In this thesis, I aim to investigate the variation of Persian pronominal address system and politeness strategies in contemporary Iranian society from a quantitative and qualitative sociolinguistic perspective. I focus on Persian speakers’ use and perception of pronominal address forms in the light of socio-cultural norms in contemporary Iran. Persian, has two personal pronouns for singular address, to ([to]) the familiar or intimate ‘you’ and šoma ([∫oma:]) the deferential or formal ‘you’ (historically the second person plural but now also used as second person singular). Moreover, Persian is a pro-drop language, so the interaction between address pronouns and agreement marking on the verb must be taken into account. Another significant feature of colloquial Persian is a hybrid usage of the overt deferential second person pronoun and informal agreement forming a mismatch construction (i.e. šoma with 2s verb agreement) and intra-speaker pronominal address switches that occur between the deferential and casual pronominal address forms. Those deviations from the prescribed forms and/or distribution of the address pronouns are very interesting aspects that may show different levels of politeness even in one utterance. Consequently, this research examines spontaneous data looking at the sociolinguistic distributions and the pragmatic functions of pronominal address forms in contemporary Persian language and politeness synchronically. Three types of spontaneous data were collected for the purpose of analysis: a) participant observation, b) natural media conversations and c) sociolinguistic interviews with Persian speakers. In this study, the quantitative analysis investigates the correlation of pronominal address forms with extralinguistic factors such as age and gender of speaker and addressee in the interactional data. The qualitative analysis sheds light on how pronominal address forms and their variation encode communicative strategies in face-to-face interactions. Based on triangulation of quantitative and qualitative results with sociolinguistic interviews, I propose a dynamic model of indexicality for Persian pronominal address forms, which accommodates different forms and functions of address pronouns in interactional stances.

In this thesis, I use an experimental model to investigate the role of social pressures in stimulating language divergence. Research into the evolution of cooperation has emphasised the usefulness of ingroup markers for swiftly identifying outsiders, who pose a threat to cooperative networks. Mechanisms for avoiding cheats and freeriders, which tend to rely on reputation, or on (explicit and implicit) contracts between individuals, are considerably less effective against short-term visitors. Outsiders, moreover, may behave according to different social norms, which may adversely affect cooperative interactions with them. There are many sources of markers by which insiders and outsiders can be distinguished, but language is a particularly impressive one. If human beings exploit linguistic variation for this purpose, we might expect the exploitation to have an influence on the cultural evolution of language, and to be involved in language divergence, since it introduces a selective pressure, by which linguistic variants are selected on the basis of their social significance. However, there is also a neutral, mechanistic model of dialect formation that relies on unconscious accommodation between interlocutors, coupled with variation in the frequency of interaction, to account for divergence. In studies of real-world communities, these factors are difficult to tease apart. The model described in this thesis put real speakers in the artificial environment of a computer game. A game consisted of a series of rounds in which players were paired up with each other in a pseudo-random order. During a round, pairs of players exchanged typed messages in a highly restricted artificial "alien language". Each player began the game with a certain number of points, distributed between various resources, and the purpose of sending messages was to negotiate to exchange these resources. Any points given away were worth double to the receiver, so, by exchanging resources, players could accumulate points for their team. However, the pairings were anonymous: until the end of a round, players were not told who they had been paired with. This basic paradigm allowed the investigation of the major factors influencing language divergence, as well as the small-scale individual strategies that contribute to it. Two major factors were manipulated: frequency of interaction and competitiveness. In one condition, all players in a game were working together; in another condition, players were put into teams, such that giving away resources to teammates was advantageous, but giving them to opponents was not. This put a pressure on players to use variation in the alien language to mark identity. A combination of this pressure and a minimum level of interaction between teammates was found to be sufficient for the alien language to diverge into "dialects". Neither factor was sufficient on its own. The results of these experiments suggest that a pressure for the socially based selection of linguistic variants can lead to divergence in a very short time, given sufficient levels of interaction between members of a group.

The purpose of this study is to examine young people’s attitudes towards multiethnic youth language and standard Swedish. The aim is also to examine the situations in which code- switching between different language varieties appears. Semi-structured interviews were performed with eight students to gather empirical material for the study questions. The analysis of the interviews shows that the multiethnic youth language is an artistic and vibrant language that expresses young people's creativity and humor. The analysis also show that the multiethnic youth language is a culture, an own language, which shows where the youth of the suburbs belong.

