The sociolinguistic intersection of Spanish and English

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The sociolinguistic intersection of Spanish and
English
William Labov, University of
Pennsylvania James E. Alatis
plenary Philadelphia TESOL Convention March
29, 2012
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The program 1. The sociolinguistic dimensions of
dialect shifting black/white/Latino 2.
Effects of learning to read in Spanish first a.
The (sh/ch) variable a superficial substrate
effect b. The possessive effects of dialect
differences c. The soft-c rule greater use of
the alphabet
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The sociolinguistic intersection of Spanish and
English
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S. Poplack. Dialect Acquisition among Puerto
Rican bilinguals
Careful
Careful
Casual
Casual
??
a
Language in Society 789-103, 1978
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S. Poplack. Dialect Acquisition among Puerto
Rican bilinguals
Careful
Careful
Casual
Casual
??
a
Language in Society 789-103, 1978
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Sociometric diagram of sixth grade at St.
Veronicas
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1. The sociolinguistic dimensions of dialect
shifting black/white/Latino 2. Effects of
learning to read in Spanish first a. The
(sh/ch) variable a superficial substrate
effect b. The possessive effects of dialect
differences c. The soft-c rule greater use of
the alphabet
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Are there significant differences in reading
error profiles to be found among different ethnic
groups with different language backgrounds?
If so,
are different strategies needed to improve the
teaching of reading to members of those groups?
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from the contrastive analysis of Spanish and
English
Spanish t? ? mucho che
English t? ? ? chip ?
ship
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The reading research program Number of subjects
by language/ethnic group and geographic region
for the year 2003-2004 (N246)   Language/ethnic
group in Phila in Calif Total
African American 19 33 52 Caucasian
40 17 57 Latino Spanish readers 37
37 74 Latino English readers 37
26 63 Total_____________________133_______
113_____ 246
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Diagnostic readings at Park School, Philadelphia
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The cat took one bite and let out a wail. Ray
said, "Darn, those chips are stale! It's a shame
that you went and bought them on sale. They taste
like the food that's served in a jail."
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ch_ and sh_ words in the diagnostic reading Ray
and His Cat Come Back
Ray grabbed Matts chips ..those chips are
stale The cat spit out the chips. . . Matt
didnt reach up to Rays chin I dont choose to
listen . . .tried not to shake. Its a shame
that. . . Now Im going to show you. . . His
teeth are as sharp as the edge of a knife . .
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Errors with initial sh- ch- for 109 Philadelphia
African-Americans
chips chin choose shame shake show sharp
3 cheer ch-- ch-- sham sh-- sh-- shape c
heer cha sham shack shock shape cheers chain ch
ase sham shick shoe shape cheese chain chase shari
ng short shop shape cheese chair cheat shim shra
yke short sharpy chest chairs chees shim shuck
shop children chan cheese shimmy shop children
cheer cheese shlame shpore children chic cheese
shom shrop children chine cheese short chi
ldren chip chew-s children chips chose chi
ldren chips chose chip chips chrose chip c
hipsh chuss chip xxx grammatical
errors chip chip chip chip
chip chippies chirpings chosin
g church church
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sh_ ch_ errors for 51 Philadelphia Latinos who
learned to read in Spanish first
chips chin choose shame shake show sharp
3 ch-- ch-- ch-- chame chair chow shap che
apess cheen chalks chame shack shah shar cheeps ch
een chew shamuh shack shahw shar chip cheen chins
en shay shack shar sharpt chip chic choice shem sh
ack shoes shblatt chip chine choise shem shec
k shout chip chins choise shime shock chip chip
chose shirm chip sheen chose shome chip s
hin chose chip shin chose chip shin chose
chip shin chose chip shin chose chup
chose xxx grammatical error sheese chosey x
xx sh/ch alternation ship choss xxx /i/ -gt
/iy/ ship shoes xxx grammatical
phonological ship shoort ship shoose sh
ip shoose ships shows ships shows s
hips ships ships ships shi
ps ships ships
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ch_ reading errors per student by ethnicity,
language and region
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Spanish language influence on reading of English
Proportion of de-affrication errors (chips -gt
ships)
Proportion of /i/-tensing errors (chips -gt
cheaps)
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Proportion of ch -gt sh errors, before and after
intervention
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Proportion of de-affrication errors that are the
only errors in the word
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In responding to oral reading, we must
distinguish between differences in pronunciation
and mistakes in reading.
