University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics
The University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (PWPL) are published by the Penn Graduate Linguistics Society, the organization of linguistics graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania.
PWPL publishes two volumes per year:
- Proceedings of the annual Penn Linguistics Conference (PLC)
- Selected Papers from New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV)
In addition, we publish an occasional volume of working papers written by students and faculty in the department.
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Publication Pitch Variability Cues Perceptions of Singlish: A Perceptually-guided Approach to Sociophonetic Variation(2024-10) Tan, Yin Lin; Lin, Ting; Sumner, MeghanMultiple models have been proposed to understand variation in the use of English in Singapore, many of which posit a distinction between Singlish, a colloquial variety of English in Singapore, and standard Singapore English. In contrast, an indexical, feature-based model does not draw such distinctions, but instead requires linguists to identify relevant linguistic features and the social meanings indexed by them. Using a perceptually-guided approach for prosodic features, this paper investigates the prosodic features that are associated with listeners' perceptions of Singlish. In an online study, 132 participants completed a speeded forced-choice task, where they chose which of two audio clips sounded 'More Singlish', and a post-task questionnaire. Listeners' descriptions of more Singlish-sounding speakers and clips were leveraged to identify prosodic features associated with Singlish. The results showed that a clip was more likely to be chosen as 'More Singlish' if it had more local pitch variability, less global pitch variability, and faster speech rate. We argue that pitch variability and speech rate cue perceptions of Singlish and are important for an indexical account of English in Singapore. The present study also underscores the utility of speeded forced-choice tasks in investigating sociophonetic variation. Future work can more precisely control for the features of pitch variability and speech rate, identify the specific social meanings indexed by these features, and disentangle the indexical pathways by which these features and their social meanings are connected.Publication Wiggly Lifespan Change in a Crisis: Contrasting Reactive and Proactive Identity Construction(2024-10) Stefánsdóttir, Lilja Björk; Ingason, Anton KarlIn the present study, we analyze the speech of two individuals, each of whom goes through a crisis while serving as a member of the Icelandic Parliament. Connecting our analysis to our previous case study, we find that an MP who assumes a proactive leadership role during a crisis style-shifts toward formal style while the crisis is ongoing. In contrast, we also look at new data from another MP, whose crisis is more personal and characterized by his lack of control, and we find that his reactive response to this situation leads to him shifting toward informal style until the crisis has passed. We hypothesize that these findings are linked to a more general pattern such that a proactive response to a crisis is linked to formal style whereas a reactive response to a crisis is linked to informal style.Publication Visible Articulatory Variation Cueing Sound Change: Lip Rounding and Lip Protrusion Variability in the Mandarin Sibilant Merger(2024-10) Du, Baichen; Pfiffner, Alexandra; Johnson, KeithPhonological contrasts in speech production and perception are frequently studied with acoustic and/or auditory cues. Less is known about how visual cues are incorporated in a contrast, and how these cues are affected by an acoustic merger-in-progress, especially for changes that can be initiated by different articulatory gestures. This paper investigates the acoustic and visual cues in the ongoing Mandarin sibilant merger, where retroflexes are merging with alveolars. We analyzed audiovisual production data using Computer Vision articulography and found that speakers range from having an almost complete visual merger to a complete visual distinction. The direction of the visual cue merger was also consistent with the direction of the acoustic merger. Further, visual cues were found to be correlated with acoustic cues and strongly predicted spectral moments. We extend previous findings of cue weighting to a shared domain of audio and visual cues, and we discuss implications for the directionality of sound change.Publication Combinatorial Effects of Southern French Features on Perception(2024-10) Richy, CéliaThis experiment tests the effects of co-occurrence of Southern features on the perception of spoken Southern French. Specifically, it investigates the perception of word-internal schwas in relation to their co-occurrence with different realisations of a nasal vowel. While nasal vowels in