Linguistic Change in Mennonite Sociolect Masterarbeit vorgelegt von Jehna Danbrook am Institut für Anglistik Begutachterin: Ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Phil. Hermine Penz Graz, 25.6.2018 2 Abstract Lingusitic change in Mennonite Sociolect: As the rate of lingusitic change and death accelerates, isolated languages become research gems as they allow linguists to determine factors that contribute to language maintenance. This study investigates lexical and phonological aspects of the Chortitza sociolect spoken by Mennonites in Aylmer, Ontario, Canada and Chihuahua, Mexico. The geographically seperate communities are compared. Word elicitation was used in order to determine any lexical variances between the two communities, and voice onset time and formant frequencies were measured and compared in order to determine phonological variances. Additionally, a matched-guise technique is employed as a means of determining perceived language prestige. The results show that there are very few variances between the two communities, and thus a high degree of language maintenance and resistance to change is indicated. Additionally, the results indicate that the global languages, Spanish and English, have a higher degree of overt prestige, whereas the sociolect has a higher covert prestige. The study shows that lingusitic change can indeed be resisted in isolated communities. Abstrakt: Während sich die Rate der lingusitischen Veränderung und des Sprachverfalles beschleunigt, werden isolierte Sprachen zu Forschungspunkten, da sie es Linguisten ermöglichen, Faktoren zu bestimmen, die zur Aufrechterhaltung der Sprache beitragen. Diese Studie untersucht lexikalische und phonologische Aspekte des Chortitza-Soziolekts, der von Mennoniten in Aylmer, Ontario, Kanada, und Chihuahua, Mexiko, gesprochen wird. Die geographisch getrennten Sprachgemeinschaften werden verglichen. Die Word-Elicitation-Strategie wurde verwendet, um lexikalische Varianzen zwischen den beiden Gemeinschaften zu bestimmen; die Zeit des Auftretens der Stimme sowie Formantfrequenzen wurden gemessen und verglichen, um phonologische Varianzen zu bestimmen. Zusätzlich wird eine Technik angepasster Form verwendet, um das wahrgenommene Sprachprestige zu bestimmen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass zwischen den beiden untersuchten Sprachgemeinschaften nur sehr wenige Unterschiede bestehen und somit ein hoher Grad an Spracherhaltung und Veränderungsresistenz vorzufinden ist. Außerdem wird anhand der Untersuchung der globalen Sprachen, Deutsch und Englisch, gezeigt, dass diese einen höheren Grad an Overt Prestige aufweisen, wohingegen der Soziolekt einen höheren Grad an Covert Prestige hat, und damit auch, dass linguistische Veränderungen in isolierten Gemeinschaften vermieden werden können. 3 Declaration Ich erkläre ehrenwörtlich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst, andere als die angegebenen Quellen nicht benutzt und die den Quellen wörtlich oder inhaltlich entnommenen Stellen als solche kenntlich gemacht habe. Die Arbeit wurde bisher in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form keiner anderen inländischen oder ausländischen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegt und auch noch nicht veröffentlicht. Die vorliegende Fassung entspricht der eingereichten elektronischen Version. Graz, am _______________ _________________________ (Unterschrift der Studierenden) 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………...8 1.2 Research Questions ……………………………………………………….………...….…..8 1.3 Significance of Knowledge………………………………………………………………………….8 2. Theoretical Background Language Change………………………………………………….………9 2.1 Language Maintenance……………………………………………………………………11 2.1.1 Studying the Process of Language Change …………………………………….11 2.1.2 Geographical Linguistic Diffusion…………………………………………..…12 2.2 History of Mennonite Movement …………………………………………………………17 2.2.1 Origins in the 16th Century North Central Europe ……………………………17 2.2.2 Early Anabaptism………………………………………………………………18 2.2.3 Formation of Mennonites ……………………………………………………...20 2.3 Migration and Movement ………………………………………………………………...23 2.3.1 Before Migration- Lingusitic Change in Anabaptist Areas in the 16th century Innovation ……………………………………………………………………………24 2.3.2 New High German……………………………………………………………..26 2.3.3 Eastward Migration…………………………………………………………….29 2.3.4 Migration to North America……………………………………………………31 2.3.5 Plautdietsch Speech Community……………………………………………….32 3. Research Methodology……………………………………………………………………………...33 3.1 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ……………………………………………33 3.2 Participant Sampling………………………………………………………………………34 3.3 Quantitative Research……………………………………………………………………..40 3.3.1 Data Elicitation for Vowels and Consonants…………………………………...40 3.3.1.1 Data Processing Vowels………………………………………………………42 3.3.1.2 Data Processing Consonants…………………………………………………42 3.3.2 Data Elicitation for Lexical Variation………………………………………….42 3.3.2.1 Data Processing for Lexical Variation………………………………………..44 3.4 Qualitative Research………………………………………………………………………44 3.4.1 Matched-guise Technique ………………………………………………...