TEACHERS’ TALK ABOUT TALK: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE SOCIAL MEANING OF VARIATION IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA by Veronica Lifrieri BA, University of Buenos Aires, 1993 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 2005 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Veronica Lifrieri It was defended on April 29, 2014 and approved by Dr. Christina B. Paulston, Professor Emerita, Department of Linguistics Dr. Barbara Johnstone, Professor, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon University Dr. Gonzalo Lamana, Associate Professor, Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures Dr. Shelome Gooden, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Scott F. Kiesling, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics ii Copyright © by Veronica Lifrieri 2014 iii TEACHERS’ TALK ABOUT TALK: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE SOCIAL MEANING OF VARIATION IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA Veronica Lifrieri, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2014 My dissertation investigates the (re)creation of folk beliefs about language among educators (i.e. teachers, principals and vice-principals) from elementary schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina. By drawing from Folk Linguistics/Perceptual Dialectology and Sociocultural Linguistics, my dissertation examines how educators’ explicit metapragmatic talk enacts recurrent characterizations and valorizations of four salient linguistic variables of Buenos Aires (BA) Spanish. The variables included in this study are: (1) the pronominal system of deference, (2) yeísmo, (3) syllable-final /s/ production, and (4) the use of English. Explicit metapragmatic comments about these variables were elicited by a perceptual task, and obtained through semi- structured interviews with thirty-two educators from public, private and semi-private schools in the northern metropolitan area of Buenos Aires. My discourse analysis of these interviews shows how the variables are linked to different social categories, and participate in local social registers. My findings extend sociolinguistic knowledge about the stereotypical meanings of these linguistic variables in BA Spanish, and provide discursive evidence of how uses and users of different linguistic features are perceived and valued differently by educators in Buenos Aires. Given the decisive role of educators’ attitudes towards language varieties on students’ school performance and interrelationships, my dissertation offers a foundation for developing much- needed sociolinguistic training among educators in Buenos Aires. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... XI 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 ORGANIZATION OF THE DISSERTATION ................................................ 5 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 7 2.1 SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIATION IN EDUCATION ................................... 7 2.1.1 The role of teachers ....................................................................................... 15 2.2 STUDYING THE SOCIAL MEANING OF VARIATION ........................... 21 2.2.1 The Socio-cultural Linguistic Approach ..................................................... 23 2.2.2 Folk metapragmatics in metalinguistic talk ................................................ 29 2.2.3 Metasociolinguistic stances as metapragmatic resources .......................... 37 3.0 THE STUDY ............................................................................................................... 42 3.1 SPANISH IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA ............................................. 42 3.2 THE VARIABLES............................................................................................. 45 3.3 THE PARTICIPANTS ...................................................................................... 46 3.4 THE INSTRUMENTS....................................................................................... 50 3.4.1 Perceptual task ............................................................................................... 50 3.4.2 Imitation task ................................................................................................. 54 3.4.3 Semi-structured interviews ........................................................................... 55 v 4.0 THE ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................ 56 4.1 TEACHERS’ TALK ABOUT THE PRONOMINAL SYSTEM OF DEFERENCE ..................................................................................................................... 58 4.1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 58 4.1.2 The ethnometapragmatics of vos .................................................................. 62 4.1.3 The ethnometapragmatics of usted .............................................................. 75 4.1.4 The ethnometapragmatics of vos + boludo/a ............................................... 92 4.1.5 Discussion of past and present findings ..................................................... 100 4.2 TEACHERS’ TALK ABOUT YEÍSMO ........................................................ 102 4.2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 102 4.2.2 The ethnometapragmatics of yeísmo .......................................................... 104 4.2.3 Discussion of past and present findings ..................................................... 118 4.3 TEACHERS’ TALK ABOUT SYLLABLE-FINAL /S/ PRODUCTION... 120 4.3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 120 4.3.2 The ethnometapragmatics of syllable-final /s/ aspiration and deletion .. 121 4.3.3 Discussion of past and present findings ..................................................... 142 4.4 TEACHERS’ ABOUT THE USE OF ENGLISH ......................................... 144 4.4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 144 4.4.2 The ethnometapragmatics of using English words ................................... 146 4.4.3 Discussion of past and present findings ..................................................... 160 5.0 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................... 162 6.0 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 180 vi 6.1 OUTLINE FOR AN IN-SERVICE TRAINING COURSE ON DIALECT AWARENESS COURSE ................................................................................................. 185 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................ 189 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................................ 195 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 207 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Number and percentage of educators in my sample according to age categories in CND. ....................................................................................................................................................... 48 Table 2. Verbal forms for vos in BA Spanish contrasted with verbal forms of tú in other varieties. ....................................................................................................................................................... 58 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Use of vos + boludo, female speaker: ¿Podés cambiar el horario, boludo? .............. 195 Figure 2. Use of vos + boludo, male speaker: ¿Podés cambiar el horario, boludo? ................. 196 Figure 3. Use of usted, female speaker: ¿Puede cambiar el horario? ....................................... 196 Figure 4. Use of usted, male speaker: ¿Puede cambiar el horario?........................................... 197 Figure 5. Voiced yeísmo, female speaker: Ya voy para allá. ...................................................... 197 Figure 6. Voiced yeísmo, male speaker: Ya voy para allá. ......................................................... 198 Figure 7. Voiceless yeísmo, female speaker: Ya voy para allá. .................................................. 198 Figure 8. Voiceless yeísmo, male speaker: Ya voy para allá. ..................................................... 199 Figure 9. Aspiration of /s/, female speaker: Estamos bien. ........................................................ 199 Figure 10. Aspiration of /s/, male speakers: Estamos bien. ........................................................ 200 Figure 11. Deletion of /s/, female speaker: Estamos bien. .......................................................... 200 Figure 12. Deletion of /s/, male speaker: Estamos bien. ............................................................. 201 Figure 13. High-frequency words, Spanish, female speaker: ¿Me das el lápiz, por favor?