25.2393, Review: Sociolinguistics; English: Hirano (2013)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-25-2393. Mon Jun 02 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.2393, Review: Sociolinguistics; English: Hirano (2013)

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Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 15:38:09
From: Jason Sarkozi [jtlolac at gmail.com]
Subject: Dialect Contact and Social Networks

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-4665.html

AUTHOR: Keiko  Hirano
TITLE: Dialect Contact and Social Networks
SUBTITLE: Language Change in an Anglophone Community in Japan
SERIES TITLE: Bamberger Beiträge zur Englischen Sprachwissenschaft / Bamberg Studies in English Linguistics - Band 56
PUBLISHER: Peter Lang AG
YEAR: 2013

REVIEWER: Jason Steve Sarkozi, Central Michigan University

SUMMARY

This book is addressed to readers, especially sociolinguists, interested in
the epiphenomenon of linguistic change that occurs alongside dialect contact.
The author attempts to fill a gap in the research on linguistic variation and
change, specifically, contact-induced dialect change in communities where
English is not the primary language (e.g., Japan). Using a theoretical lens
that relies heavily on Accommodation Theory, Hirano argues that the direction
and the amount of dialect accommodation in a second language (L2) situation is
greatly affected by the people with whom the speaker has close contact, and
that the speaker’s social network structures can be reliable predictors of
their individual dialect maintenance and shift. In this book, the author is
motivated to answer the following questions: (1) What happens to the
linguistic behavior of native speakers of English (NSsE) in an L2 situation in
an English as a foreign language (EFL)/Expanding Circle like Japan, where
dialect mixing is constantly taking place?; (2) Do NSsE acquire or accommodate
different dialects even in a community where speakers only have short- to
medium-term contact with other speakers?; (3) If they do, who accommodates to
whose dialect?; (4) How can the social networks of the speakers be influential
on the speakers’ linguistic behavior if their network ties are not necessarily
strong and close-knit? The author analyzed 12 linguistic variables from 39
individual informants from England, North America, and New Zealand in an
attempt to answer the aforementioned questions. All tokens came from
interviews, which took place in Japan between 2000 and 2001, from the same
informants on two separate occasions (in the fall and then again in the
following summer/fall) a year apart.

A lack of studies on the heterogeneity of the varieties of English spoken in
places where English is not the primary language has contributed to a gap in
research on dialect contact. In Chapter 1, Hirano offers the reader a brief
glimpse into previous studies conducted on dialect contact and a theoretical
background on Accommodation Theory and social network analysis. Citing
Kachru’s “Expanding Circle” (1985: 12-15), in which English is a [foreign]
language and no regional dialect or institutional norm privileging one dialect
over another has been established, the author explains that the English
dialect contact situation in the Anglophone community of Japan is quite
different from the communities where dialect contact is typically studied,
and, thus, useful in understanding relevant linguistic processes. The chapter
concludes with a chapter-to-chapter breakdown of the book’s structure.

In Chapter 2, Hirano gives an introduction to English education in Japan and
the demand for native-speaking English teachers there. She first outlines the
short history of English education in Japan and the demand for NSsE, resulting
in a growing population of Anglophone residents in Japan. Then, she presents
information about the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program and other
English teaching jobs that attract NSsE to Japan. Lastly, she discusses the
possible linguistic influence of social networks on the English of the JET
Program participants, and English teachers at private institutions, who
establish relationships with speakers from a variety of English dialects, as
well as non-NSsE.

Linguistic change in a dialect contact situation and the social network
effects on it are key themes in this book. Thus, in Chapter 3, the author,
first, reviews theoretical frameworks and previous studies on dialect contact
by examining works relating to speech accommodation, second dialect
acquisition, long-term accommodation, and new-dialect formation, all in an L1
setting where contact occurs between native speakers. Then, she discusses
previous research done on language contact with non-NSsE. Finally, she
examines studies related to social network analysis.