standard French are realised as fully nasalised, they are stereotypically realised with a consonantal nasal coda in Southern varieties. Word-internal schwas are indexically linked to both formality and Southern varieties. The different combinatorial effects of these features are analysed. This study also tests whether the absence of the Southern nasal vowel in Southern French speech can impact speech perception, using a within-subject (Linguistic Conditions) and between-subject (Regional Information Conditions) design. Results show an incremental effect of schwa and Southern nasal vowel presence on the perception of accentedness, while the perceived degree of formality is affected by schwa only when co-occurring with the Southern nasal vowel. There is no evidence that feature absence plays a role in speech perception.Publication Variation in the Acceptability of Singular They in Singapore English(2024-10) Venkatachalam, Alamelu; Starr, Rebecca L.Previously used to refer to generic antecedents and antecedents of unknown gender, singular they has been found to increasingly occur with definite antecedents of known gender. This shift is associated with rising awareness of nonbinary gender identities and the expansion of they as a preferred pronoun. Usage of singular they has been previously examined only within Inner Circle Englishes (e.g., US English). In this study, we investigate sociolinguistic factors that influence the acceptability of singular they in Singapore English, an Outer Circle variety that is pivoting towards internal linguistic norms but also experiences frequent contact with non-local Englishes. We find that singular they is rated as significantly more grammatical by younger respondents; its rating is also constrained by definiteness and interactions between social factors, including gender and religiosity. These factors are found to be stronger predictors of singular they acceptability than linguistic prescriptivism. The diffusion of singular they to Singapore English illustrates the ongoing role of non-local contact in the evolution of this variety.Publication The Social Meanings of Definite Articles with Proper Names in Spanish(2024-10) Fernández-Lizárraga, EvelynIn Spanish, the use of a definite article before a proper name (e.g., La Sara 'the Sara', El Juan 'the Juan', etc.; henceforth, DA+PN) can convey a wide range of social meanings concerning a given referent, from affection to condescension. DA+PNs can also serve other discourse functions without expressing an extreme attitude towards the referent. The present paper argues that these pragmatic effects can be derived from the meanings of definite articles and proper names; DA+PNs mark a referent as both salient (via the definite article) and hearer-old (via the proper name). Where use of a DA+PN is in competition with a bare proper name, the marked co-occurrence of an article with a name invites inferences concerning the relation between a referent and the conversation participants. In using DA+PNs, speakers draw heavily on the common ground to convey a range of meanings regarding their referents. Using experimental data, I first demonstrate the important role of common ground by manipulating the hearer-old status of referents. The results indicate that DA+PNs can be felicitous without an extreme attitudinal context if a proper name is in the common ground. Building on these results, I then analyze how speakers can exploit the common ground, giving rise to a variability of social meanings for DA+PNs.Publication When Differential Object Marking is Optional: The Case of Copala Triqui(2024-10) Clemens, Lauren; Merino, Bertina F.; Rodriguez, Jamilläh; Tollan, RebeccaIn Copala Triqui, an Otomanguean language of Oaxaca, Mexico, the presence of the accusative marker is triggered by factors pertaining to animacy and specificity (Broadwell 2022), which is common for languages with differential object marking (DOM, Silverstein 1976; Comrie 1989; Kalin 2018). This paper investigates optionality in Copala Triqui DOM, specifically as it pertains to the marking of non-human animate direct objects as participants of reversible events. Copala Triqui exhibits both VSO and SVO word orders, raising the question of how DOM and word order interact. We present a 2x2 speeded acceptability judgment experiment that crossed two factors: the presence/absence of accusative marking and VSO/SVO order. Our results show an interaction of word order and accusative marking, with presence of DOM hindering an “acceptable” response for VSO. We also found that different groups of speakers responded differently to the presence of DOM in SVO clauses: only the youngest speakers responded more quickly to SVO clauses with DOM than those without. We consider how language shift in this largely bilingual population might contribute to response time variability.Publication Macro, Micro, and Meso Approaches to Generalizing in Queer Linguistics: Investigating Non-Binary