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Article published In: Variation in the Pacific: Part I
Edited by Eri Kashima and Miriam Meyerhoff
[Asia-Pacific Language Variation 6:2] 2020
► pp. 222–249

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(h) in Marshallese English

 | Sociolinguistics Lab, Universität Duisburg-Essen
Published online: 18 December 2020
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.19012.buc
Abstract
This paper explores the sociolinguistic patterning of glottal choices in the English spoken in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), a variety that variationist research has thus far eschewed. The analysis suggests that the schooling background of the speaker is the most crucial determinant for both /h/-dropping and /h/-insertion. These findings are not surprising given the dramatic social inequalities regarding access to educational opportunities that characterise the RMI. The locally-specific contact situation, in conjunction with the constraints on /h/-insertion, suggest that the English spoken in the Marshall Islands is typologically distinct from the Southern British dialect root described for other parts of the Pacific by (2019). h/ insertion as a ‘camouflage archaism’? Dialect contact, colonial lag and the feature pool in South Atlantic English. Diachronica, 36(1), 37–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar.
Abstract (German)
Dieser Artikel untersucht die soziolinguistische Konditionierung der variabelen Realisierung von glottalen Lauten im Marshallese English, einer Varietät des Englischen, die in der Republik der Marshall-Inseln (RMI) gesprochen wird und die in der Variationslinguistik bisher unterrepräsentiert ist. Quantitative Analysen zeigen, dass der schulische Hintergrund des Sprechers die wichtigste Determinante sowohl für /h/-dropping als auch für /h/-insertion ist. Diese Ergebnisse sind angesichts der sozialen Ungleichheit beim Zugang zu Bildungsmöglichkeiten die die RMI kennzeichnen nicht überraschend. Die Sprachkontaktsituation der RMI, in Verbindung mit der observierten Konditionierung von /h/-insertion, legen nahe, dass sich das auf den Marshall-Inseln gesprochene Englisch typologisch von der südenglischen Dialektwurzel unterscheidet, die (2019). h/ insertion as a ‘camouflage archaism’? Dialect contact, colonial lag and the feature pool in South Atlantic English. Diachronica, 36(1), 37–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar für andere Teile des Pazifiks beschrieb.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Language contact in the Republic of the Marshall Islands
  • 3.Fieldwork strategy
  • 4.The realisation of (h) and coding procedure
  • 5.H-dropping in Marshallese English
  • 6.Glottal insertion in Marshallese English
  • 7.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
References (69)
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Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Britain, David & Kazuko Matsumoto
2025. Micronesia, The Structure and Use of English in. In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Buchstaller, Isabelle & James Grama
2025. Marshallese English. In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Buchstaller, Isabelle
2020. (h) in Marshallese English. Asia-Pacific Language Variation 6:2 ► pp. 222 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2023. References. In Sounds of English Worldwide, ► pp. 354 ff. DOI logo

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