Social dynamics of Catalan-Spanish contact in the evolution of Catalonian Spanish
type: CreativeWork
description: The research objectives of this dissertation are: (1) to empirically investigate the origin behind two (contact) features of Catalonian Spanish, [ɫ] and [z], inquiring the role of specific linguistic and social factors as relevant in the process of linguistic influence from Catalan, and (2) to empirically uncover the sociolinguistic profile of each of [ɫ] and [z] in the respective social and linguistic ecologies of the Barcelonan bilingual community. Grounded in a speaker-based theory of language change (cf. Weinreich, Labov, & Herzog 1968) and a comparative sociolinguistics study of language contact (cf. Poplack & Levey 2010), this thesis treats linguistic variation as ‘structured’ heterogeneity (cf. Labov 1982). Qualitative and quantitative measures are used to analyze the variable use of the variants within and across different groups of bilingual speakers, consequently providing insight into the spread and development of these variants within the community. Accordingly, by exploring questions related to the development of language influence in a contact situation, a detailed study of the relevant linguistic and social factors serves to explain the origin and diffusion of contact features, therein speaking to their actuation and propagation (cf. Weinreich et al. 1968). Speech data were elicited from 4 experimental studies designed following phonetics and second language research frameworks, and informed by quantitative and variationist approaches to sociolinguistics: (1) careful pronunciation word-list reading, (2) casual speech informal interview, (3) matched guise [covert attitudes], and (4) debriefing interview [overt attitudes]. Tasks were administered to a group of Barcelonan Catalan-Spanish bilinguals, stratified by age, gender, and language dominance, in addition to a group of Catalan-dominant speakers (stratified by gender and age) from surrounding smaller Catalan-prevalent villages, and lastly a control group of monolingual Spanish speakers from Madrid. …
abstract: The research objectives of this dissertation are: (1) to empirically investigate the origin behind two (contact) features of Catalonian Spanish, [ɫ] and [z], inquiring the role of specific linguistic and social factors as relevant in the process of linguistic influence from Catalan, and (2) to empirically uncover the sociolinguistic profile of each of [ɫ] and [z] in the respective social and linguistic ecologies of the Barcelonan bilingual community. Grounded in a speaker-based theory of language change (cf. Weinreich, Labov, & Herzog 1968) and a comparative sociolinguistics study of language contact (cf. Poplack & Levey 2010), this thesis treats linguistic variation as ‘structured’ heterogeneity (cf. Labov 1982). Qualitative and quantitative measures are used to analyze the variable use of the variants within and across different groups of bilingual speakers, consequently providing insight into the spread and development of these variants within the community. Accordingly, by exploring questions related to the development of language influence in a contact situation, a detailed study of the relevant linguistic and social factors serves to explain the origin and diffusion of contact features, therein speaking to their actuation and propagation (cf. Weinreich et al. 1968). Speech data were elicited from 4 experimental studies designed following phonetics and second language research frameworks, and informed by quantitative and variationist approaches to sociolinguistics: (1) careful pronunciation word-list reading, (2) casual speech informal interview, (3) matched guise [covert attitudes], and (4) debriefing interview [overt attitudes]. Tasks were administered to a group of Barcelonan Catalan-Spanish bilinguals, stratified by age, gender, and language dominance, in addition to a group of Catalan-dominant speakers (stratified by gender and age) from surrounding smaller Catalan-prevalent villages, and lastly a control group of monolingual Spanish speakers from Madrid. …
author: Davidson, Justin Spencer
language: en
keywords: Language contact, Catalan, Spanish, Language variation and change, sociolinguistics, sociophonetics, lateral velarization, fricative voicing
date published: 2015-09-29T20:38:21Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:26:31Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/88028