Oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial Cape Breton
Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2010. Linguistics Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-111) The following paper examines the use of /ay/ variation by high school age speakers in Industrial Cape Breton, on Canada's east coast - a community undergoing rapid social ch...
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ftmemorialunivdc:oai:collections.mun.ca:theses4/72116 2023-05-15T15:46:42+02:00 Oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial Cape Breton Gardner, Matthew Hunt, 1983- Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Linguistics Canada--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island; 2010 viii, 131 leaves : ill., maps some col. Image/jpeg; Application/pdf http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses4/id/72116 Eng eng Electronic Theses and Dissertations (18.01 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Gardner_MatthewHunt.pdf a3475099 http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses4/id/72116 The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries English language--Dialects--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island English language--Diphthongs High school students--Social conditions High school students--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island--Social life and customs Sociolinguistics--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island Text Electronic thesis or dissertation 2010 ftmemorialunivdc 2015-08-06T19:22:11Z Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2010. Linguistics Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-111) The following paper examines the use of /ay/ variation by high school age speakers in Industrial Cape Breton, on Canada's east coast - a community undergoing rapid social change and for which there exists a stigmatized local vernacular. I suggest that these high school students construct their individual and group identities with reference to local norms and broader archetypes from popular culture. Through an qualitative ethnographic and quantitative sociophonetic investigation of Riverview Rural High School, this paper examines the sociolinguistic realities of archetypal social groups like "jocks" (i.e. keepers of the institution), "burnouts" (i.e. rebels against the institution), and "nerds" (i.e those that define themselves as neither of the two), which appear consistently in both sociolinguistic enquiries and public/popular representations of high school culture. In Cape Breton, the standard Canadian pronunciation of /aw/ before tautosyllabic voiceless consonants (i.e. with a mid-central nucleus) competes with both a traditional and an incoming form (with a mid-back and a mid-front nucleus, respectively) (cf. Chambers, 1973; 2006; Hung et al. 1993;Boberg, 2008). My hypothesis marks self-identified "cafeteria people", similar to Eckert's (1989; 2000) "jocks", as the leaders in the use of the incoming or the standard /aw/ pronunciation. "Cafeteria people" and "smokers" (similar to Eckert's "burnouts") are the most significant and numerous of the various social groups at Riverview. They also represent the two extremities of the social spectrum at the school. A small group of "nerds" (cf. Bucholtz, 1999) at the school are the self-professed "gamers", who brag about their enjoyment of non-mainstream culture and disinterest in broad or mainstream cultural practices. A multivariate analysis of data (N=1080) taken from sociolinguistic interviews with 18 students, stratified by gender and three social groups, and coded for both social and linguistic factors, shows the "gamers" leading the use of the standard Canadian form and "smokers" and males leading the use of the incoming non-standard form, while the "cafeteria people" and women defy sociolinguistic expectations and lead the use of the traditional nonstandard form. Thesis Breton Island Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) Canada Breton Island ENVELOPE(141.383,141.383,-66.800,-66.800) Boberg ENVELOPE(22.034,22.034,69.974,69.974) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Memorial University of Newfoundland: Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) |
op_collection_id |
ftmemorialunivdc |
language |
English |
topic |
English language--Dialects--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island English language--Diphthongs High school students--Social conditions High school students--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island--Social life and customs Sociolinguistics--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island |
spellingShingle |
English language--Dialects--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island English language--Diphthongs High school students--Social conditions High school students--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island--Social life and customs Sociolinguistics--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island Gardner, Matthew Hunt, 1983- Oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial Cape Breton |
topic_facet |
English language--Dialects--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island English language--Diphthongs High school students--Social conditions High school students--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island--Social life and customs Sociolinguistics--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island |
description |
Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2010. Linguistics Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-111) The following paper examines the use of /ay/ variation by high school age speakers in Industrial Cape Breton, on Canada's east coast - a community undergoing rapid social change and for which there exists a stigmatized local vernacular. I suggest that these high school students construct their individual and group identities with reference to local norms and broader archetypes from popular culture. Through an qualitative ethnographic and quantitative sociophonetic investigation of Riverview Rural High School, this paper examines the sociolinguistic realities of archetypal social groups like "jocks" (i.e. keepers of the institution), "burnouts" (i.e. rebels against the institution), and "nerds" (i.e those that define themselves as neither of the two), which appear consistently in both sociolinguistic enquiries and public/popular representations of high school culture. In Cape Breton, the standard Canadian pronunciation of /aw/ before tautosyllabic voiceless consonants (i.e. with a mid-central nucleus) competes with both a traditional and an incoming form (with a mid-back and a mid-front nucleus, respectively) (cf. Chambers, 1973; 2006; Hung et al. 1993;Boberg, 2008). My hypothesis marks self-identified "cafeteria people", similar to Eckert's (1989; 2000) "jocks", as the leaders in the use of the incoming or the standard /aw/ pronunciation. "Cafeteria people" and "smokers" (similar to Eckert's "burnouts") are the most significant and numerous of the various social groups at Riverview. They also represent the two extremities of the social spectrum at the school. A small group of "nerds" (cf. Bucholtz, 1999) at the school are the self-professed "gamers", who brag about their enjoyment of non-mainstream culture and disinterest in broad or mainstream cultural practices. A multivariate analysis of data (N=1080) taken from sociolinguistic interviews with 18 students, stratified by gender and three social groups, and coded for both social and linguistic factors, shows the "gamers" leading the use of the standard Canadian form and "smokers" and males leading the use of the incoming non-standard form, while the "cafeteria people" and women defy sociolinguistic expectations and lead the use of the traditional nonstandard form. |
author2 |
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Linguistics |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Gardner, Matthew Hunt, 1983- |
author_facet |
Gardner, Matthew Hunt, 1983- |
author_sort |
Gardner, Matthew Hunt, 1983- |
title |
Oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial Cape Breton |
title_short |
Oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial Cape Breton |
title_full |
Oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial Cape Breton |
title_fullStr |
Oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial Cape Breton |
title_full_unstemmed |
Oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial Cape Breton |
title_sort |
oat and a boat - diphthongs and identity in post-industrial cape breton |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses4/id/72116 |
op_coverage |
Canada--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island; |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(141.383,141.383,-66.800,-66.800) ENVELOPE(22.034,22.034,69.974,69.974) |
geographic |
Canada Breton Island Boberg |
geographic_facet |
Canada Breton Island Boberg |
genre |
Breton Island Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Breton Island Newfoundland studies University of Newfoundland |
op_source |
Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries |
op_relation |
Electronic Theses and Dissertations (18.01 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Gardner_MatthewHunt.pdf a3475099 http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses4/id/72116 |
op_rights |
The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. |
_version_ |
1766381395145392128 |