{"title":"Sound change in an urban setting: Category instability of the palatal fricative in Berlin","authors":"Stefanie Jannedy, Melanie Weirich","doi":"10.1515/lp-2014-0005","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The differential categorization of identical stimuli depending on the presence of a prime is described as a perceptual divergence effect. We examined whether native listeners of the Berlin vernacular of German categorized identical acoustic stimuli differently in the explicit context of the names of two different districts of Berlin, assuming that listeners infer social information and linguistic stereotypes based on the names of these neighborhoods (Kreuzberg vs. Zehlendorf). All listeners categorized natural acoustic stimuli with synthetic fricatives synthesized along a continuum ranging from /ç/ to /ʃ/ as either Fichte /fɪçtə/ (`spruce') or fischte /fɪʃtə/ (1st person sg. `to fish'). This variable was chosen because many young multiethnic speakers of Berlin German pronounce /ç/ as [ʃ] or [ɕ], and this alternation is highly associated with speakers with a migrant background from Kreuzberg. Data were gathered in a forced-choice identification task, and, for a subset of the participants, reaction times (RTs) were also gathered. Results indicate a differential categorization pattern depending on (1) the copresented information, i.e., Kreuzberg, Zehlendorf, or none (control), and (2) the age of the listeners, with older listeners being more affected by the co-presented information. While older listeners categorized significantly more /ʃ/ sounds in the context of Kreuzberg than in the control or Zehlendorf condition, younger listeners rated most /ʃ/ sounds in the control condition (no added information). Results are interpreted in terms of a potential sound change in progress: the loss of the phoneme contrast between /ç/ and /ʃ/.","PeriodicalId":45128,"journal":{"name":"Laboratory Phonology","volume":"5 1","pages":"122 - 91"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/lp-2014-0005","citationCount":"39","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Laboratory Phonology","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1515/lp-2014-0005","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 39
Abstract
Abstract The differential categorization of identical stimuli depending on the presence of a prime is described as a perceptual divergence effect. We examined whether native listeners of the Berlin vernacular of German categorized identical acoustic stimuli differently in the explicit context of the names of two different districts of Berlin, assuming that listeners infer social information and linguistic stereotypes based on the names of these neighborhoods (Kreuzberg vs. Zehlendorf). All listeners categorized natural acoustic stimuli with synthetic fricatives synthesized along a continuum ranging from /ç/ to /ʃ/ as either Fichte /fɪçtə/ (`spruce') or fischte /fɪʃtə/ (1st person sg. `to fish'). This variable was chosen because many young multiethnic speakers of Berlin German pronounce /ç/ as [ʃ] or [ɕ], and this alternation is highly associated with speakers with a migrant background from Kreuzberg. Data were gathered in a forced-choice identification task, and, for a subset of the participants, reaction times (RTs) were also gathered. Results indicate a differential categorization pattern depending on (1) the copresented information, i.e., Kreuzberg, Zehlendorf, or none (control), and (2) the age of the listeners, with older listeners being more affected by the co-presented information. While older listeners categorized significantly more /ʃ/ sounds in the context of Kreuzberg than in the control or Zehlendorf condition, younger listeners rated most /ʃ/ sounds in the control condition (no added information). Results are interpreted in terms of a potential sound change in progress: the loss of the phoneme contrast between /ç/ and /ʃ/.
摘要根据启动物的存在,对相同刺激的差异分类被描述为知觉分歧效应。我们研究了德国柏林方言的本土听众是否在柏林两个不同地区的名称的明确背景下对相同的声音刺激进行了不同的分类,假设听众根据这些社区的名称推断社会信息和语言刻板印象(Kreuzberg vs. Zehlendorf)。所有的听者都将天然的声音刺激与合成摩擦音沿着/ç/到/ h /的连续体进行分类,要么是Fichte /f / t / (' spruce'),要么是fischte /f / t /(第一人称sg。“鱼”)。之所以选择这个变量,是因为许多年轻的多民族柏林德语使用者将/ç/发音为[j]或[j],这种变化与来自克罗伊茨贝格的移民背景高度相关。在一个强制选择识别任务中收集数据,并且,对于一部分参与者,也收集了反应时间(RTs)。结果表明,不同的分类模式取决于(1)所呈现的信息,即Kreuzberg, Zehlendorf,或无(对照);(2)听众的年龄,年龄较大的听众更容易受到共同呈现信息的影响。年龄较大的听者在Kreuzberg的语境中比对照组或Zehlendorf的语境中对/ h /音的分类明显更多,而年轻的听者在对照组(没有添加信息)中对/ h /音的分类最多。结果被解释为在过程中潜在的声音变化:/ç/和/ h /之间音素对比的丧失。