The theoretical part of this work deals with the term of given name, its function and position in the Czech language system. Additionally, motivations that can play any role in naming of children are summarized. The practical part is focused on motivations applied in naming of children in Ústí nad Orlicí district at two groups of parental population. In the first group there are parents whose children were born in the period of 1960-1975 and the second group is formed by parents with children born in 2000-2012. The data from the parents were gathered using questionnaires. These two groups are compared from various points of view - used names, linguistics factors (length, sound aspects of names, relation of the given name to the family name, hypocoristics etc.) and other factors (family tradition, religion, education etc.). Also differences in the approach to male and female names are followed.

This research examines the relationship between British accents and their stereotypes. It looks specifically at the ratings of British and American subjects for a variety of British regional and standard accents, and examines them in contrast with observed stereotypes about these accents. The purpose of this paper is to compare the reactions of British and American participants in order to understand whether the stereotypes associated with these accents are purely socially constructed by British society, or whether qualities of each accent support these stereotypes. Results found a similar trend in the ratings of both American and British participants, though it is hypothesized that this is due to confounding variables.

Sociolinguistics studies on language perception have shown that listeners form different attitudes toward speakers based on the speakers’ language varieties (Lukes and Wiley 1996, Lippi-Green 2012, Thompson, Craig, and Washington 2004). Just from hearing a voice, listeners form opinions, and these opinions are often informed by societal archetypes, as well as societal stereotypes. For example, Standard American English is generally perceived with more prestige and respect than non-standard varieties. Unfavorable perceptions of non-standard varieties can, and in many documented cases does, lead to inequitable and/or discriminatory situations (Baugh 2003). Non-standard and standard varieties are found in language use in music. The emergence of the Internet and music playing platforms, as well as more diverse musicians getting mainstream radio play and pay, leads to non-standard varieties reaching new listeners in a new format. In this thesis, I survey the types of music to which people listen, and their perceptions to speakers of Standard American English, Southern American English, and African American English to investigate how the music people listen to connects to their language attitudes. The results show that overall, listeners of any genre have more favorable attitudes toward Standard American English; and, that listeners of rap and/or hip-hop have more favorable attitudes than other groups of listeners toward the non-standard varieties.

This project explores the social meaning potential of creaky voice using a third wave variationist approach in order to uncover what motivates speakers to deploy this vocal quality. Intraspeaker variation in the use of creak is quantitatively and qualitatively examined in case studies of one male and one female individual who come from a similar social group. In recordings from a range of casual settings, both the male and female speaker are found to use creak at similar rates, for similar purposes. However, creak is found to vary across social settings: the greater the speakers’ self-reported intimacy with their interlocutors, the lower the frequency of creak. This suggests that creaky voice is used for interactional functions, and is conditioned by conversational context. Qualitative discourse analysis of instances of creak further reveals that it has a high frequency of cooccurrence with linguistic features used for epistemic stancetaking. I suggest that creak is an interactional resource available for taking an authoritative position in interaction, especially in situations where speakers feel less intimately connected to their interlocutors. / Graduate / 2017-08-02 / 0290 / 0291 / nchildebrand@gmail.com

