Investigating the role of speaker attitudes in koinéisation in
Hohhot, China
This paper explores the correlation between speakers’ social attitudes and their
linguistic production in a contact-induced dialect mixture in Hohhot, a Chinese
immigrant city. In Hohhot, the contact between the community speaking the local
Jìn dialect and migrants from all parts of the country has led to the formation
of a new vernacular. Thirty-five speakers across three generations from the
migrant community were recorded, and their social attitudes in different
dimensions were measured through questionnaires. A significant correlation
between the speakers’ attitudinal scores and their adoption of a local Jìn
feature was found by mixed-effects modelling, and the effects of attitude
remained even when speakers’ social contact with Jìn speakers was considered.
The findings demonstrate the role of attitudes in contact-induced linguistic
change and suggest that speakers’ overt attitudes recorded in questionnaires are
also likely to predict their linguistic production.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Previous discussions on the role of speaker attitudes
-
3.Background of Hohhot
- 3.1Hohhot and the emergence of Hū Pǔ
- 3.2The social situation of Hohhot
- 4.Linguistic variable: L-words
- 5.Participants and data collection methodology
- 5.1Word elicitation task and linguistic data
- 5.2Collecting and analysing attitudes data
- 5.3Collecting and analysing social networks data
-
6.Results
-
7.Discussion
-
8.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
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