LANGUAGE VARIATION ON

THE MOVE: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE

INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

ON MOBILE AND NON-MOBILE

ADOLESCENTS

Mary Kohn Kansas State University

Charlie Farrington University of Oregon NWAV 42 Pittsburgh

What we know…

Student, g8, Chapel Hill, NC: You’re

around school people like 7 hours a

day, so you get to know them very well.

Examiner: Yeah you do.

2 goals:

Investigate correlations between school

demographic profiles and participation in local

dialects

Examine the effect of student mobility on language

variation across adolescence

Frank Porter Graham (FPG)

1990-1992: Recruited 88 African American children from 6-12 months (mean 8.1 months) from Piedmont region in North Carolina

2012: 67 continue in study

Large scale longitudinal database of over 2500 audio recordings at 15 time points from 24 months through 20 years old

Previous sociolinguistic analyses: Van Hofwegen & Wolfram 2010, Renn 2010, Kohn 2013, Kohn & Farrington 2013, etc.

Vowels and Demographics

Kohn (2013) looked at the correlation of front lax

vowels with school demographics, specifically, the

percent of African American students in each school.

School demographics were found to correlate with

vowel variation.

Ambient vowel systems

Southern Vowel Shift

(SVS)

African American Vowel

System (AAVS)

While the AAVS is generally stable, Piedmont, NC, are undergoing a

change in progress away from the SVS leading to both generational

and ethnic linguistic diversity in the region (Dodsworth & Kohn 2012)

Demographics and the AAVS (Kohn 2013)

Effect sizes for

school

demographics

BAT: -.59

t = -5.6***

BET: -.39

t = -5.22***

No significant

interaction

with grade

Schools, social networks, and variation

These results align with the

observation that schools are

central to language variation and

change as they are a primary site

for peer interactions and a locus

for the establishment of social

networks (e.g. Eckert 2000;

Kerswill & Williams 2000).

Less attention is given to…

The potential influence of the school demographic

profiles on language variation

Or how student mobility or changing school

demographics influence child and adolescent speech

(see Cukor-Avila and Bailey 2011 for a notable

exception)

1. How do patterns of school demographics (and the school structures that influence school selection) correlate with or reflect participation in ethnolectal varieties?

2. How do large shifts in schools demographics influence patterns of linguistic stability in groups and with individuals?

3. How might inclusion of student mobility as an important factor in childhood development influence models of language variation and change?

Structure and Mobility

Of the 67 participants, we focus on a subset of 20 from similar socioeconomic backgrounds

Recordings from:

4th Grade (Age 9)

8th Grade (Age 13)

10th Grade (Age 15)

Post-High School (Age 19-20)

Recordings come from peer interactions, standardized tests, and sociolinguistic interviews. (Van Hofwegen & Wolfram 2010)

Durham Chapel

Hill

Inter-

district

Movers

Rural

9 5 4 2

Frank Porter Graham (FPG)

Frank Porter Graham Project

FPG Field Sites in NC

Although participants come from the same region,

their communities have different demographics,

potentially affecting participation in sound change

Durham Chapel Hill

9%

AA

41%

AA 38%

EA

20%

other

20%

other

70%

EA

School Structures in the US

US school systems recapitulate patterns of residential

segregation

Intra-district segregation, especially between African American

and European American students, remains prevalent today

(Stroub & Richards 2013)

Our research indicates that there is a relationship between

school demographics and participation in local and/or

ethnolectal dialect features

District demographics

G4

(1999/2000)

G8

(2003/2004)

G10

(2006/2007)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

School district demographics across time

Other

European American

African American

Students and School Structures

Some individuals’ vowels are generally stable over

time and reflect the larger school demographic

(thus, community demographic patterns).

K268, from Chapel Hill, and 1035, from Durham,

illustrate this pattern.

These participants are representative of the kinds

of local, non-mobile populations that sociolinguistic

studies tend to focus on.

K268: Non-mobile/stable

Chapel Hill/Carrboro

Public Schools G1-G11

One non-promotional,

but within district school

change

Alamance Community

College for PHS, 30

miles NW of Chapel

Hill

K268 Vowels

Largely stable

predominant regional

variety front vowel

pattern with lowered

BAT and BET vowels

1035: non-mobile/stable

Durham Public Schools

(G1-G12)

Stayed in Durham

after graduation

Attended the local

community college,

Durham Tech

1035

Largely stable Durham

vowel system (AAVS)

with a raised BAT and

BET class

Demographics

Some individuals are correlated with larger

demographic patterns

Others change over time, illustrating that within the

larger school/demographic structures, individual

social networks play a role in language change and

stability throughout the lifespan

Social Networks

Social networks clearly play a

role in adolescent and adult

language patterns (Milroy and

Milroy 1978; Dodsworth, today)

Attitudes related to (or against)

institutional engagement can be

reflected in linguistic patterns

(Eckert 2000; Jocks and

Burnouts Revisited, yesterday)

1078: non-mobile/shifting vowel

Durham Public Schools

(G1-G12)

Stayed in Durham after

graduation.

Attended the local

HBCU.

1078

Even though the Percentage of African American students in her schools changes throughout her time in Durham Public Schools, the raising of the BAT vowel peaks in middle school, lowering towards the predominant regional variety target in high school and post-high school

1078

This vocalic change could reflect a change in

orientation towards the school system and activities

in school

G8: “I don’t really party like I used to”

Changing orientation towards school culture

She starts getting into theatre and working with a

local community garden group, where she gives

presentations to business people in central NC

Social Networks (agentive/reactive)

1078 describes agentive restructuring of her

friendship groups and her social networks in school

G9: Challenges: “Learning how to let friends go…let

people go that make me no good.”

