a Puerto Rican Community in the Midwest of the United States
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LANGUAGE CONTACT AND DIALECT CONTACT: CROSS-GENERATIONAL PHONOLOGICAL VARIATION IN A PUERTO RICAN COMMUNITY IN THE MIDWEST OF THE UNITED STATES DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Michelle F. Ramos-Pellicia, B.A., M.A. **** The Ohio State University 2004 Dissertation Committee: Approved by ___________________________ Professor Brian D. Joseph, Co-Adviser Co-Adviser Linguistics Graduate Program Professor Donald Winford, Co-Adviser Professor Richard Janda Approved by ___________________________ Co-Adviser Linguistics Graduate Program Copyright by Michelle Frances Ramos-Pellicia 2004 ABSTRACT This project investigates a variety of Spanish found in Lorain, Ohio, focusing on the description of variation at the phonological level. The description considers the dynamics of the interaction of two minority dialects, Lorain Puerto Rican Spanish (henceforth LPRS) and Mexican American Spanish (hereafter MAS), in the context of English as a majority language. It seeks to find an explanation for phonological variation across three different generations in the LPRS community by examining five variables (raising of /e/ and /o/, and the realization of /dΩ/, /r/, and /b/). The role of the youngest generation is given particular attention. Previous studies (Eckert 1997, 2000; Kerswill 1994; Kerswill and Williams 1994) on language variation have shown that this group leads the changes their linguistic variety will undergo or eliminates the language completely. This project also explores the phonology of rural Island Puerto Rican Spanish (henceforth IPRS) transported to Lorain to determine if LPRS and IPRS display similar or different patterns of use of the variables. ii One hundred four people representing the Puerto Ricans and the Mexicans in Lorain, the Puerto Ricans of the island and the American English speakers of Lorain (hereafter AE) were recorded. The groups are also subdivided by generation and gender. All subjects read a word-list and a paragraph and participated in a short informal conversation with the interviewer. Also, a long-term observation of the community was conducted. The phonological variables were correlated with extralinguistic factors using VARBRUL. LPRS shows almost nonexistent (e) and (o) raising, preserving the pattern found in IPRS. Lorain MAS and LPRS are converging in their use of (j), but the merger varies within each age and generation. The two groups are diverging in their use of (r), presenting different degrees of divergence depending on generation and age group. The Spanish spoken by second and third generation LPRS speakers shows influence from AE in the use of a labiodental [v] for (b) and a retroflex [] for (r). Indirectly, AE influences first generation speakers not proficient in AE through contact with those speakers of the first generation with more exposure to AE. iii In general, the results reveal that LPRS exhibits continuity from IPRS preserving many of the features transmitted from IPRS though it also diverges from the latter to some extent. Although predictions are speculative, possibly in the future, due to the pressures of MAS and AE on LPRS, this pattern will change and LPRS will become a dialect different from IPRS, if it survives at all. iv Dedicated to my multilingual family… my Grandma Emerance Louise Hilversum Thompson, who unconsciously initiated me in linguistics and my son Antonio José Rodríguez-Ramos, a productive and inquisitive bilingual speaker v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Growing up in Puerto Rico, I was exposed mainly to two different languages, Spanish and English. However, as I shared my childhood years with my beloved Grandma, I discovered through her nurturing a language that is dear to my heart and yet it was lost in my generation. Surinamese Dutch was used at home with my Grandma, my Mom and her family. Unfortunately, my elders decided for me that I was not to continue my acquisition of Surinamese Dutch because they thought this language would confuse me as I was starting my schooling in English. Thus, whenever around me, my relatives made a conscious effort to use Taki Taki, English, but mostly Puerto Rican Spanish. As I continued growing up, I also discovered that my Dad’s side of the family had very interesting language interactions. Having grown up in the military, my Dad and his family were exposed to Spanish, English and French. I witnessed many interactions where my uncles, my Dad and his parents will use these three languages in a magnificent example of code switching. I was always amazed at how quickly they switched from one language to the next just to make themselves understood. vi My curiosity to explore language led me to study Linguistics at The Ohio State University. Many are the people who expanded my world during my graduate school years. I will always be indebted to my Professors Brian D. Joseph and Donald Winford. Their knowledge and insightful comments expanded my original project into what is now this