A VARIATIONIST ACCOUNT OF VOICE ONSET TIME AMONG BILINGUAL WEST INDIANS IN PANAMA By DELANO SYDNEY LAMY A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2012 1 © 2012 Delano Sydney Lamy 2 Para mi hijo, Delano Emmanuel, por llegar en el momento oportuno a llenar mi vida de luz durante este proceso 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to express my gratitude to the faculty of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies and to my dissertation committee. I especially want to thank my advisor, Jessi Aaron, for introducing me to the world of variationist sociolinguistics and functionalist grammar, and for seeing the potential in me to be a good researcher. I truly appreciate the confidence you have had in me throughout these years. To Gillian Lord, thank you for your valuable advice and for allowing me to gain so much teaching experience during my years at UF. To James Essegbey, thank you for encouraging me to delve further into the world of creolistics. To Hélène Blondeau, thank you for your thoughtful comments and having me see the big picture in this study. To Ana de Prada, thank you for suggesting that I study voice onset time. Estabas ahí desde el comienzo de este proyecto. To Jason Rothman, thank you for having confidence in me as a researcher and as a teacher. I’m glad I had the opportunity to work with you. To David Pharies, thank you so much for your constant praises. Although I may not have expressed it, your view of me as an academic and an intellectual means a lot to me. I also want to thank Sue Ollmann, Bobbye Pilkington, and Tania Fleming for all their work in Dauer 170. I would also like to thank Lucía Montas, Moniqua Acosta-Heyman, Alexander Torres, Valerie Trujillo, Meagan Day, Sara Zahler, Becky Halloran, Jake Firestine, Tiffany Judy, Anne Lingwall, Donna Gillespie, Elisabet Liminyana, Francesc Morales, Gerardo Muñoz, and Heather Kaiser for their support during my time at UF. You have been such great colleagues, and most importantly, friends. I also want to express my sincerest gratitude to Diego Pascual y Cabo por siempre estar pendiente y por darme ánimo en los tiempos difíciles. Desde que te conocí, has sido tan bueno conmigo, y te 4 lo agradezco mucho. To Jennifer Cabrelli-Amaro, thank you for helping me with the rater validation for this study, but even more for being such a great person and for teaching me Portuguese. I especially want to acknowledge my very close friends, Maria Fionda and Katherine Honea. You have been such a support to me and my family. It has been an amazing experience to study linguistics with you and to be friends outside the world of academia. I truly appreciate the friendship I have with both of you. I also want to acknowledge the families of the SPS graduate students, especially Chad Atkinson, João Felipe Amaro, Laurie Donnelly-Pascual, and Don Trujillo. You were a support not only to me, but also to Briane and Emmanuel. I must acknowledge Daniel Johnson for introducing me to Rbrul last year at SSS3 in Glasgow, and for being so available to me after that to help me with statistics. I truly appreciate your assistance in this project. I also want to recognize Jennifer Leeman, my first sociolinguistics professor who encouraged me to pursue an academic career in Hispanic Linguistics. I am so grateful that we crossed paths. A La familia Bailey, gracias por conseguirme muchas de las entrevistas que hice en la Ciudad de Panamá. Agradezco de todo corazón su ayuda y su apoyo. A Raul Houlstan for your support in Bocas del Toro and for allowing me to use you as a contact to collect interviews in Bastimentos. Also, to La Sociedad de Amigos del Museo Afro Antillano de Panama (SAMAAP) and Professor Ifeoma Kiddoe Nwankwo, principal investigator of Voices from Our America (VFOA), for their work in the West Indian community of Panama. Quiero agradecerle a mi compadre, Luis Martínez, quien realmente es como un hermano. Tú has sido un apoyo espiritual increíble para mí. Estaré siempre agradecido 5 por tu amistad y tus consejos. También quiero darles gracias a sus padres, Luis Martínez y la señora Marianela por ser como mis padres allá en Panamá. Me aceptaron en su hogar y me trataron como un hijo más. Los quiero mucho. Quiero reconocer también a mi amiga, Anamaría Bejarano Ávila, quien siempre me apoya en todo y siempre está disponible para ayudarme en mis estudios. Agradezco mucho tu amistad. También a Óscar Lara-Yejas, gracias por escribirme el programa. ¡Me ahorraste tanto tiempo! I also want to acknowledge my wonderful family: mis tías Celia y Jacqueline, my grandma Lynn, my father, my brothers and sister, and mis tíos René y Claudio. I especially want to thank my cousin Oneal Bastidas y su esposa, Joanna, por permitirme quedar en su casa cada vez que viajo a Panamá. Gracias a sus hijos también por tratarme no sólo como un primo, pero también como un tío. Los quiero de todo corazón. I want to thank my mother who has supported me all my life. The only thing I can say is that you are truly a blessing from God. I want to acknowledge my brother, Daanyal, for showing me love and support. To Maple, thank you for everything you have done for me and my family during my college career. Lastly, but certainly not least, I want to thank my wife, Briane Accius and my son, Delano Emmanuel. You two are the reason why I have been able to persevere in this process. Thank you for putting up with me, Briane, through all the ups and downs of this dissertation process. I thank God for your presence in my life. Delano Emmanuel, mi principito, gracias por aguantar horas en la cuna mientras escribía esta tesis. Te amo, mi hijito. Todo esto, lo hice para ti. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... 10 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 12 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 15 1.1 Language Contact in Panama .......................................................................... 15 1.2 Pidgins and Creoles .......................................................................................... 20 1.2.1 Theories of Creole Genesis ..................................................................... 22 1.2.2 The Creole Continuum ............................................................................ 26 1.2.3 Features of Creoles ................................................................................. 27 1.3 Bilingualism and Language Attitudes among West Indians in Panama ............ 29 1.4 Creole English-speaking West Indians in Bastimentos ..................................... 32 1.5 The Language Contact Study ........................................................................... 37 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 40 2.1 Language Contact and Contact-induced Change ............................................. 40 2.1.1 Social Factors .......................................................................................... 42 2.1.2 Linguistic Predictors and Mechanisms .................................................... 45 2.1.3 Linguistic Outcomes of Language Contact .............................................. 51 2.2 The Comparative Variationist Enterprise .......................................................... 53 2.3 Sound Change Due to Language Contact ........................................................ 55 2.3.1 Voice Onset Time .................................................................................... 56 2.3.2 Spanish VOT Values ............................................................................... 60 2.3.3 English VOT Values ................................................................................ 60 2.3.4 Factors Conditioning VOT ....................................................................... 61 2.3.5 English vs. Creole English VOT .............................................................. 68 2.4 Usage-based Models of Language ................................................................... 69 2.4.1 The Usage Event ..................................................................................... 70 2.4.2 Cognitive Processes ................................................................................ 71 2.4.3 The Social Aspect of the Usage-based Approach ................................... 78 2.4.4 Second Language Phonology ................................................................. 79 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 87 3.1 Language Use and the Vernacular ................................................................... 87 3.2 Participants ....................................................................................................... 89 7 3.3 Research Questions ......................................................................................... 91 3.4 Hypotheses ......................................................................................................