……45 5 3.4.2 Matched-guise Elicitation of Data ……………………………………………..46 3.4.3 Processing of Matched-guise Data……………………………………………..47 4. Results ……………………………………………………………………………………..………47 4.1 Acoustic Analysis of Dipthongs………………………………………………………….48 4.1.2 Acoustic Analysis of VOT…………………………………………………….48 4.2 Lexical Variances…………………………………………………………………………50 4.3 Matched-guise and Language Prestige ……………………………………………..…….61 5. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………...63 5.1 Principles of Isolation………………………………………………………………..……63 5.2 Social and Geographical Diffusion…………………………………………………..……65 5.3 Phonetic Variations…………………………………………………………………..……65 5.4 Lexical Variations……………………………………………………………..…………..66 5.5 Attitude and Language Prestige…………………………………………………………...66 6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………..…67 6.1 Final Conclusions………………………………………………………………………….67 6.2 Limitations of Research………………………………………………………………...…68 6.3 Further Areas of Research…………………………………………………………….…..68 7. Sources………………………………………………………………………………………..……..69 List of Maps Map 1 Anabaptist groupings in 1550:…………………………………………………………….……19 Map 2: 16th Century German Dialects……………………………….…………………………….…..25 List of Images Image 1: Séguy Curve………………………………………………………………………………….13 Image 2: Sweets…………………...…………………………………………………………...………50 Image 3:Sleeves…………………...…………………………………………………………………...51 Image 4:Wedding…………………...…………………………………………………………….…...52 Image 5: Watermelon…………………...……………………………………………………………...53 Image 6: Cheese…………………...…………………………………………………………………..54 Image 7: Bicycle…………………...……………………………………………………………….….55 Image 8: Cup…………………...……………………………………………………………………....57 Image 9: Coffee…………………...…………………………………………………………………...58 Image 10: Pocket…………………...………………………………………………………………….59 Image 11: Mud/muddy………………………...……………………………………………………….60 List of Tables: 6 Table 1: Aw and ouw reflexes in Middle Low German………………………………………30 Table 2: Participant Information……………………………………………………………...35 Table 3: Diphthongization before g, k, ch [IPA x] and r, with possible loss of r…………….40 Table 4 Effects of the High German consonant shift…………………………………………41 Table 5: Frequencies of /oa/…………………………………………………………………..41 Table 6: Frequencies of /ua/…………………………………………………………………..48 Table 7: Acoustic Analysis of VOT…………………………………………………………..49 Table 8: Word elicitation results for the word ‘sweet”……………………………………….49 Table 9: Word elicitation results for the word “sleeve”………………………………………50 Table 10:Word elicitation results for the word “wedding”…………………………………...51 Table 11: Word elicitation results for the word “watermelon”………………………………52 Table 12: Word elicitation results for the term “cheese”……………………………………..53 Table 13: Word elicitation results for the word “bicycle”……………………………………54 Table 14: Word elicitation results for the term “cup”………………………………………...56 Table 15: Word elicitation results for the word “coffee”………………………………….….57 Table 16: Word elicitation results for the term “pocket” ………………………………….…58 Table 17: Word elicitation results for the word “mud” or “muddy”………………………….59 Table 18: Matched-guise mean scores in Aylmer…………………………………………….60 Table 19: Matched-guise mean scores in Chihuahua…………………………………………62 7 1. Introduction As languages are changing at an accelerated pace globally, and some are even dying out, the importance of studying language change and language maintenance becomes increasingly important. Thus, the focus of this work is to determine if and to what extent language change has taken place in the Chortitza sociolects spoken by Mennonites in southern Ontario, Canada and in Chihuahua Mexico. Using these two locations as case studies, this paper also argues that language maintenance is indeed possible and that preservation of endangered languages is a relevant concern. With an assumed awareness that language change and more specifically, language death, are threatening lesser spoken languages throughout the world, it seems natural to correlate the rate of language change and language death to the rapid advancement of global languages. A substantial amount of investigation on language changes has been done in the areas of inevitability of change, how and why languages change, and social attitudes towards change and this paper will both give an overview of some relevant language change theories as well as analyse empirical research related to the lexical and phonetic aspects of the sociolect including similarities, differences, and comparisons to change rates and language death in other languages. The Mennonite group was chosen because