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Article published In: What’s so standard about standards? Variationist principles and debates
Edited by Jonathan R. Kasstan
[Asia-Pacific Language Variation 8:2] 2022
► pp. 206–239

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The role of older men in a phonological change

(ɣ) in Raga, Vanuatu

 | Australian National University
Published online: 1 December 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.21002.duh
Abstract
Contrary to classic predictions associated with the gender pattern in variationism, the results of this study on the effect of age and gender on a phonological innovation suggests that older speakers drive innovation in this small Oceanic speech community of Vanuatu. Young and old men are prone to deleting the phonemic consonant, while women and middle-aged men tend to retain it. The v-shaped distribution of the variant requires considering the interactions and social status of individuals in this community where older men occupy the highest-ranking positions. The deletion does not appear to be stylistic, and multivariate analyses reveal the effect of surrounding vowels, sex and age, on the frequency of consonant deletion. The variation is interpreted as a change in progress towards the deletion of the velar fricative and its high incidence in younger men is explained by their frequent interactions with the older men.
Abstract (French)
Cette étude variationniste d’une variable phonétique dans une communauté linguistique au Vanuatu révèle que le discours des hommes jeunes présente une forte tendance à supprimer la fricative vélaire. Cette tendance est également présente chez les hommes les plus âgés. À l’inverse, la suppression de la fricative vélaire est rare dans le discours des femmes et celui des hommes entre 40 et 65 ans. Ces résultats ne correspondent pas aux prédictions classiques associées au modèle sociolinguistique du variationnisme et la distribution de la suppression de la fricative vélaire, par âge et sexe des locuteurs, nécessite donc de considérer les interactions et le statut social des membres de cette communauté où les hommes plus âgés occupent les postes d’autorité. Le style du discours ne semble pas influencer le taux de suppression de ce phonème, alors que des analyses multivariées révèlent l’impact de la voyelle précédente et suivante, ainsi que celui de l’âge et du sexe du locuteur, sur la non-réalisation de la consonne. La suppression de ce phonème est interprétée comme la phase finale d’un processus diachronique de perte de matériel phonétique. La forte incidence dans le discours des hommes jeunes de la suppression de ce phonème s’explique par leurs fréquentes interactions avec les hommes les plus âgés et les plus hauts placés dans la hiérarchie de cette communauté.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Vanuatu and Pentecost
  • 3.The velar fricative in Raga
    • 3.1Hypothesis: pncv *k > ɣ > 0
  • 4.Dataset and methodology
    • 4.1Conditioning factors of deletion
      • 4.1.1Structural factors
      • 4.1.2Social and stylistic factors
    • 4.2Analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Statistical models
      • 5.1.1Structural model
      • 5.1.2Social and stylistic model
      • 5.1.3Combined model
    • 5.2Individual speakers
  • 6.Discussion
    • 6.1Interpreting the v-shaped pattern
    • 6.2The role of older speakers
    • 6.3A societal innovation: Making a living from kava
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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