16.1189, Diss: Socioling/Phonology: Boughton: 'Phonological ...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1189. Thu Apr 14 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1189, Diss: Socioling/Phonology: Boughton: 'Phonological ...'

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1)
Date: 14-Apr-2005
From: Zoe? Boughton < z.c.boughton at ex.ac.uk >
Subject: Phonological Variation in Contemporary Standard French: A Tale of Two Cities 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 14:01:09
From: Zoe? Boughton < z.c.boughton at ex.ac.uk >
Subject: Phonological Variation in Contemporary Standard French: A Tale of Two Cities 
 


Institution: University of Newcastle upon Tyne 
Program: Centre for Research in Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2003 

Author: Zoe? Boughton

Dissertation Title: Phonological Variation in Contemporary Standard French: A
Tale of Two Cities 

Linguistic Field(s): Phonology
                     Sociolinguistics

Subject Language(s): French (FRN)


Dissertation Director(s):
Nigel Armstrong

Dissertation Abstract:

The subject of this thesis is social-regional variation in the phonology of
contemporary standard (i.e. northern, urban, metropolitan) French, examined
within the framework of variationist sociolinguistics.  The principal
hypothesis is that the pronunciation of standard French is relatively
homogeneous, particularly when compared with that of other standardised
western languages such as British English.

To test this, urban dialect surveys were conducted in the cities of Nancy
and Rennes, thus incorporating an element of cross-regional comparison that
is extremely rare in variationist studies.  Samples of 32 speakers in each
location were stratified according to age, gender and social class, and
recorded in one-to-one interviews to produce a substantial corpus of
approximately 50 hours of speech.  In addition, a study of perceptions of
the accents of a sub-sample of Nancy informants was included in the Rennes
fieldwork.  The chief result of this test was that the Rennes informants'
identifications of the social class of the Nancy speakers were largely
correct, whereas those of regional origin were generally incorrect.

Subsequent quantitative analysis of a phonological variable seeks to
elucidate possible reasons for this.  An examination of deletion of
word-final post-obstruent liquids, as in table > tab' and quatre > quat',
confirms that this is a stable sociolinguistic marker in metropolitan
French, though there is also an unexpected regional difference in that
deletion rates are higher in Rennes.  Finally, the extent to which accent
localisation has been attenuated is tested by a micro-study of two older,
working-class males, one from each location, which shows that the Nancy
accent retains more localised features than that of Rennes.  As to the
principal hypothesis, the study demonstrates that the degree of accent
levelling in standard French, whilst relatively advanced, varies according
to region, and thus according to the degree of divergence of the substrate
oïl dialect. 




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