Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 4. Coronalisation in the German multi-ethnolect

Evidence for regional differentiation?
  • and

Abstract

We investigate coronalisation, i.e. the fronting of the palatal fricative /ç/, in the multi-ethnolect spoken by young people in the city of Stuttgart. In contrast to a previous study on the Berlin multi-ethnolect, which claims a merger of /ç/ with /ʃ/, we only find a weak and unstable tendency among our speakers to reduce the difference between the two dorsal fricatives /ç/ and /ʃ/, as compared to a group of similar speakers living in a relatively monoethnic neighbourhood. Depending on the phonetic measurements used, this tendency mostly remains below the threshold of significance. We discuss two interpretations of these findings, one linked to the ambient German dialects, the other postulating the beginning of regional differentiation between the German multi-ethnolects.

Abstract

We investigate coronalisation, i.e. the fronting of the palatal fricative /ç/, in the multi-ethnolect spoken by young people in the city of Stuttgart. In contrast to a previous study on the Berlin multi-ethnolect, which claims a merger of /ç/ with /ʃ/, we only find a weak and unstable tendency among our speakers to reduce the difference between the two dorsal fricatives /ç/ and /ʃ/, as compared to a group of similar speakers living in a relatively monoethnic neighbourhood. Depending on the phonetic measurements used, this tendency mostly remains below the threshold of significance. We discuss two interpretations of these findings, one linked to the ambient German dialects, the other postulating the beginning of regional differentiation between the German multi-ethnolects.

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 1. Cognitive attributes of preclassical phonology 15
  6. Chapter 2. A Swedish merger 36
  7. Chapter 3. Social patterns in s-palatalisation in Moroccan and Turkish ethnolectal Dutch 56
  8. Chapter 4. Coronalisation in the German multi-ethnolect 79
  9. Chapter 5. Sociophonetic variation in a context of dialect contact 100
  10. Chapter 6. Nuclear pitch accents in the assertive speech prosody of Acapulco, Mexico 119
  11. Chapter 7. Little words, small moves 140
  12. Chapter 8. After dialectalisation 164
  13. Juan Andrés Villena-Ponsoda’s publications 183
  14. Index 193
The Continuity of Linguistic Change
This chapter is in the book The Continuity of Linguistic Change
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.31.04aue

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 1. Cognitive attributes of preclassical phonology 15
  6. Chapter 2. A Swedish merger 36
  7. Chapter 3. Social patterns in s-palatalisation in Moroccan and Turkish ethnolectal Dutch 56
  8. Chapter 4. Coronalisation in the German multi-ethnolect 79
  9. Chapter 5. Sociophonetic variation in a context of dialect contact 100
  10. Chapter 6. Nuclear pitch accents in the assertive speech prosody of Acapulco, Mexico 119
  11. Chapter 7. Little words, small moves 140
  12. Chapter 8. After dialectalisation 164
  13. Juan Andrés Villena-Ponsoda’s publications 183
  14. Index 193
Downloaded on 13.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/silv.31.04aue/html
Scroll to top button