University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Linguistics ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Winter 12-15-2017 Anglo and Hispanic Vowel Variation in New Mexican English Susan Brumbaugh University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds Part of the Phonetics and Phonology Commons Recommended Citation Brumbaugh, Susan. "Anglo and Hispanic Vowel Variation in New Mexican English." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ ling_etds/54 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Linguistics ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Susan Brumbaugh Candidate Linguistics Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Caroline Smith , Chairperson Chris Koops Richard File-Muriel Melissa Axelrod i ANGLO AND HISPANIC VOWEL VARIATION IN NEW MEXICAN ENGLISH by SUSAN BRUMBAUGH B.A., Spanish, Illinois State University, 2007 M.A., Linguistics, University of New Mexico 2009 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Linguistics The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December, 2017 ii DEDICATION For my partner in crime, Finnegan Lord Batman Squiggle Pants Brumbaugh iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am incredibly grateful to so many people (and one ridiculous Chihuahua). I feel like I’ve won an Oscar, and now I’m about to deliver my speech on stage. It’s about time I put in writing how much you all mean to me! (Note: I was just informed that the Acknowledgements section doesn’t add to the page count… so I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible.) I would first like to thank my incredible dissertation committee. Dr. Caroline Smith, the chair of my dissertation committee, is brilliant, kind, and has always encouraged me to study what is of interest to me. I have learned so much from her throughout the years, in terms of phonetics, phonology, and being a good person. She is also the very first professor I had class with upon moving to Albuquerque ten years ago for the master’s program. Thank you for seeing this through with me until the end! Without Dr. Chris Koops, I would still be making vowel plots with my colored pencils (no, really!). I have learned so much from you, and I am now a much more confident and independent linguist. Writing that book chapter together was the most fun I’ve ever had doing linguistics. Dr. Richard File-Muriel and Dr. Melissa Axelrod gave indispensable feedback and support throughout this entire process, and I truly appreciate all that you have done for me. There are so many amazing people in the linguistics world at UNM. We have an incredible community of graduate students and professors in the Linguistics department. You guys have made my time in the department so fun and memorable. I am sincerely thankful for the Global Education Office (GEO), and in particular the Center for English Language and American Culture (CELAC). I spent 8 fantastic years teaching English as a Second Language at CELAC, and I hope to put in another 8 or more in the future! I have developed so many incredible friendships through my time at GEO… you all know who you are! I never would have ended up in a linguistics graduate program without two incredible professors at Illinois State University: Dr. K Aaron Smith and Dr. Susan Burt. Dr. Smith, also an a graduate from UNM Linguistics, said I would love the program and Albuquerque. How right he was! iv Thank you to my family, in particular my parents, Larry and Diane, and my bizarre little sister, Ronald. I mean, Marie. My entire family has been incredibly supportive of my seemingly never-ending academic endeavors; thank you to Grandma, De, Uncle Phil, Aunt Deedee, and my brother-in-law, Scott. My very best friends from Illinois, Diane Christine Pueschel and Mallory Blaire Tarter. We have been and continue to be there for each other no matter where any of us is in the world. See you soon! I was so lucky to join the greatest (read: most hilarious) women’s indoor soccer team not long after moving to Albuquerque in 2007. We are still together today. Lady X is truly the most incredible group of women, and I really can’t imagine my life in Albuquerque without you all. And yes, I know that this will be put in our next highlight reel. On that note, I’m still mad at Crystal for raising her hand and asking a question at my defense. It’s not funny, Milagro. X! My other “team” is just as fierce: my lady-linguist crew. Laura Hirrel, Brittany Fallon, Keiko Beers, and Corrine Occhino are amazing women without whom there is no way I would have gotten this done. I blame both their peer pressure and their constant support. I actually can’t figure out what to write about Laura and Phil Hirrel. They are genuinely two of the most incredible people on the planet, and I can’t make light of how much they mean to me and how much they have done for me and Finnegan throughout the years. If I had to sum it up into one word… Melanie!! My biggest thanks go to Jack and our dogs, Finnegan and Mr. Grumbles. We live such a ridiculously happy life together. And it’s going to be even better, now that I’m done with this! v ANGLO AND HISPANIC VOWEL VARIATION IN NEW MEXICAN ENGLISH by SUSAN BRUMBAUGH B.A., Spanish, Illinois State University, 2007 M.A., Linguistics, University of New Mexico, 2009 Ph.D., Linguistics, University of New Mexico, 2017 ABSTRACT This study examines vowel formant differences between English speakers in New Mexico that self-identify as Anglo versus those that self-identify as Hispanic. Audio recordings were made of 16 New Mexicans reading short stories and carrier phases with embedded target words. F1 and F2 measurements were compared at the 50% point for monophthongs and at the 20% and 80% points for diphthongs. Mixed effects models assessed statistical significance of ethnicity, gender, and interactional effects on vowel formants and trajectory length. All speakers showed a near-complete overlap of BOT and BOUGHT tokens, supporting a merger. Hispanic men and women patterned together to form a homogenous Hispanic group, and the Hispanic women patterned closer to the Anglo women than did the Hispanic men. The Anglo men and women did not present such a homogenous group. While Anglos shared some commonalities, vi namely the fronting and raising of BAN and the fronting of BOOT and BOAT, there were several cases in which the Anglo men patterned opposite to the Anglo women. The data were then evaluated in terms of potential participation in the California Vowel Shift (CVS) (Eckert 2008) and as a Western State (as described in Labov, Ash, & Boberg 2006). Findings support New Mexican English as a Western State as well as advancing in CVS, both of which are Anglo-led shifts across the country and in New Mexico. Anglo women lead the way with advancement of CVS, Anglo men and Hispanic women follow (though in different ways), and Hispanic men do not participate except for the BOT-BOUGHT merger. The findings from the Hispanic group were additionally compared with other studies on Chicano English from across the United States, primarily on the topics of diphthong trajectory, BAN-raising, and Hispanic participation in local Anglo-led sound changes. Findings on diphthong trajectories were inconclusive, and it remains a question for further study. The BAT-BAN split, a commonly documented characteristic in Chicano English literature, was pervasive in the New Mexican data as well. Lastly, the New Mexican Hispanics patterned similarly to other communities where Hispanic participants, primarily the women, participate in the local Anglo-led sound changes, albeit to a less advanced degree than Anglos. vii Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................... xiii List of Tables .................................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................... 1 1.0 Overview ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Motivation for the current study ................................................................ 2 1.1.1 Lack of research thus far ................................................................... 2 1.1.2 Majority-Minority situation .................................................................. 4 1.1.3 New Mexicans’ interest/awareness of this topic ................................ 5 1.2 New Mexico: Past and Present ................................................................ 6 1.2.1 New Mexico History ........................................................................... 6 1.2.2 Present Day ....................................................................................... 9 1.2.2.1 Population ................................................................................. 10 1.2.2.2 Current rates of Spanish usage ................................................ 12 1.3 A few notes on certain stylistic choices made throughout this study ..... 14 1.3.1 Race and Ethnicity Terms ............................................................... 14 1.3.2 Non-standard language variety ......................................................