This study compares the use of static locative to in the speech of African Americans and European Americans in various regional communities throughout Eastern North Carolina. These communities are located on Roanoke Island, in Hyde County, Harkers Island, Ocracoke Island, Princeville and in Robeson County, North Carolina. Quantitative examination of locative to reveals a marked pattern of ethnolinguistic alignment related to integration patterns. In Hyde County and Roanoke Island, the use of locative to is sharply reduced in the speech of African Americans who first attended integrated schools. However, in Ocracoke, the decreasing use of locative to is gradual across time, marking the role of an active social variable in the divergence of African American speech after integration. By comparing all of these communities, I seek to explain why there is this ethnolinguistic patterning and what social factors have contributed to it. Additionally, I uncover what this language pattern says about the history of race relations on a regional level in North Carolina and what happens to this language feature over time.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-03312006-113249 |
| Date | 08 May 2006 |
| Creators | Vadnais, Janelle Chaundre |
| Contributors | Walt Wolfram, Agnes Bolonyai, Erik Thomas |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-03312006-113249/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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