In Chapter 4, in an effort to better understand the linguistic behavior and
the social networks of Anglophones in Japan, Hirano proposes the following
three hypotheses: 1) The speaker’s linguistic behavior and change are strongly
correlated to his or her social network in the dialect contact situation of
the Anglophone community in Japan; 2) The stronger speakers’ social networks
with NSsE from their home country area are, the more encouraged these speakers
are to maintain their vernacular features and/or refrain from adopting
features of other English varieties; 3) The stronger the social networks of
NSsE with speakers of different English varieties are, the more they will
shift away from their vernacular features and/or adopt features of other
English varieties. She then presents the following seven research questions,
which are later addressed in Chapter 8: 1) Which type of network effect has
the greater impact on the linguistic change of individual speakers: positive
network effect or negative network effect?; 2) Are social network effects more
strongly correlated with positive accommodation or with negative
accommodation?; 3) Which of the linguistic features demonstrate social network
effects and, as a result, are subject to accommodation by the NSsE?; 4) Is the
dialect accommodation process of the Anglophone community in Japan similar to
the processes observed in regions where English is the primary language?; 5)
Is intelligibility connected to social network effects on linguistic
variables?; 6) Is the high percentage of Americans within the Anglophone
community in Japan reflected in the linguistic changes?; 7) What similar and
different tendencies will the informants from the three countries -- England,
the United States and New Zealand -- show in terms of the social network
effects on their linguistic behavior in a dialect contact situation in Japan?

Chapter 5 first introduces the twelve linguistic variables -- word-final
intervocalic (t), word-medial intervocalic (t), postvocalic (t),
non-prevocalic (t), intrusive (r), /-t,d/ deletion, TRAP vowel, BATH vowel,
START vowel, LOT vowel, THOUGHT vowel, and CLOTH vowel -- that the author
selected to study and her reasons behind their selection. Then, in order to
test the hypotheses presented in Chapter 4, Hirano gives a description of the
three varieties of English in question -- Received Pronunciation (RP), General
American (GA), or New Zealand (NZE)  -- and how linguistic variables are
connected to each, respectively.

In Chapter 6, the author first presents the methodology of the study, namely,
when and where the data were collected, who participated in the study, and how
the linguistic data were analyzed. Then, she presents the results of the
social network analysis, followed by a description of the statistical methods
that she employed. Finally, she lists the recording device and software used
for the linguistic analysis of the audio data.

In Chapter 7, Hirano presents the result of the linguistic data analysis for
each linguistic variable among English, American, and New Zealand informants
between two points in time. The discussion of each linguistic variable first
begins with an introduction, a description of the change in choice of variants
over real time, the change in relation to social networks, and the results.
Multiple regression analyses according to the informants’ home country
demonstrate the key findings. For example, in relation to change in choice of
variants of word-final intervocalic (t), she found strong network effects
after a year in Japan. There was a tendency to reduce the use of flaps and
increase the use of glottal stops in English informants with a high British
network index score. On the other hand, speakers with a high Australasian
network index score tended to decrease their usage of glottal stops. With
regard to speakers of American English, the average percentage use of glottal
stops significantly increased, whereas the use of flaps significantly
decreased.

In Chapter 8, Hirano first discusses the findings for her 39 individual
informants. Then, she presents the results from Chapter 7 in relation to
Accommodation Theory and the effects of social networks introduced in Chapter
3. Lastly, the author attempts to substantiate the three hypotheses and answer
the seven research questions from Chapter 4. For instance, six of the 12
linguistic variables revealed significant social network effects among the
informants from the three countries: word-final intervocalic (t), word-medial
intervocalic (t), postvocalic (t), /-t,d/ deletion, TRAP, and BATH. All
together, her findings suggest that American informants, as a whole, who spend
time with members of the other dialect groups appear to be more susceptible to
linguistic change than their English and New Zealander counterparts.

