Phonological Variation in Rural Jamaican Schools

This book investigates variation in the classroom speech of 7-year-old children who are learning Standard Jamaican English as a second language variety in rural Jamaica. For sociolinguists and second language/dialect researchers interested in the acquisition and use of sociolinguistic variables, an important challenge is how to efficiently account for language learning mechanisms and use. To date, this book is the first to offer an interdisciplinary look into phonological and phonetic variation observed in primary school in Jamaica, that is from the perspective of classic variationist and quantitative sociolinguistics and a usage-based model. Both frameworks function as explanatory for the children’s learning of phono-stylistic variation, which they encounter in their immediate linguistic environment, i.e. most often through their teachers’ speech. This book is intended for sociolinguists interested in child language variation, linguists working on formal aspects of the languages of the Caribbean, applied linguists concerned with the teaching and learning of second language phonology, and any researchers interested in applying variationist and quantitative methods to classroom second language learning.

Michael Westphal, University of Munster, in English World-Wide Vol. 35:3 (2014), pag. 358-362:
Overall, the book is a valuable contribution to the fields of language education, phonetics and phonology of Jamaican language varieties and sociolinguistics of Standard English in Jamaica and the wider Anglophone Caribbean. Particularly Lacoste's pedagogical discussion along the Modelling Replication Framework is worthwhile to the wider field of second language acquisition. On the whole, her theoretical and methodological mix makes the book an interesting work to researchers well beyond Creole studies or second language acquisition.