Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T12:23:34.259Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The spread of raised (ay) and (aw) in Yami: From regional distinctiveness to ethnic identity marker

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2019

Li-Fang Lai  and
Shelome Gooden
Li-Fang Lai*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Shelome Gooden
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Li-Fang Lai, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Linguistics, 2816 Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article extends previous analyses on (ay) and (aw) raising in Yami, an endangered Austronesian language spoken on Orchid Island, Taiwan. Two patterns of (ay) and (aw) variation co-exist in Yami—the more conservative/unraised variants and the innovative/raised forms—each of which indexes an authentic regional identity. Results from recent data suggest that Yami has undergone significant changes in just one generation as the raised variants are now preferred by younger islanders and have started permeating through non-raising areas. Traumatic shifts in the ecological context on Orchid Island help explain this sound change. Economically, rapid shift from fishing/farming to tourism trades promotes daily face-to-face communications among younger islanders, which has catalyzed the spread of nucleus raising to non-raising areas. Sociopsychologically, ongoing intergroup conflicts between islanders and mainland Taiwanese may further trigger the sound change, altering nucleus raising into a new communal system which highlights Yami identity in opposition to Others.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistic Geography , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , October 2018 , pp. 125 - 144
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Anne H., Bader, Miles, Bard, Ellen G., Boyle, Elizabeth, Doherty, Gwyneth, Garrod, Simon, Isard, Stephen, Kowtko, Jacqueline, McAllister, Jan, Miller, Jim, Sotillo, Catherine, Thompson, Henry S. & Weinert, Regina. 1991. The HCRC Map Task Corpus. Language and Speech 34. 351-366.Google Scholar
Blake, Renée & Meredith Josey, M. 2003. The /ay/ diphthong in a Martha’s Vineyard community: What can we say 40 years after Labov? Language in Society 32. 451-485.Google Scholar
Boersma, Paul & Weenink, David. 2016. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer. Version 6.0.17. http://www.praat.org/.Google Scholar
Britain, David. 2004. Geolinguistics and linguistic diffusion. In Ulrich Ammon, Norbert Dittmar, Klaus J. Mattheier & Peter Trudgill (eds.), Sociolinguistics: An international handbook of the science of language and society, 2nd edn., vol. 3, 34-48. New York: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Campbell-Kibler, Kathryn. 2010. Sociolinguistics and perception. Language and Linguistic Compass 4(6). 377-389.Google Scholar
Chen, Hui-Ping. 1998. A sociolinguistic study of second language proficiency, language use, and language attitude among the Yami in Lanyu. Taiwan: Providence University thesis.Google Scholar
Clarke, Sandra. 2009. Sociolinguistic stratification and new dialect formation in a Canadian aboriginal community: Not so different after all? In James N. Stanford & Dennis R. Preston, (eds.), Variation in indigenous minority languages, 109-128. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Crystal, David. 2000. Language death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Di Paolo, Marianna, Yaeger-Dror, Malcah & Wassink, Alicia B.. 2011. Analyzing vowels. In Marianna Di Paolo & Malcah Yaeger-Dror (eds.), Sociophonetics: A student’s guide, 87-106. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dinkin, Aaron J. 2013. Settlement patterns and the eastern boundary of the Northern Cities Shift. Journal of Linguistic Geography 1(1). 4-30.Google Scholar
Drager, Katie. 2010. Sociophonetic variation in speech perception. Language and Linguistic Compass 4(7). 473-480.Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope. 2008. Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4). 453-476.Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope. 2012. Three waves of variation study: The emergence of meaning in the study of sociolinguistic variation. Annual Review of Anthropology 41(1). 87-100.Google Scholar
Fabricius, Anne H. 2008. Vowel normalisation in sociophonetics: When, why, how? In Sociolinguistics Circle. Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Fabricius, Anne H., Watt, Dominic & Johnson, Daniel Ezra. 2009. A comparison of three speaker-intrinsic vowel formant frequency normalization algorithms for sociophonetics. Language Variation and Change 21(3). 413-435.Google Scholar
