Moravians in Prague: A Sociolinguistic Study of Dialect Accommodation in the Czech Republic Volume 1 James Wilson September 2007 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies, University of Sheffield Abstract The thesis reports on the linguistic accommodation of 39 university students from Moravia (the eastern half of the Czech Republic) living in Prague, Bohemia (the western part of the Czech Republic). In Bohemia, the informants' highly-localized native dialects and Standard Czech (SC) - a semi-artificial, archaic and primarily non­ spoken standard with no native speakers - are both stigmatized, although for different reasons. Consequently, it has been 'hypothesized' that speakers of Moravian dialects living in Bohemia quickly reduce the frequency of or avoid stigmatized variants of their localized vernaculars and converge towards the host dialect, Common Czech (CC). Although a non-standard variety, CC is a semi-prestigious koine that is socially unrestricted throughout Bohemia and parts of western Moravia and is, according to some linguists, assuming the role of a national vernacular. However, the 'contact hypothesis' is based solely on introspective data and is ideologically driven, insomuch as it is the product of linguists who promote the social and geographical spread of CC. The present study is the first attempt to systematically describe the results of dialect contact between speakers of CC and Moravian dialects and to test the above hypothesis. To my knowledge, it is the first systematic variationist account of language variation in the Czech RepUblic. The study combines a quantitative analysis of six linguistic variables with both qualitative and ethnographic research and it identifies to what extent speakers of Moravian dialects living in Prague assimilate CC forms, what route their accommodation takes, and which variants of the host variety are most likely to acquired or rejected. A primary aim of the study is to describe the impact of a set of independent social variables on speakers' assimilation of CC forms. Special attention is accorded to speakers' sex, region of origin, length of residence in the host community and network integration. Contents Volume 1 Acknowledgements......................................................................................................... i Transcription conventions ............................................................................................. .iii Czech consonants and their IP A phonemic representations ......................................... iv Czech vowels and their IPA phonemic representations .............................................. y Some basic pronunciation rules .................................................................................... yii Abbreviations and symbols ............................................................................................x 1. Introduction.......... ________ .' __ .... __ .. ____ .... __ ............ __ ........ __ ' __ .............. ____ ........ ________ .. ______ . __ .1 1.1 General introduction ...... __________ ........... __ .. __ .................... __ .......... ____ .. __ ........... 1 1.2 Aims and objectives ... __ ................... ____ ........... ________ .__ ..... ____ .... ____ .............. ____ 6 1.3 Overview of the thesis ................... __ .. ______ ............. ____ ....... __ ......... ______ .. ____ ..... 10 2. Accommodation theory and dialect contact........ ____ . ____ ...... __________ ... ______ . __ ... __ . ____ . __ .... 12 2.1 Accommodation theory: some introductory remarks ...... __ ...... __ . __ . __ .......... 12 2.2 The dialect-contact framework. ____________ ...... ________ ... __ ...... ____ ........... ______ .... __ .. .16 2.3 Research in the dialect-contact framework .. ____ . __ ......... ____ ........ __ .. ____ ..... __ ... 20 3. The Czech language situation .................. __ ....................... __ .............. __ ...... __ ...............27 3.1 Historical background............ __ . __ . __ ...................................... __ ......................27 3.2 Approaches to language regulation. ____ ........... ____________________________________ ........ .32 3.3 Research into spoken Czech....... ________ ..... __ ..................... ________ .. ____ ........ ______ .34 3.4 Research into spoken Czech in the post-communist era and Czech sociolinguistics. __ ............. __ ...... __ ........ __ . __ . __ ... ________ ..... __ .................. __ . __ ... ____ ..... __ .. 41 3.5 The SC-versus-CC debate in the modem era ... __ ..... ______ .... ______ .................. .47 3.6 Varieties of Czech .. ____ ...... __ ................... ____ .. __ ........ ____ ... ____ .. __ .... ____ . __ ............. 55 3.6.1 Standard Czech ... __________ . ____ ....................................... __ .. ______ .. __ .. __ .. 55 3.6.2 Colloquial Czech .......................................................................... 59 3.6.3 Common Czech ............................................................................ 62 3.7 Interpretations of Common Czech .............................................................. 64 3.8 Interdialect .................................................................................................... 67 3.9 Is Common Czech an interdialect .............................................................. .70 3.10 Common Czech in Moravia...................................................................... .74 3.11 The language situation in Moravia........................................................... .78 3.12 Summary..................................................................................................... 83 4. The contact hypothesis ............................................................................................... 86 4.1 General description ...................................................................................... 86 4.2 Problems with the contact hypothesis......................................................... 88 4.3 Empirical studies of dialect contact in the Czech Republic ...................... 92 5. Methodology: fieldwork strategies ............................................................................ 99 5.1 The research site ...........................................................................................99 5.2 Locating and selecting a representative sample of informants.................. 102 5.3 Students as informants in language-based research.................................. .107 5.4 The vernacular.............................................................................................. 11 0 5.5 Interviews ..................................................................................................... 111 5.6 The sociolinguistic interview (11 L ............................................................ .114 5.7 The life-style questions................................................................................ 120 5.8 Languages attitudes...................................................................................... 127 5.9 Social networks and scales of network integration................................... .133 5.10 Participant observation .............................................................................. 141 6. The linguistic variables .............................................................................................. 146 6.1 Selecting the linguistic variables................................................................. 146 6.2 The phonological variables.......................................................................... 150 6 .2.1 V-insertion ..................................................................................... 150 6.2.2 i-raising_ ......................................... _._ ........................................... 157 6.2.3 y-diphthongization ......................... _........................................ _.... 160 6.3 The grammatical variables............................. _............................................. 164 6.3.1 Paradigm unification .............. _..................................................... 165 6.3.2 L-truncation................................................................................... 168 6.3.3 Gender neutralization ................................................................... 170 6.4 Scoring the linguistic variables .................................................................. .172 6.5 Tokens........................................................................................................... 175 6.6 Some general theories of dialect accommodation..................................... .176 6.7 Partial or incomplete accommodation ....................................................... .190 6.8 Applying the general principles to the present contact situation ............. .191 6.9 Predictions with regard to the assimilation of CC forms .......................... .197 6.9.1 V-insertion ..................................................................................... 200 6.9.2 i-raising ........................................................................................201 6.9.3 y-diphthongization .......................................................................202 6.9.4 The grammatical forms ................................................................ 203 6.10 The impact of the social variables on accommodation...........................