The aim of this thesis was to investigate identity as a process (Eckert, 2000), examining how identity is influenced by a range of factors in our environment and is constructed discursively during spontaneous interactions. The study focused on the Igbo tribe in Nigeria, and addressed issues of generational and cultural complexity, language and identity shift and death, and new visions of national identity. The focus was on (a) language attitudes observed, in particular the language attitudes of elders and youths towards the use of proverbs and the transfer of this identity-related language practice from one generation to another, and (b) language use through the exploration of instances of discursive constructions of identity as identified in the data. The study, which is inspired by ethnomethodology and is rooted in interactional sociolinguistics, aimed to identify the effect of globalization on identity construction, especially in relation to the issue of generational transition of discursive patterns, including the use of proverbs, and the change in patterns of expression by the younger generation. The study also examined the role of local context in relation to the expression of identity and how the context of an interaction influences identity by exploring identity theories and narratives. It illustrated stylization (Blommert, 2001; De Fina, 2006; Georgakopoulou, 2007; Weber & Horner, 2012) and contextualization cues were employed by speakers to construct different Communities of Practice (CofP) within the wider local community and express their attitudes and identities in a changing environment. This was achieved by comparing the use of proverbs within each CofP via interviews with youths and elders (12 participants), and the observation of three CofPs (62 participants). The research was conducted over a period of two months and while the interview duration varied, the duration for observation of each CofP was 30 mins. The project also adopted where relevant a narrative framework and CofP framework, which focused on the importance of practice. These frameworks were essential in order to understand the use of social practice, discursive patterns, interactions and the concept of ‘process’ in the analysis of identity. The research questions were: (1) Can traditions (and in particular the use of proverbs) that index the identity of Ute-Okpu people, survive with globalization? (2) Do younger speakers provide new variations on proverbs as a way of re-appropriating this inherited and culturally significant practice? (3) How do speakers of different ages feel about these acts of re-appropriation of cultural traditions? Findings showed that the production of proverbs among Ika youths has declined as a result of their inability to speak the native language fluently. However, the research established that exploring new variations in the production of proverbs among Ika youths (Igbo tribe) indicated that the production of proverbs was transformed to cater for the younger speakers’ new social reality, a reality that combines a deep-rooted respect for inherited cultural structures and values, but also one that embraced a more accessible international context. This study deepens understanding of Igbo proverbs and furthers research on language contact, globalization and language variation in the field of sociolinguistics. The recommendation arising from the research emphasizes an immediate focus on language variations and re-appropriations of proverbs by the youths in a world affected by globalization. It is further suggested that future research could focus on children’s use of proverbs in interaction and consider the extent to which they adhere to the traditional ways of producing proverbs or start re-appropriating these proverbs at a young age.

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Thesis (doctoral)--Albert-Ludwigs-Universität zu Freiburg i. Br., 1973. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 455-477).

abstract: ABSTRACT Spanish is a null subject language that admits the expression or omission of lexical subjects. As well, the expression of the subject argument may take place pre or post verbally (Española, R. A., 2009). This variation of the subject’s position is not a random phenomenon; it tends to depend on syntactic and semantic preferences and restrictions. This investigation analyzes pre and post verbal nominal and pronominal subject position in the colloquial speech of Spanish-English bilinguals of Mexican descent in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. The phenomenon’s analysis considers linguistic factors such as the syntactical and semantically classification of the verb type as copulative, transitive and intransitive; the subject only in the third person, the number as singular and plural, new or given information in the discourse, and the participants’ self evaluation of their bilingual dominance in one language (Dunn, & Fox Tree, 2009). As well, social extra-linguistic factors are considered such as gender, age group, educational level and time in the USA. Goldvarb X (Sankoff, Tagliamonte & Smith, 2005) was the multivariable analysis program used for the ranking of the linguistic and extra-linguistic factors that tend to influence the subject’s position. The formulated hypotheses were that post verbal subject placement will occur in sentences with inaccusative verbs, and where the participants in their discourse give new information. As well, the participants with English bilingual dominance and the participants born or arrived in the USA before their eleventh birthday will reflect a higher index of pre verbal subjects. This community of speakers favored the subject in preverbal position with copulative, transitive and inergative verbs; however preferred the subject in post verbal position with inaccusative verbs. As well, the post verbal position of the subject also was favored when new information was introduced in the discourse. The age factor proved to be significant with the older age Spanish dominant group, selecting the post verbal position significantly more than the middle age Spanish dominant and young age English dominant groups respectively. This could be interpreted as a reflection of an initial movement in the direction of the SV order of the dominant language. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Spanish 2015

