Episode 2: Intonation and Social Identity LSA 2017 Linguistic Institute

Nicole R. Holliday https://nicolerholliday.wordpress.com
and Paul Reed http://mountainmanlinguistics.blogspot.com

The opening/closing song: Clear Blue Sky recorded by Chatham County Line and available in full from the free music archive and used here under a Creative Commons license.

Nicole and Paul are sociolinguists whose apparently disparate research programs find surprising overlap in questions of how social identity is created and perceived by means of intonation. We talk to them about themselves, their research, and the course they will be teaching at next summer’s Linguistic Institute.

Purnell, Idsardi, and Baugh (1999): http://jls.sagepub.com/content/18/1/10.abstract
Queen (2012): https://muse.jhu.edu/article/492549/summary

Course Description:

Intonational variation is one of the least well-understood areas of linguistics, especially in American English. This is especially a challenge due to research in recent years that has described the importance of intonational phenomena for speakers and listeners in presenting and interpreting social-indexical information. This research has also shown that intonation carries a range of social meanings that can be controlled and manipulated by speakers. Thus, we begin with the premise that speakers’ use of pitch, prosody, and voice quality variables is a robust area to investigate the intersection of language, identity, and culture. The purpose of this course is to provide training in intonational analysis that centers on how identity is manifested in intonation. We concentrate on the application of intonational methods on describing how speakers communicate various aspects of personal identity. These fundamental aspects range from the community-level, such as region and race/ethnicity, to the more individual-level, such as gender and sexuality. We will unpack the ideological processes that provide language users a means to establish the indexical links of intonational forms to these various facets of their identity. Through hands-on practice, learners will engage with how speakers use both the phonetics and phonology of intonation to provide information about who they are, as well as how listeners may interpret this information. Additionally, learners will be introduced to the basics and best practices of intonational research – from recording to transcription to phonetic analysis. For the final project, students will propose and outline a topic for intonational analysis based on their own research interests. For scholars and students, having a better understanding of how intonation works in sociolinguistic variation will enhance the questions that they are able to ask of various data sets that they may encounter in their own research.

Syllabus Outline (draft)

Week 1
1.1. Identity in Sociolinguistics
Readings: Mendoza-Denton (2002)- “Language and Identity”

1.2. Basics of intonational Research, Using Praat for Intonation
Readings: Thomas (2011) , Chapter 6-Prosody
Thomas (2011), Chapter 7-Voice Quality
Homework for next week: Praat Exercise

Week 2
2.1 Data Practicum-ToBI Conventions for American English
Readings: Jun (2005) - Introduction to Prosodic Typology
Vicenik and Sundara (2013)

2.2. Data Practicum- Measuring Voice Quality
Readings: Podesva and Callier (2015)
Thomas (2015) - Prosody in AAL
Homework for next week: Transcription and Analysis Exercise

Week 3

3.1. Ethnic Identity and Intonation
Readings: Burdin (forthcoming) - The distinctiveness of the Jewish English rise-fall contour
Podesva and Kajino (2014)

3.2. Gender/Sexuality
Readings: Munson and Babel (2007)
Clopper and Smiljanic (2011)
Homework for next week: Project proposal due next week

Week 4
4.1. Regional Identity
Readings: Levon (2015)

4.2. Other Variables and Approaches, Intersections