Dissertation: Socioeconomic Aspects of Linguistic Variation in Polish

[Harold Schiffman]

Socioeconomic Aspects of Linguistic Variation in Polish

Institution: University of PennsylvaniaProgram: Department of LinguisticsDissertation Status: CompletedDegree Date: 2008
Author: Lukasz Abramowicz
Dissertation Title: Socioeconomic Aspects of Linguistic Variation in Polish
Subject Language(s): Polish (pol)
Dissertation Director:William Labov
Dissertation Abstract:
This dissertation examines three sociolinguistic variables in Polish basedon data collected in two speech communities located 30 miles apart in theMazowsze region in central Poland: Warszawa (population 1.7 million) andPopowo Kościelne (population 850).
The first variable examined is variation between antepenultimate andpenultimate stress in nouns primarily of Latin and Greek origin, e.g.,matematyka 'mathematics'. The variable, which operates above the level ofsocial awareness, was found to display all the defining characteristics ofa stable sociolinguistic variable, including regular social and stylisticstratification, age and sex effects, and social evaluation consistent withthe linguistic production data.
The remaining two variables involve the behavior of person/number agreementmarking: its variable attachment (chapter 5), and its interaction withstress assignment when it attaches to verbs (chapter 6). The resultscontradict common stereotypes and popular characterizations in theliterature according to which variable attachment has almost completelydisappeared from the language, and that it is a rural feature. The featureis robustly present in the data in both communities, especially so inWarszawa where it has acquired a new positive social evaluation: it isparticularly used by young well-educated speakers from the highest socialclass. With respect to interaction with stress, the sociolinguisticpatterns discovered in the analysis bear a strong resemblance not tovariable attachment, but to the noun stress variation examined in chapter 4.
The findings presented in the dissertation are a strong argument in favorof the non-lexicalist analysis of Polish person/number agreement marking.At the same time, however, they confirm the analysis according to whichspeakers of Polish have to posit competing grammars for the feature. Suchan analysis is also justified by historical developments in Polish syntaxand morphology.
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