Fan, Mei-Fang. 2006. Nuclear waste facilities on tribal land: The Yami’s struggles for environmental justice. Local Environment 11(4). 433-444.Google Scholar
Farrar, Kimberley & Jones, Mari C.. 2002. Introduction. In Mari C. Jones & Edith Esch (eds.), Contact-induced language change: An examination of internal, external and non-linguistic factors, 1-16. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Flynn, Nicholas & Foulkes, Paul. 2011. Comparing vowel formant normalization methods. In Wai-Sum Lee & Eric Zee (eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XVII), 683-686. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Foulkes, Paul & Docherty, Gerard. 2006. The social life of phonetics and phonology. Journal of Phonetics 34. 409-438.Google Scholar
Foulkes, Paul, Scobbie, James M. & Watt, Dominic. 2010. Sociophonetics. In William J. Hardcastle, John Laver & Fiona E. Gibbon (eds.), Handbook of phonetic sciences, 2nd edn., 703-754. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Giles, Howard & Powesland, Peter. 1997 [1975]. Accommodation theory. In Nikolas Coupland & Adam Jaworski (eds.), Sociolinguistics: A reader, 232-239. Basingstoke: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Grinevald, Colette. 2003. Speakers and documentation of endangered languages. In Peter K. Austin (ed.), Language documentation and description: Vol. 1, 52-72. London: Hans Rausing Endangered Language Project.Google Scholar
Haugen, Einar. 1972. The ecology of language. In Anwar S. Dil (ed.), The ecology of language: Essays by Einar Haugen, 325-339. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Irvine, Judith T & Gal, Susan 2000. Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In Paul V. Kroskrity (ed.), Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities and identities, 35-83. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.Google Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara & Kiesling, Scott F.. 2008. Indexicality and experience: Exploring the meanings of /aw/-monophthongization in Pittsburgh. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(1). 5-33.Google Scholar
Keiser, Steven H. 2001. Language change across speech islands: The emergence of a midwestern dialect of Pennsylvania German. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University dissertation.Google Scholar
Keiser, Steven H. 2009. When ‘speech islands’ aren’t islands: Parallel independent development, drift, and minimal levels of contact for diffusion. Diachronica 26(1). 1-35.Google Scholar
Kerswill, Paul. 2002. Models of linguistic change and diffusion: New evidence from dialect levelling in British English. Reading Working Papers in Linguistics 6. 187-216.Google Scholar
Kerswill, Paul. 2003. Dialect levelling and geographical diffusion in British English. In David Britain & Jenny Cheshire (eds.), Social dialectology. In honour of Peter Trugill, 223-243. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Kerswill, Paul & Trudgill, Peter. 2005. The birth of new dialects. In Peter Auer, Frans Hinskens & Paul Kerswill (eds.), Dialect change: Convergence and divergence in European languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kerswill, Paul. 2006. Migration and language. In Klaus J. Mattheier, Ulrich Ammon & Peter Trudgill (eds.), Sociolinguistics: An international handbook of the science of language and society, 2nd edn., vol.3, 34-48. New York: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Kiesling, Scott F. 2011. Linguistic variation and change. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Kroskrity, Paul V. 2000. Language ideologies in the expression and representation of Arizona Tewa ethnic identity. In Paul V. Kroskrity (ed.), Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities, and identities, 329-359. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.Google Scholar
Kroskrity, Paul V. 2010. Language ideologies: Evolving perspectives. In Jürgen Jaspers, Jan-Ola Östman & Jef Verschueren (eds.), Society and language use, 192-211. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Labov, William. 1972a [1963]. The social motivation of a sound change. In William Labov, Sociolinguistic Patterns, 1-42. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Labov, William. 1972b. Language in the Inner City. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Labov, William. 2001. Principles of linguistic change, vol. 2: Social factors. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Lai, Li-Fang. 2011. Language contact and language change on Orchid Island. Taiwan: National Taiwan Normal University thesis.Google Scholar
