The interaction between faithfulness constraints and sociolinguistic variation
-
Manuel Díaz-Campos
Abstract
The present paper examines the constraints governing the acquisition of sociolinguistic variables. More specifically, it investigates the acquisition of the school variety of Venezuelan Spanish characterized, according to previous research, by increased levels of retention of [ð̞] in lower-socioeconomic-class children. The paper offers a quantitative analysis that provides empirical evidence for faithfulness effects in high activation domains, as well as a formal account of the data framed within Optimality Theory (OT). Positional faithfulness constraints are shown to interact with extra-linguistic variables such as socioeconomic class, age, indicating the acquisition of stylistic variation. The results of the empirical investigation reveal a pattern of deletion of intervocalic [ð̞] in younger lower-socioeconomic background children that is consistent with the informal variety spoken in the immediate community. This favorable tendency toward deletion is overruled when intervocalic [ð̞] is located in high activation domains, such as stressed syllable and word-initial position. In contrast, the older, lower-socioeconomic background children have fewer instances of deletion. The results suggest that the grammar of older, lower-socioeconomic class children contains two rankings, one favoring deletion and another one (acquired later) favoring retention. These rankings get activated as a consequence of external constraints such as socioeconomic class, age, and style. Probabilistic weights attached to each one of the rankings account for the general likelihood of selection of each ranking.
Abstract
The present paper examines the constraints governing the acquisition of sociolinguistic variables. More specifically, it investigates the acquisition of the school variety of Venezuelan Spanish characterized, according to previous research, by increased levels of retention of [ð̞] in lower-socioeconomic-class children. The paper offers a quantitative analysis that provides empirical evidence for faithfulness effects in high activation domains, as well as a formal account of the data framed within Optimality Theory (OT). Positional faithfulness constraints are shown to interact with extra-linguistic variables such as socioeconomic class, age, indicating the acquisition of stylistic variation. The results of the empirical investigation reveal a pattern of deletion of intervocalic [ð̞] in younger lower-socioeconomic background children that is consistent with the informal variety spoken in the immediate community. This favorable tendency toward deletion is overruled when intervocalic [ð̞] is located in high activation domains, such as stressed syllable and word-initial position. In contrast, the older, lower-socioeconomic background children have fewer instances of deletion. The results suggest that the grammar of older, lower-socioeconomic class children contains two rankings, one favoring deletion and another one (acquired later) favoring retention. These rankings get activated as a consequence of external constraints such as socioeconomic class, age, and style. Probabilistic weights attached to each one of the rankings account for the general likelihood of selection of each ranking.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
- Spanish complex onsets and the phonetics–phonology interface 15
- Phonological phrasing in Spanish 39
- Hiatus resolution and incomplete identity 62
- Depalatalization in Spanish revisited 74
- Upstepping vowel height 99
- The phonology of nasal consonants in five Spanish dialects 146
- Optimality-theoretic advances in our understanding of Spanish syllable structure 172
- Exceptional hiatuses in Spanish 205
- The Spanish stress window 239
- Morphological structure and phonological domains in Spanish denominal derivation 278
- Gender allomorphy and epenthesis in Spanish 312
- A paradigm account of Spanish number 339
- Prefix boundaries in Spanish varieties 358
- Optimality Theory and language change in Spanish 378
- Duration, voice, and dispersion in stop contrasts from Latin to Spanish 399
- The interaction between faithfulness constraints and sociolinguistic variation 424
- Sonority scales and syllable structure 447
- Foot, word and phrase constraints in first language acquisition of Spanish stress 470
- Acquistion of syllable structure in Spanish 497
- Constraint conflict in the acquisition of clusters in Spanish 525
- Subject index 549
- Index of constraints 559
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
- Spanish complex onsets and the phonetics–phonology interface 15
- Phonological phrasing in Spanish 39
- Hiatus resolution and incomplete identity 62
- Depalatalization in Spanish revisited 74
- Upstepping vowel height 99
- The phonology of nasal consonants in five Spanish dialects 146
- Optimality-theoretic advances in our understanding of Spanish syllable structure 172
- Exceptional hiatuses in Spanish 205
- The Spanish stress window 239
- Morphological structure and phonological domains in Spanish denominal derivation 278
- Gender allomorphy and epenthesis in Spanish 312
- A paradigm account of Spanish number 339
- Prefix boundaries in Spanish varieties 358
- Optimality Theory and language change in Spanish 378
- Duration, voice, and dispersion in stop contrasts from Latin to Spanish 399
- The interaction between faithfulness constraints and sociolinguistic variation 424
- Sonority scales and syllable structure 447
- Foot, word and phrase constraints in first language acquisition of Spanish stress 470
- Acquistion of syllable structure in Spanish 497
- Constraint conflict in the acquisition of clusters in Spanish 525
- Subject index 549
- Index of constraints 559
