Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
All languages exhibit variation, with multiple ways of saying the same thing (e.g., walking vs. walkin’). No two people speak exactly the same way, nor does one person use the same speech patterns in all contexts. This type of variation is far from random, and does not reflect poor linguistic command or laziness. Rather, speakers make productive use of variation to convey social information, construct personal identities, and navigate and shape their societies. Research on sociolinguistic variation has predominantly been carried out in monolingual, English-speaking communities. Yet the majority of the world’s population is multilingual, changing not only their speech style within one language, but also switching between languages appropriate to various contexts. Determining how multilingual speakers perceive and make use of variable linguistic forms is essential for understanding how speech sounds take on social meaning and how they are organized in the mind.
This project will investigate sociolinguistic variation in the multilingual environment of Hong Kong. The first study will collect spontaneous conversational speech from Cantonese speakers of different ages and backgrounds. The sibilant sounds “s” (as in Sai Kung) and “ts/ch” (as in Tsuen Wan or Wan Chai) have recently experienced change in their pronunciation, leading to a partial restructuring of the Cantonese sound system. This study will compare how sibilant pronunciation differs according to age, gender, socioeconomic status, and English proficiency, as well as how these sounds are produced under various topics and speech styles. The second study will use ultrasound tongue imaging to observe the tongue shapes that are used in sibilant production. Participants will recite words in Cantonese and English, to test how speakers produce sounds that are similar in their first and second language. In addition to Cantonese-English bilingual Hongkongers, this study will include Heritage speakers of Cantonese in Canada. These individuals have spoken Cantonese with their families from an early age, but have high English exposure and proficiency through living in an English-dominant community. The third study will experimentally test which social meanings are associated with Cantonese sibilant variants. Listeners will provide qualitative descriptions and quantitative ratings on a range of social scales, to examine how they evaluate speakers who use specific pronunciations. Together, these experiments will provide deeper understanding of how speakers use and understand linguistic variants across multiple languages, how first and second languages exert both social and linguistic influence on one another, and how language contact contributes to variation and change.
所有語言都展現出變異，有著多種表達同一句說話的方式（例如: walking vs. walkin’），沒有兩個人說話的方式完全相同，也沒有一個人在所有情境中使用相同的說話模式。這種變異遠非隨機，亦不反映使用者掌握語言不佳或懶散。相反，說話者充分運用語言變異來傳達社會信息、構建個人身份並引導和塑造社會。對社會語言學變異的研究主要是在單語、以英語為主的社區進行。然而，世界上大多數人是多語使用者，他們不僅會在同一種語言內改變說話風格，還會在不同情境中切換使用不同的語言。了解多語言使用者如何感知及運用不同的語言形式對於理解語音如何呈現社會意義以及語音在大腦中的組織方式至關重要。
本計劃將調查香港這個多語言環境中的社會語言學變異。第一項研究將收集不同年齡和背景的粵語使用者之間的自發對話。近來，粵語中的噝音“s”（例如: 西貢）和 “ts/ch”（例如: 荃灣/灣仔）的發音經歷了變化，這導致了粵語音系的部分重組。此研究將比較不同年齡、性別、社會經濟地位和英語能力的說話者在噝音發音方面的差異，並探究這些聲音在不同話題和言語風格下的發音。第二項研究將使用超聲波舌頭影像來觀察噝音發音時所使用的舌頭形狀。參與者將使用粤語和英語朗讀詞語，以此測試說話者如何發出在第一和第二語言相似的聲音。除了香港的粤英雙語使用者，本研究還將納入加拿大的粤語族裔語言學習者。這些參與者從小就與家人以粵語溝通，但由於生活在以英語為主要語言的社區中，他們有著大量的英語接觸量及具有高水平的英語能力。第三項研究將通過實驗測試與粤語噝音變體相關聯的社會意義。聆聽者將對一系列社會評估指標進行定性描述和定量評分，以研究他們如何評價使用特定發音的說話者。上述各項實驗將加深對於說話者如何在多種語言中使用和理解語言變體、第一和第二語言如何在社會和語言層面上相互影響、以及語言接觸如何導致變異和變化的理解。
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