Doctoral Dissertation Research: A transmedial third wave sociolinguistic approach to examining the social meaning of nonstandard /s/ in Madrid

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Dr. Almeida Jacqueline Toribio at the University of Texas, Robyn Wright will study a stigmatized variant in Madrid Spanish, nonstandard syllable-final /s/, examining its use in social interaction in the creation of meaning. A transmedial approach will be taken, incorporating various types of language data, including oral production, written production in computer-mediated communication (CMC) and perception, or language attitudes. The oral data is gathered through interviews with 50 native Madrid residents, aiming to discover the discourse contexts in which the nonstandard variant arises, whether certain topics trigger its use, and finally whether the contexts of variant use change according to social categories. The CMC data complements the oral data, providing insight into how Madrileños perform nonstandard /s/ through orthographic representations of the nonstandard variant (<g> or <j>, e.g., <Ejpaña>). The content and context in which nonstandard representations appear online will be examined, as well as the correlations in date with important events in Spanish/Madrileño society. Finally, the language attitudes data complete the study, providing an analysis, based on matched-guise survey data from over 300 Spanish participants, of the perception of nonstandard /s/ and the identities assigned to speakers that use it. This dissertation provides an example of how a transmedial approach to research and analysis can provide a fuller understanding of the social significance behind particular variants. It contributes an analysis of how nonstandard /s/ is used to create social meaning in the Madrid dialect and furthermore will present a phonetic analysis of nonstandard /s/, which has not been clearly established in antecedent work. The written CMC data and language attitudes data are new contributions to the study of nonstandard /s/ in Madrid and will provide a more complete picture of the social meaning and identities associated with the variable.