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<p> This dissertation contributes to the variationist understanding of the process of phonetic accommodation through the analysis of syllable-final consonant weakening in the speech of native speakers of New York Dominican Spanish (NYDS) during their interactions with second language learners of Spanish. The principal objective is to examine the inner workings of the accommodation phenomenon by using Dominican Spanish as a medium. The data analyzed in this dissertation come from conversations between the informants&mdash;native speakers of NYDS&mdash;and four different interlocutors, one of whom is a fellow native speaker of NYDS and three who are second-language learners of Spanish with varying degrees of Spanish-language competence. Not only does this dissertation help to fill a large gap in the current research regarding the phenomenon of accommodation as it happens in Spanish by analyzing natural speech in dyadic conversations, but it will also track the accommodative process as it happens in real time by taking measurements from various time points during such conversations. </p><p> The informants in this study are bilingual first- and second-generation Dominicans currently living in New York, and their interlocutors are one fellow native speaker of NYDS and three second-language learners of Spanish. The L2 Spanish-speaking interlocutors are divided into three categories based on their proficiency in Spanish: Intermediate interlocutors (those who have taken two years of university-level Spanish), Advanced interlocutors (those who have declared Spanish as a major, have studied abroad in a Spanish-speaking country, and have taken four to five years of university-level Spanish) and Superior interlocutors (those who hold advanced degrees in Spanish and teach Spanish classes at the university level). Data are collected through a series of interview-based conversations between each informant and their four interlocutors. Each conversation is divided into three sections and a maximum of 350 contexts in which variation could occur in the articulation of syllable-final consonants /s/, /l/, /r/ and /n/ are extracted from each segment of each recorded conversation. The articulation of each token is impressionistically coded as either weakening or retention based on a series of auditory and acoustic cues. Once coded, the data are input into statistical analysis software for descriptive statistical analyses. </p><p> The results from this dissertation study show that during interactions with the most- and least-proficient speakers of Spanish, NYDS speakers nearly exclusively retain syllable-final consonants, but the same speakers frequently weaken final consonants during interactions with fellow NYDS speakers and with mid-proficient nonnative interlocutors. The principal contribution that this dissertation makes to the field of language study is that speakers in fact do meter their use of highly salient, emblematic speech features to navigate social relationships and index their belonging to a given group, both with native and nonnative speakers of the language variety in question. In the general study of language varieties in contact, studies such as these that quantify accommodation in real-time conversations are paramount for furthering the discussion of contact phenomena, such as dialect levelling and cross-dialectal convergence.</p>

<p> Despite the vast research on the relationship between bilingualism and cognition, no consensus has been reached about the positive impact of bilingualism and how various bilingual parameters may be effective to varying degrees. Thus, the purpose of this research is to examine the effects of bilingualism on inhibitory control and divergent thinking by assigning language learners to groups reflecting different bilingual background experience. To address this issue, 114 second language learners, assigned to three groups based on L2 frequency of use and L2 proficiency, were compared to 38 monolinguals in their performance at the Simon task (inhibitory control test) and the Alternate Uses Test (divergent thinking test). Inhibitory control results demonstrated that the positive effect of bilingualism was only found among the L2 group exhibiting the most frequent and regular use of L2. Findings of the divergent thinking task indicated similar performance across different L2 groups compared to the monolingual group. Results are discussed in light of how frequency of L2 use may improve inhibitory control by engaging similar mechanisms recruited for language control. Light is also shed on how different bilingual variables, such as the age of acquisition, may obscure the advantage of bilingualism on divergent thinking. Implications for this study are its relevance to the larger population of language learners and its contribution to the advancement of our understanding of the research gap surrounding how different linguistic parameters may influence the bilingual advantage.</p>