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A Comparative analysis of rhythmic patterns in settler-heritage English and Blackfoot English in Southern Alberta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2019

Nicole Rosen ,
Inge Genee ,
Jillian Ankutowicz ,
Taylor Petker  and
Jennifer Shapka
Nicole Rosen*
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba
Inge Genee
Affiliation:
University of Lethbridge
Jillian Ankutowicz
Affiliation:
University of Lethbridge
Taylor Petker
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Jennifer Shapka
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
*
nicole.rosen@umanitoba.ca
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Abstract

In this paper we explore differences in prosodic rhythm between two English speech communities in rural Southern Alberta, Canada: speakers of Blackfoot First Nation descent and those of settler descent. Using the Variability Index (VI), we show that there are statistically significant differences between English speakers of settler descent and those of Blackfoot descent, where those of Blackfoot descent have a higher VI, that is, they are further along the stress-timing continuum than those of settler descent. We hypothesize that these differences are due to language transfer effects stemming from the community's original Blackfoot phonology which were present in their L2 English when the community norm shifted primarily to English, and that the historical, social, and geographical isolation of Blackfoot people in Southern Alberta has contributed to the development of a new local Blackfoot English norm.

Résumé

Dans cet article nous explorons les différences de rythme prosodique entre deux communautés anglophones du sud de l'Alberta, au Canada : les locuteurs d'origine pied-noir (Blackfoot) et les locuteurs d'origine coloniale. Nous utilisons l'index de la variabilité (VI) pour montrer qu'il existe des différences significatives entre ces deux groupes, et que les locuteurs d'origine pied-noir ont un VI plus élevé que les locuteurs d'origine coloniale, ce qui indique qu'ils ont un rythme prosodique qui s'aligne plus loin vers les langues à chronométrage accentuel sur le continuum syllabique-accentuel. Nous supposons d'une part que ces différences sont dues à des effets de transfert de langue provenant de la phonologie de la langue pied-noir qui étaient présents dans la variété L2 d'anglais qui se parlait dans la communauté quand la langue a changé du pied-noir à l'anglais, et d'autre part que l'isolement social et géographique des Pieds-Noirs en Alberta a contribué à une nouvelle norme locale d'anglais pied-noir.

Keywords

Prosodic rhythmindigenous EnglishCanadian EnglishBlackfootlanguage variationRythme prosodiqueanglais autochtoneanglais canadienpied-noirvariation linguistique
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 538 - 555
Copyright
© Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2019 

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Footnotes

We wish to thank Shelly Eli, Kat Chief Moon, Amanda Ward-Sutherland, Christina Richmond, Kristina Geerhaert, and Krista Husebyfor help with data collection, and the consultants who contributed their voices to this project. Financial support was provided by the University of Lethbridge Research Development Fund (ULRDF), the Province of Alberta Student Summer Employment Program (STEP), the Chinook Research Summer Award program, and the Canada Research Chair in Language Interactions. We would like to acknowledge that this research was conducted on the lands of the Blackfoot people; we recognize and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship to the land on which we are fortunate to work.

Contributing authors’ roles: Rosen: Conceptualization, data collection, data analysis, funding, methodology, supervision, writing (original draft, review and editing); Genee: Data collection, writing (original draft, review and editing), funding; Shapka: Methodology, statistical analysis, writing (original draft, editing); Ankutowicz: Data processing and analysis, writing (original draft); Petker: Data processing and analysis.

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