How can we do this?
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Absence of ed in oral reading Janal M., 7
stepped
jump
The cat spit out the chips and jumped in Rays
coat
True error
Potential error
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Absence of verbal /s/ in oral reading Jason P.,
age 7
Hey Black doesnt eat cats, not even one He just
likes to growl and watch them run.
like
grow
which
True error
Potential error
True error
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How to determine whether a potential error is a
true error in the decoding of the text
The Semantic Shadow Hypothesis An error in the
identification of a given word increases the
probability of errors in the decoding of the
following text. A potential error type has a
significant probability of being a true reading
error if the rate of following errors is
significantly greater than the rate for correct
readings.
W. Labov B. Baker. What is a reading error?
Applied Psycholinguistics 31735-757.
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Frequency of following errors for clear errors
and correct reading by dialect type
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Frequency of following errors for clear errors,
potential errors and correct reading by dialect
type N567
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Frequency of following errors for clear errors,
potential errors and correct readings by dialect
type for African American and Latino (S) readers
N238
Potential errors
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Relation of morphosyntactic zeroes to correct
readings and clear errors from frequencies of
following errors. C correct readings X
potential errors E clear errors.
African-American Latino(Spanish) Verba
l -s C ? X ? E C ? X E Possessive s
C ? X ? E C ? X E Copula s C ? X ?
E C ? X E Past tense ed C X ? E C
? X ? E
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1. The sociolinguistic dimensions of dialect
shifting black/white/Latino 2. Effects of
learning to read in Spanish first a. The
(sh/ch) variable a superficial substrate
effect b. The possessive effects of dialect
differences c. The soft-c rule greater use of
the alphabet
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The bilingualism of possession
Tonya Wolford. Variation in the expression of
possession by Latino children. Language
Variation and Change 18 1-13.
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Margarita M., 8, California well there's two men
alive and one woman alive -- and . . . . . . and
-- and the other -- the brother of the other
woman has a book and he reads iT. . . . and --
and the man comes to life
Tutor. . . . Do you ever get to baby-sit her?
Mark S., 7, Philadelphia. Yeah. Sometimes. At
my cousinz house. z
Tutor. Can you tell me the story? Carlos L., 9,
Philadelphia He's a killer and he try to - ah
- the -- he kills people and then he cuts in --
in people bodies
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1. The sociolinguistic dimensions of dialect
shifting black/white/Latino 2. Effects of
learning to read in Spanish first a. The
(sh/ch) variable a superficial substrate
effect b. The possessive effects of dialect
differences c. The soft-c rule greater use of
the alphabet
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The soft-c rule
(orthographic)
The letter c is pronounced as
/s/ before the letters /i, e, y/
elsewhere, as /k/.
English city cent icy call cot
cute
Spanish cielo Cebuano cantar
con Cuba
Exceptions
none
Celtics cepstrum
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Soft-c words in the diagnostic reading Ray and
His Cat Come Back
On Friday, I was in Aunt Cindy's store, And Ray
was with the same old cat that I saw before I
pulled out of my pocket a rusty old dime. I said,
"Go spend it, cat, if you've got the time." Ray
stared at me and said, "Ten cents? You really
think that I am that dense? When I got to two,
Ray and his cat ran. Ray certainly fell for my
new cat plan.