Lai, Li-Fang. 2018. Intonation in contact: Prosodic transfer and innovation among Yami–Mandarin bilinguals. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh dissertation.Google Scholar
Lai, Li-Fang & Hsu, Huiju. 2013. Contact-induced sound change: Analysis of the alveolar lateral fricative in Yami. Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics 4(2). 31-50.Google Scholar
Lai, Li-Fang & Gooden, Shelome. 2014. Sociophonetic variation in the voiced alveolar lateral fricative in Yami. New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) 43, Chicago, October 23–26, 2014.Google Scholar
Li-FangLai, Lai Lai, Lai & Gooden, Shelome. 2015. What does the question sound like? Exploring wh- and yes/no interrogative prosody in Yami. In Proceedings of the 18 th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPHS 2015), paper number 0790.Google Scholar
Lai, Li-Fang & Gooden, Shelome. 2016a. Acoustic cues to prosodic boundaries in Yami: A first look. ISSN: 2333-2042 DOI: 0.21437/Speech Prosody.2016–128.Google Scholar
Lai, Li-Fang & Gooden, Shelome. 2016b. A different story? Reexamination of two diphthongs (ay) and (aw) in Yami. In Sociolinguistics Symposium 21, June 15–18, 2016. Murcia: Universidad de Murcia.Google Scholar
Lai, Li-Fang & Gooden, Shelome. 2017. Language ideologies and shifting boundaries: A case study of Yami diphthongs (ay) and (aw). In Spatial Boundaries and transitions in language and interaction: Perspectives from linguistics and geography, April 23–28, 2017. Monte Verità: University of Zurich.Google Scholar
Levey, David. 2008. Language change and variation in Gibraltar. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Li, Paul J.-K. & Ho, Arline Y.-L.. 1988. Preliminary research report on Yami on Orchid Island. Newsletter for Research in Chinese Studies 7(4). 224-232.Google Scholar
Lin, Yi-Hui J. 2007. A sociolinguistic study on Yami language vitality and maintenance. Taiwan: Providence University thesis.Google Scholar
Lippi-Green, Rosina. 1997. English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lippi-Green, Rosina. 2016. Language ideology and language prejudice. In Edward Finegan & John R. Rickford (eds.), Language in the USA: Themes for the twenty-first century, 289-304. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lu, Hsing-Chuan. 2002. The Tao viewpoints on autonomy of Orchid Island. Indigenous Education Quarterly 27. 29-44.Google Scholar
Milroy, Lesley. 2003. Social and linguistic dimensions of phonological change: Fitting the pieces of the puzzle together. In David Britain & Jenny Cheshire (eds.), Social dialectology: In honour of Peter Trudgill, 155-171. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Montgomery, Michael. 2000. Isolation as a linguistic construct. Southern Journal of Linguistics 24. 41-53.Google Scholar
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2001. The ecology of language evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ramírez-Cruz, Héctor. 2017. Ethnolinguistic vitality in a creole ecology: San Andrés and Providencia. PA: University of Pittsburgh dissertation.Google Scholar
Rau, D. Victoria. 1995. Yami language vitality. Conference on language use and ethnic identity, Institute of Ethnology, June 16, 1995. Taiwan: Academia Sinica, Taipei.Google Scholar
Rau, D. Victoria & Chang, Hui-Huan A.. 2006. Phonological variation and sound change in Yami on Orchid Island. In Henry Y. Chang, Lillian M.C. Huang & Dah-an Ho (eds.), Streams converging into an ocean: Festschrift in honor of Professor Paul Jen-Kuei Li on His 70th Birthday, 461-488. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Rau, D. Victoria, Chang, Hui-Huan A. & Dong, Maa-neu. 2009. A tale of two diphthongs in an indigenous minority language. In James N. Stanford & Dennis R. Preston, (eds.), Variation in indigenous minority languages, 259-280. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Riebold, John. 2013. Vowel Analyzer Praat script. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jmriebold/Praat-Tools/master/Vowel-Analyzer.praat Google Scholar