As a conclusion, in Chapter 9, Hirano first evaluates the characteristics of
the Anglophone community in Japan and the findings of the present study. After
examining the theoretical implications of the findings, she argues that, in
this community, a speaker’s social network does indeed impact his/her
linguistic behavior and can reliably predict dialect maintenance and shift.
The three hypotheses were tested and confirmed, revealing that a speaker’s
linguistic behavior and change are indeed strongly correlated to his/her
social network, the stronger his/her networks with NSsE from his/her home
country are, the more encouraged he/she is to maintain his/her vernacular
features and/or refrain from adopting features of other English varieties, and
the stronger the social network of NSsE with speakers of different English
varieties are, the more he/she will shift away from his/her vernacular
features and/or adopt features of other English varieties. Lastly, the author
summarizes the study’s weaknesses and limitations (e.g., sample size, not
covering relevant social factors such as speaker’s age and gender), and offers
suggestions for future research.

EVALUATION

It is apparent that Hirano spent a considerable amount of time and effort in
creating this highly data-driven study. Each chapter (with the exception of
Chapters 4, 8, and 9) begins with an introduction and ends with a summary,
facilitating the readability of the content and offering cohesion to each
section of the book. Chapter 3, especially, is a vastly rich source of
information for any researcher requiring an in-depth account of Accommodation
Theory and previous research on dialect contact and social network analysis.

In Chapter 6, the author presents a very thorough account of when, where, and
how she chose her informants, collected (including problems that occurred
during its collection) and coded the linguistic data, and collected and
measured the informants’ social networks; and she did so with the aid of
visuals and in explicit, meticulous detail. However, I feel that the
presentation of this information could have taken place earlier in the book as
to not leave the reader wondering how the data was going to be collected. It
might have been more useful to include a brief summary of the data collection
process in Chapter 4, where the hypotheses and research questions were
presented.

In Chapter 5, Hirano provides three maps outlining all geographical accent
groups (e.g., English in the south of England) within each dialect. At first,
it is unclear which variant pertains to which dialect until the reader reaches
the end of the chapter and is presented with a table comprising a comparison
of the typical phonetic realization of each variable with respect to all three
national dialects. It is also important to mention that the author assumes
that, because the informants are all university graduates and English teachers
in schools in Japan, their speech is closer to standard-like pronunciations
than that of the average speaker. However, I found this to be problematic
since sociolinguists, such as Lippi-Green (2012: 61) may argue that using
terms like “standard,” or in this case “standard-like,” is “ideological and
inaccurate.” It might have been more accurate if the author would have posited
a ‘posteriori’ social categorization of the informants’ English based on the
data collected rather than an ‘a priori’ assumption based on her belief
according to their educational backgrounds and profession.

This book is a significant addition to the field of sociolinguistics. One of
its main strengths is its comprehensiveness. The structure of each chapter
facilitates reading and makes this book a great resource for understanding the
effects of social networks on phonological accommodation, especially of
socially mobile adults living in settings where English is a foreign language.
Despite the lucidity of the content in this book and its painstaking
descriptiveness, I would not recommend its use in an undergraduate
introductory course on sociolinguistics due to its length and breadth.
However, any graduate-level seminar on dialect contact would greatly benefit
from its inclusion on the list of recommended readings.

It is undeniable that our social networks have influential effects on our
language use, and Hirano successfully fulfills a previous need for a study
that describes this phenomenon in a context that is often overlooked.

REFERENCES

Kachru, B. B. (1985). Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The
English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk and H. G. Widdowson (eds.),
“English in the world: Teaching and learning the language and literatures”.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 11-30.

Lippi-Green, R. (2012). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and
discrimination in the United States. (2nd edition). New York, NY: Routledge.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Jason Steve Sarkozi is an Instructor in the English Language Institute at
Central Michigan University, where he is also pursuing a Master’s in TESOL.
His current research interests lie on the hairbreadth boundary between
sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology where he explores language from
several perspectives: language variation and language attitudes, language and
identity, language in interaction and cross-cultural communication, all within
bi/multilingual communities in the Spanish-, English-, and Portuguese-speaking
worlds.








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