Pronouns in Dutch(2024-10) Vriesendorp, HielkeThe current paper presents data on the use of and variation in third-person singular personal pronouns in Dutch from macro, micro, and meso perspectives. It argues that it is possible to present generalizing macro findings about queer language (users) in a way that combats their marginalization, whilst mitigating the risks of presenting queer language (users) in an essentializing or stereotyping way. It does so by presenting the macro findings that the flexible use of the pronominal systems die/diens and hen/hun was dominant in production amongst inclusion-oriented language users, as well as the findings that they were used frequently and evaluated positively by by non-binary participants (in reference to themselves). This finding can be a tool in order to help fewer non-binary individuals be misgendered. To mitigate the risks of essentializing, additional analyses were conducted at both a micro and a meso level. The micro analysis showed the full range of production and evaluation of non-binary pronouns: other strategies than die/diens and hen/hun, such as name repetition and neologisms, were also used in production, and not all non-binary participants used die/diens or hen/hun as their own standard pronouns or evaluated them positively. Furthermore, in the analysis of the sociolinguistic variation between die/diens and hen/hun, meso categories beyond static social category labels allowed for social factors to be connected to interaction, rather than contributing to the notion that queer language users all share inherent, essential characteristics.Publication Place Orientation and Language Practice: An Update on the Use of Neutral Tone Among Beijing Professionals(2024-10) Dong, Xiao; Liu, Fengming; Nesbitt, Monica; Lin, Chien-Jer CharlesNeutral tone plays a crucial role in shaping the Beijing Mandarin accent. Recent studies have revealed varied usage of neutral tone among Beijing speakers, conditioned by various linguistic and social factors. Crucially, its counterpart, full tone appears to be linked to the internationally/outwardly oriented Beijing residents. This study focuses on Beijing local professionals, a group predominantly engaged in interactions within the local marketplace, to investigate the current usage of the neutral tone and its correlation with place orientation. By conducting sociolinguistic interviews with 36 Beijing natives, we found that speakers with a higher orientation towards Beijing use significantly more neutral tone in their speech than those with a lower orientation. This highlights the important role of place identity in neutral tone variation, even for professionals in the local marketplace. We also observe an overall decrease in the use of neutral tone over the past 30 years among local professionals, highlighting the real-time change of this variant in Beijing toward a less locally marked feature—full tone. These findings confirm previous findings which suggest that place orientation is a significant driver of local dialect maintenance/death. It also demonstrates how orientation functions throughout the community. For Beijing, we see that place orientation has shifted from being a conditioning factor between international and local marketplaces, to being a conditioning factor within the local marketplace.Publication AM/P~OM/P Merger in Hong Kong vs. Toronto Cantonese: An Under-documented Homeland Sound Change in a Heritage Language Context(2024-10) Tse, HolmanHong Kong Cantonese has been described as having developed a dissimilatory merger in which O becomes A in pre-labial contexts (henceforth OM/P vs. AM/P). This change is also one that has been described as completed by the end of the 20th century. This paper presents what may be the first acoustic study addressing the Cantonese AM/P~OM/P merger. It also addresses the extent to which heritage speakers in Toronto, Canada also participate in this change. Analysis involved midpoint F1, F2, and F3 measurements from a total of 38 sociolinguistic interviews from the Heritage Language Variation and Change (HLVC) in Toronto Corpus (Nagy 2011). This amounted to a grand total of 889 tokens of AM/P and 816 tokens of OM/P. The Year of Birth of participants ranged from 1922 to 1998. Mixed effects modeling showed that OM/P is significantly raised (lower F1, p < 0.001), significantly retracted (lower F2, p < 0.001), and significantly more rounded (lower F3, p < 0.01) than AM/P. Pillai Scores for each individual speaker were also calculated. A Pearson Correlation test showed a significant inverse correlation between Year of Birth and Pillai Score (r(36) = -0.361, p< 0.05). While no significant difference was found in F1, F2, or F3 variation based on City or based on Generational Group, the overall results from this study show that a merger that was previously described as complete is, in fact, still ongoing in both homeland (Hong Kong) and heritage (Toronto) varieties of Cantonese.