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Soft-c errors of 109 Philadelphia
African-American readers
Cindys cents certainly Cindy charl dk can c
oins dk are crut dk cindy chatee dk can coins dk c
alled curtail dk candia's cindy dk cans coins dk c
ame curtain dk candies cities dk cans coins dk can
t dk dk candily's clan's dk can't coins dk care dk
dk candy collie's dk cants coins dk carefully dk
feel Candy condy's dk cat coins dk carried dk for
Candy condy's dk cat coins k- cart dk fount can
dy cried k- cats coins kenny cartenly dk itches
candy crying's k- cats come kents casidell dk k-
candy cryme's kala cats counts kents cat dk kangil
y candy c's kare-de cats counts kents
caught dk kartimitly candy dk kate cent counts k
ets cayrent dk kaynly candy's dk kendy' cent coy k
its cert dk k-cera candy's dk kenny's cent dk kitt
ens clearly dk kelly candy's dk kiddy's cent dime
kittens clearly dk kert Candy's dk kindy's ceret d
k sent continue dk over Candy's dk Kindy's close d
k tets cota dk quite candy's dk kindy's coats dk y
our could dk reach candy's dk kins coin dk could
n't dk said candy's dk sally coin dk couldn't dk
scared him candy's dk seal coin dk couldn't
dk scored him candy's dk sender coins dk counted
dk screwed candy's dk story coins dk cracked dk
sentiny candy's dk why coins dk crackilly dk seri
ously candy's dk coins dk crah dk ser-really can
dy's dk coins dk cried dk suntalaly card dk coi
ns dk cried dk Carry's dk coins dk cried dk
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Soft-c errors of 109 Philadelphia Latinos who
learned to read in Spanish first
Cindy's cents
certainly cindy kin din cant cair-than say-
ur-tenly cindy kindy ce- candily scratchly cindy
s- cenents carefully searched cindy seat cent cen
tainly senentenly cindy see cent centerly sentre
e cindy sid center certain-olly sentrin candy sidi
's cert cert-aint-ly seranly children sidy dk cert
aynly sernly cidy sindings dk cer-ten-in-lee ser
t cind sin's dk certully set cindy sunday's dk c
ertully set cindy sunday's kent cet-lonely sinta
nely cindy kets dk sirtenly cindy
sen dk st cindy sense dk startlet city sen
t dk city sent kar city sets kertenn cleande
reclinely dk s- dk said dk sair-ten-le
e dk san dk sardtangent kin sayree
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dont know
African Americans 79 Latinos who
learned to read in English first 14
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Soft-c reading of Cindys, cents, certainly
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Soft-c and hard-c reading by ethnic group,
language and region
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The soft-c rule
(phonological)
In Spanish, the letter c is pronounced as
/s/ before the non-low front vowels
/i. e / cielo Cebuano este
/k/. elsewhere
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The soft-c rule
(phonological)
In Engllsh, the letter c is pronounced as
/s/ before the non-low front vowels /i, iy, e/
city decease cent
and before the low central nucleus
/ay/ cycle decide incisor
/k/. elsewhere
,
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Regression analysis of soft-C reading scores
Pretest Post-pretest African-American n.s.
n.s. Latino (English) -.10 -.12 Latino
(Spanish) .37 .24 California .08
n.s. Female ,09 n.s. 100 correct 1.0,
100 wrong 0.0
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Regression analysis of possessive reading scores
Pretest Post-pretest African-American n.s.
n.s. Latino (English) -.09 n.s. Latino
(Spanish) n.s. n.s. California .07
.05. Female n.s. n.s. 100 correct 1.0,
100 wrong 0.0
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Three linguistic consequences of learning to read
in Spanish first
1. The merger of the ch- and sh- word classes
has no direct consequences for reading or
comprehension. 2. The immediate grasp of the
soft-c rule reflects a greater tendency to use
alphabetic combinations in decoding. 3. Use of
the periphrastic possessive gives more support to
understanding the possessive inflection than the
use of the zero attributive form.
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www.ling.upenn.edu/labov
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