Deracialising the GOOSE vowel in South African English
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Rajend Mesthrie
Abstract
The practices associated with the policy of apartheid entrenched easily-identifiable ethnic varieties of English in South Africa. The collapse of the policy in the 1990s removed social barriers between people and encouraged freedom of association. With new sustained social networks have come new emergent norms. This paper examines the extent of change in different varieties of South African English, focussing on socio-phonetics within a Labovian framework. The greatest change is evident amongst younger people associated with the deracialising middle classes. Focus will fall on the GOOSE vowel in word list style among 24 female speakers from 4 ethnic groups. The research shows that there are different degrees of accommodation among Black, Coloured and Indian female speakers to the prestige White norms.
Abstract
The practices associated with the policy of apartheid entrenched easily-identifiable ethnic varieties of English in South Africa. The collapse of the policy in the 1990s removed social barriers between people and encouraged freedom of association. With new sustained social networks have come new emergent norms. This paper examines the extent of change in different varieties of South African English, focussing on socio-phonetics within a Labovian framework. The greatest change is evident amongst younger people associated with the deracialising middle classes. Focus will fall on the GOOSE vowel in word list style among 24 female speakers from 4 ethnic groups. The research shows that there are different degrees of accommodation among Black, Coloured and Indian female speakers to the prestige White norms.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Series editor’s preface ix
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction xv
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1. Focus on
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1.1 Africa
- Deracialising the GOOSE vowel in South African English 3
- Codifying Ghanaian English 19
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1.2 The Caribbean
- Corpus linguistics meets sociolinguistics 39
- Rhoticity in educated Jamaican English 61
- Standard English in the secondary school in Trinidad 83
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1.3 Australia and New Zealand
- Australian English as a regional epicenter 107
- Finding one’s own vowel space 125
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1.4 Asia
- Language in Hong Kong 143
- The roles of English in Southeast Asian legal systems 155
- Not just an “Outer Circle”, “Asian” English 179
- “Where’s the party yaar !” 207
- Innovation in second language phonology 227
- Intelligibility assessment of Japanese accents 239
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2. The global perspective
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2.1 Comparative studies
- World Englishes between simplification and complexification 265
- Global feature — local norms? 287
- The shared core of the perfect across Englishes 309
- Word-formation in New Englishes 331
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2.2 New approaches
- The indigenization of English in North America 353
- Perspectives on English as a lingua franca 369
- A discourse-historical approach to the English native speaker 385
- World Englishes and Peace Sociolinguistics 407
- New voices in the canon 415
- Index 433
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Series editor’s preface ix
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction xv
-
1. Focus on
-
1.1 Africa
- Deracialising the GOOSE vowel in South African English 3
- Codifying Ghanaian English 19
-
1.2 The Caribbean
- Corpus linguistics meets sociolinguistics 39
- Rhoticity in educated Jamaican English 61
- Standard English in the secondary school in Trinidad 83
-
1.3 Australia and New Zealand
- Australian English as a regional epicenter 107
- Finding one’s own vowel space 125
-
1.4 Asia
- Language in Hong Kong 143
- The roles of English in Southeast Asian legal systems 155
- Not just an “Outer Circle”, “Asian” English 179
- “Where’s the party yaar !” 207
- Innovation in second language phonology 227
- Intelligibility assessment of Japanese accents 239
-
2. The global perspective
-
2.1 Comparative studies
- World Englishes between simplification and complexification 265
- Global feature — local norms? 287
- The shared core of the perfect across Englishes 309
- Word-formation in New Englishes 331
-
2.2 New approaches
- The indigenization of English in North America 353
- Perspectives on English as a lingua franca 369
- A discourse-historical approach to the English native speaker 385
- World Englishes and Peace Sociolinguistics 407
- New voices in the canon 415
- Index 433