[pt] O presente estudo foca a coconstrução de narrativas de agentes de saúde do Instituto Vila Rosário e moradores atendidos no tratamento à tuberculose na região de Vila Rosário em Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro. O objetivo consiste em investigar o papel destas narrativas nas interações. A pesquisa tem o apoio da FAPERJ e está vinculada aos projetos de pesquisa Vila Rosário: Práticas discursivas da comunidade e representação social na prevenção e educação no combate à tuberculose e Vila Rosário: o discurso institucional e profissional na prevenção e educação no combate à tuberculose. A pesquisa é de abordagem qualitativa e interpretativa, com orientação teórica da Sociolinguística Interacional, Análise da Narrativa e de teorias sobre agência e performance. A metodologia de pesquisa é de cunho etnográfico, com orientações da microanálise. Os dados do corpus de análise foram gerados em reuniões de trabalho no Instituto Vila Rosário e em acompanhamentos de visitas feitas pelas agentes aos moradores, com gravações em áudio e notas de campo. Os resultados da análise das narrativas das agentes apontam para performances elaboradas, narrativas partilhadas, agentividade através do fazer e tensão entre o tratamento da tuberculose e a realidade social dos moradores. As narrativas dos moradores, coconstruídas com as agentes, também indicam agentividade, mas com passividade e subordinação, e o não-acesso ao tratamento à tuberculose como mais um dos muitos problemas que enfrentam. O trabalho busca contribuir com estudos sobre comunidades carentes e doenças, salientando a importância das narrativas como ferramenta de análise e reflexão. / [en] The present study focuses the co-construction of narratives of Vila Rosário Institute community health workers’ and residents in the tuberculosis treatment program in Vila Rosário area in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro. The objective consists in investigating the role of those narratives in the interactions. The research is supported by FAPERJ and is linked to the research projects Vila Rosário: Discursive Practices of the community and social representation in the prevention and education to combat tuberculosis and Vila Rosário: The Institutional and Professional Discourse for the prevention and education to combat tuberculosis. The research is of qualitative and interpretative approach, with theoretical orientation by Interactional Sociolinguistics, Narrative Analysis and theories of agency and performance. The methodology lies on ethnographic basis with micro analysis orientation. The corpus data were generated from work meetings at Vila Rosário Institute and during accompaniments to visits made by the workers to residents, with audio recordings and field notes. The results of the workers’ narratives show elaborate performances, shared narratives, agency through doing and tension between tuberculosis treatment and the residents’ social reality. Residents’ narratives, co-constructed with the agents, also indicate agency, but with passivity and subordination, and the non-access to tuberculosis treatment as one of the many problems they face. This work seeks to contribute with studies about poor communities and illnesses, emphasizing the importance of narratives as an analytical and reflexive tool.

Orientador(a): Rosane de Andrade Berlinck / Resumo: Esta tese tem como objetivo propor uma análise e descrição da fala da população da cidade de Sales Oliveira - SP, com intuito de investigar quais variantes são consideradas como estigmatizadas e quais possuem prestígio nessa comunidade linguística. A identificação dessas variantes e o valor a elas associadas nos permitirá compreender se as possíveis mudanças históricas e sociais pelas quais a cidade está passando têm influência na escolha das variantes linguísticas empregadas pelos salenses. Além disso, este estudo também objetiva compreender como a identidade do salense está atrelada às questões linguísticas. Com a finalidade de identificar algumas variantes utilizadas nessa comunidade, foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo com 30 falantes, sendo 15 homens e 15 mulheres, entre as faixas etárias de 10 a 15 anos, de 30 a 45 anos e de 70 a 80 anos, de escolaridades distintas. Dentre as variáveis dependentes analisadas estão: I) a ausência ou presença do "r" como retroflexo, II) ausência ou presença de neutralização do "r"e "l" em coda silábica e/ou encontros consonantais (ex: "mel- mer"); III) vocalização ou não da consoante lateral palatal /ʎ/ (ex: "mulher- muié"); IV) apagamento ou pronúncia das fricativas alveolares /s/ e /z/ em final de palavras que não possuem traços de pluralidade (ex: "pires- pire"); V) ocorrência de prótese e aférese (ex: alembrá e "bserva"); VI) ocorrência de apócope (ex: "legítimo- legiti"). Dentre as variáveis analisadas, percebemos que o "r" como retr... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This thesis aims to propose an analysis and description of the speech of the population of Sales Oliveira - SP town, in order to investigate which variants are considered as stigmatized and which have prestige in this language community. The identification of these variants and the value associated with them will allow us to understand if the possible historical and social changes that the city is going through influence the choice of the linguistic variants employed by the Salenses. In order to identify some of the variants used in this community, a field survey was conducted with 30 speakers from the community of salense, 15 men and 15 women, ranging from 10 to 15 years, from 30 to 45 years, and from 70 to 80 years from different schooling. Among the dependent variables analyzed are: I) the absence or presence of the "r" as retroflex, II) absence or presence of "r" and "l" neutralization in syllabic coda and / or consonant dating ( " mel" - " mer" ); III) vocalization or not of the lateral consonant palatal / ʎ / (ex: "mulher" -muié"); IV) deletion or pronunciation of alveolar fricatives / s / and / z / at the end of words that do not have plots of plurality (eg "pires" _ " pire' ); V) occurrence of prosthesis and apheresis (ex: alembrá and "bserva"); VI) occurrence of "apócope" (ex: "legitimate-legiti"). Among the analyzed variables, we perceive that the "r" as retroflex is the variant more used by the salenses and that some phonetic / phonological processes, such as rotac... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Portuguese