dissertation. I am also thankful to Professors Richard Janda, Terrell Morgan, Mary Beckman, Elizabeth Hume, Marcia Farr, Dennis Preston and Patricia Lunn who helped me at different stages of developing this project and who also raised questions that I did not foresee as I was collecting and analyzing the data. I also want to thank the members of the Changelings discussion group. It was in this warm and welcoming environment where I not only presented the earlier results of my dissertation but also learned of the projects that scholars interested in language variation and change were conducting. Thank you to my classmates, colleagues and friends at the Department of Linguistics… Shelome Gooden, Misun Seo, Steve Hartman-Keiser, Tsan Huang, Hope Dawson, Robin Dodsworth, Ila Nagar, Craig Hilts, Wes Collins, Alejandra González-Pérez, Grant McGuire, Na’im Tyson, David Durian, Anton Rytting, Maeve Eberhardt, Amanda Boomershine, Robin Dautricourt, Magdalena Mejía who encouraged me at different stages of my writing. vii Also, thanks to Yanitza Marrero who introduced me to her relatives and friends in Lorain, to the Carrión Family, the Bigio Family, the Reverón Family, the Meléndez Family, the Mendiola Family, the Ortiz Family, the DeGracia Family, the Maldonado Family, Georgina and Salvador Carrión, Tomás Cabassa, Carmen and Wilson Meléndez, Rigoberto and Judy Reverón, Jimmy and Evelyn Carrión, Trinidad Amador, Sister Theresa Stegman, Sister Elisa Bonano, Christian Doyle, Rev. William Thaden, Rosa Ramos, Milagros Pellicia, Ana Capetillo, Edna Colón Torres, Agustín López Oliveras, Noa Rivera, Wilson Acosta, Wanda Aponte Rodríguez, Jorge Rivera and all the American English speakers, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Lorain and all the Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico who participated in this study and who so kindly received me in their homes and patiently answered my questions. Without them, this project would have never been possible. Thanks to my friends in Ohio… Leigh and Lee Österling, Karen Lynch, Socorro Moores, Odemaris Irizarry, Lillian Olivieri, Rohini and Uday Dandavate, Celia James, Steve Grill, Donna Villareal, Francie Buschur, Gilberto Serrano, Gary Fourman, Cristina Pérez, Eileen Butler, Mary Flanagan, Luisa Lara, Eleonor Opitz, Beatriz Alvarado. All of them opened their homes and welcomed my family during the years I spent in Columbus, Ohio. To my friends in Puerto Rico… Rosie Aulet and Madalene Valentín who despite the distance kept up with our friendship. ¡Mil gracias! viii To Christine Heinze and Christina DiLorenzo and all my past, present and future students from whom I learn every day… They make me want to be a better teacher and a better scholar. I am grateful for the funding I received from the following sources: The Ohio State University Department of Linguistics, Chair Peter Culicover made available funding to cover my travel expenses to Lorain, The OSU College of Humanities Graduate Research Council Small Grant covered for equipment expenses, The Ohio State University Council of Graduate Students Ray Travel Award for Scholarship and Service (formerly Professional Development Fund, PDF) covered for travel expenses and The OSU Graduate School Alumni Grant for Graduate Research covered my travel expenses to Puerto Rico. And last, but not least, my family, here in the United States and in Puerto Rico… Thanks to Mom who always encouraged me with her questions about language and the problems Puerto Ricans face in the Island and in the mainland. To her, I owe many useful conversations that expanded my curiosity and my thirst to understand more about the different aspects of language in interaction and bilingual education. ix To Dad and all his multiple interferences of English in his Spanish that always made me laugh with him, to his wit and his talent to switch back and forth between his tongues. His positive attitude and encouragement at very obscure moments helped me in accomplishing many of my goals. To my sisters Christine and Talía who were a constant source of encouragement during my journey through Graduate School, both of them are a wealth of bilingualism and productive code switches and borrowings. To the memory of my Abuela Emi, who started me early on the road of language. And to my son, who has experienced so many different languages since before he was one year old and who has become an avid code switcher, knowing who to switch with, and whether to explain a word to a person in Spanish or English. It is my hope that he continues being as inquisitive as he is now and that his Spanish, English and Spanglish abilities keep expanding. x VITA September 20, 1972………………….Born, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico 1995………………………………….B.A. Hispanic Studies, Minors: French, English, Linguistics, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras 1999…………………………………M.A. Linguistics, The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS 2001. ‘Oh, you want TETE?’ (‘Oh, ¿quieres TETE?’) Co-operación risas embarazosas y gestos en un grupo de apoyo para madres lactantes.