Romero, Sergio. 2009. Phonological markedness, regional identity, and sex in Mayan: The fricativization of intervocalic /l/ in K’iche’. In James N. Stanford & Dennis R. Preston, (eds.), Variation in indigenous minority languages, 281-297. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. 1992a. Theory of language death. In Matthias Brenzinger (ed.), Language death: Factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa, 7-30. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Schilling, Natalie. 2017. Smith Island English: Past, present, and future—And what does it tell us about the regional, temporal, and social patterning of language variation and change? American Speech 92(2). 176-203.Google Scholar
Schilling, Natalie & Wolfram, Walt. 2016. Dialect dissipation and concentration in apparent and real time: Revisiting Ocracoke and Smith Island. Sociolinguistics Symposium 21, June 15–18, 2016. Murcia: Universidad de Murcia.Google Scholar
Schilling-Estes, Natalie. 1997. Accommodation versus concentration: Dialect death in two post-insular island communities. American Speech 72(1). 12-32.Google Scholar
Schilling-Estes, Natalie. 2000. Investigating intra-ethnic differentiation: /ay/ in Lumbee Native American English. Language Variation and Change 12. 141-174.Google Scholar
Schilling-Estes, Natalie. 2002. On the nature of isolated and post-isolated dialects: Innovation, variation and differentiation. Journal of Sociolinguistics 6(1). 64-85.Google Scholar
Schilling-Estes, Natalie & Wolfram, Walt. 1997. Symbolic identity and language change: A comparative analysis of post-insular /ay/ and /aw/. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 4(1). 83-104.Google Scholar
Schilling-Estes, Natalie & Wolfram, Walt. 1999. Alternative models of dialect death: Dissipation vs. concentration. Language 75(3). 486-521.Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & Communication 23. 193-229.Google Scholar
Stanford, James N. 2016. A call for more diverse sources of data: Variationist approaches in non‐English contexts. Journal of Sociolinguistics 20 (4). 525-541.Google Scholar
Stanford, James N. & Preston, Dennis R.. 2009. The lure of a distant horizon: Variation in indigenous minority languages. In James N. Stanford & Dennis R. Preston, (eds.), Variation in indigenous minority languages, 1-20. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
The Hakka Affairs Council, Taiwan. 2017. 2016 survey of language and self-identified ethnicity among Hakka people. Retrieved August 6, 2018, from https://www.hakka.gov.tw/Content/Content?NodeID=626&PageID=37585 Google Scholar
The Indigenous Historical Justice and Transitional Justice Committee, the Taiwan Presidential Office. 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2018, from http://www.president.gov.tw/NEWS/21457 Google Scholar
The Ministry of the Interior, Executive Yuan, Taiwan. 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2018, from https://www.land.moi.gov.tw/chhtml/content.asp?cid=91&mcid=158&qcode=4/.Google Scholar
Thomas, Erik R. & Kendall, Tyler. 2007. NORM: The vowel normalization and plotting suite. http://ncslaap.lib.ncsu.edu/tools/norm/.Google Scholar
Thomason, Sarah G. & Kaufman, Terrence 1988. Language contact, creolization, and genetic linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Thomason, Sarah G. 2001. Language contact: An introduction. Edinburgh & Washington, DC: Edinburgh University Press/Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter. 1986. Dialects in contact. New York: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tsai, Yu-Yueh. 2009. Mental disorders of the Tao aboriginal minority in Taiwan: Modernity, social change, and the origin of social suffering. Taipei: Linking Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Wassink, Alicia B. & Dyer, Judy. 2004. Language ideology and the transmission of phonological change: Changing indexicality in two situations of language contact. Journal of English Linguistics 32(1). 3-30.Google Scholar
Watt, Dominic & Fabricius, Anne H.. 2011. A measure of variable planar locations anchored on the centroid of the vowel space: A sociophonetic research tool. In Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPHS 2011), 2102–2105.Google Scholar
Wei, Jennifer M. 2006. Language choice and ideology in multicultural Taiwan. Language and Linguistics 7(1). 87-107.Google Scholar
Wolfram, Walt & Schilling-Estes, Natalie. 1995. Moribund dialects and the endangerment canon: The case of the Ocracoke brogue. Language 71(4). 696-721.Google Scholar
Wolfram, Walt, Adger, Carolyn T. & Christian, Donna. 1999. Dialects in schools and communities. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.Google Scholar