While it is clear that 1078’s restructured networks

are partially the result of her own feelings towards

the school, like all other kids, she also dealt with

student mobility (other mobile students), morphing

social groups

Student mobility in the US

Exceeds mobility rates in other industrialized countries

1/6 of US students change schools at least 3 times between 1st and 3rd grade

In 1998 34% of 4th graders, 21% of 8th graders, and 10% of 12th graders moved at least once the previous year

Disproportionally affects African Americans “Overall, only 45% of Black third graders are enrolled in their

kindergarten school, as compared to nearly 60% of White and Asian third graders” (Burkam, Lee, & Dwyer 2009)

Linguistic studies of student mobility

Case studies indicate that students may accommodate to new linguistic contexts when changing schools (Carter 2007; Rickford & McNair-Knox 1994)

When we look into student mobility and school demographic profiles in North Carolina, and the communities we focus on, school demographics and student mobility could be playing a large role in the linguistic makeup of the region

Student mobility in North Carolina

• Student mobility in school rose

3-4% from 1998-2004

• Urban school student mobility

reached 33% in 2004

• Schools with high percentages

of ethnic minorities have more

transient populations than

primarily European American

schools (Xu, Hannaway,

D’Souza 2009)

Stability and change

Student mobility is a fact of American life,

particularly for ethnic minority groups

As such, there are likely linguistic consequences as a

result of student mobility, or lack thereof

What kinds of patterns of linguistic stability or change

do students who experience large shifts in school

demographics exhibit?

Demographics and the AAVS

Do changes to school demographics result in changes to

vowel pronunciations?

Patterns of mobility do not uniformly align with patterns of

change.

• Changes in demographic environments do not

necessarily predict vocalic changes

• Idiosyncratic trajectories of change

predominate

School Demographic Patterns

Non-voluntary social network

reorganization

The following two case studies represent the

linguistic consequences of student mobility

Given the prevalence of student mobility in the US,

these patterns may be increasingly common

Non-mobile students in schools with high student

mobility may also be affected due to the disruption

of social networks, although it is perhaps more

difficult to pinpoint these effects

1075

Durham Public Schools

(G1-G4)

Chapel Hill/Carrboro

Public Schools (G5-

G12)

Living in Chapel Hill,

PHS (dropped out, no

work)

1075

Even though he moved from Durham to Chapel Hill between G4 and G6, 1075 shows differential patterns of accommodation.

While BAT lowers, BET raising intensifies in the 10th grade

K280

Durham Public Schools

G1-G9

Granville Public

Schools G10-G12

“I tell people all the time that, you

know, I lived in Durham, I just spent the

night in Wake Forest.” K280 (age 20)

K280

Despite having strong

feelings towards Durham

(family, friends and school),

K280 has lived in Wake

Forest long enough that his

BAT vowel better reflects

the predominant regional

NC vowel patterns

Follows patterns found in

previous case studies (e.g.

Carter 2007, Rickford &

McNair-Knox 1994)

(Non) Mobility and change (stability)

Linguistic patterns are not an absolute result of a

certain social structure or demographic pattern

Individuals who experience mobility (and those who

do not) have agency and they react in different

ways

Conclusions

At a time that is posited as crucial to the development of the social use of language, social networks are likely to be disrupted in US culture

Non-voluntary social network reorganization is fact of a young adult’s life in the US

Student mobility may serve as a catalyst for language change and spread

Case studies help to elucidate the complex role of structure and social networks in adolescent language use

Conclusions

Even students who do not make non-promotional

school changes may experience rapidly

reorganized social structures, especially in schools

with transient populations.

A better understanding of the role of mobility and

demographics in the context of other more

traditional sociolinguistic variables will help our

understanding of language change in the early life

of individuals.

Selected References

Britain, David. 1997. Dialect contact, focusing and phonological rule complexity: The koineisation of Fenland English. In C. Boberg, M.

Meyerhoff, & S. Strassel (eds.), A selection of papers from NWAVE 25. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 4:141-

170.

Burkam, D. T., V.E. Lee, & J. Dwyer. 2009. School mobility in the early elementary grades: Frequency and impact from nationally -

representative data. (Prepared for the Workshop on the Impact of Mobility and Change on the Lives of Young Children, Schools, and

Neighborhoods).

Carter, Phillip. 2007. 2007. Phonetic variation and speaker agency: Mexicana identity in a North Carolina middle school. University of

Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (Selected papers from NWAV 35). 13.2.1-14.

Cukor-Avilla, Patricia and Guy Bailey. 2011. The interaction of transmission and diffusion in the spread of linguistic forms. University of

Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (Selected papers from NWAV 40) 17.2.41-49.

Eckert, Penelope. 2000. Linguistic variation as social practice. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Kerswill, Paul and Ann Williams. 2000. Creating a new town koine: children and language change in Milton Keynes. Language in Society 29:

65-115.

Rickford, John and Faye McNair-Knox. 1994. Addressee- and topic-influenced style shift: A quantitative sociolinguistic study. Sociolinguistic

perspectives on register, ed. by Douglas Biber, and Edward Finegan, 235-276. New York: Oxford University Press.

Stroub, K.J. and M.P. Richards. 2013. From resegregation to reintegration: Trends in metropolitan school segregation, 1993-2010. American

Educational Research Journal, 50(3), 497-531.

Trudgill, Peter. 1998. the chaos before the order: New Zealand English and the second stage of new-dialect formation. In E. H. Jahr (ed.),

Advances in Historical Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 1-11.

Van Hofwegen, Janneke and Walt Wolfram. 2010. Coming of age in African American English: A longitudinal study. Journal of Sociolinguistics

14: 427-455.

Xu, Zeyu, Jane Hannaway, Stephanie D’Souza. 2009. Student Transience in North Carolina: The Effect of School Mobility on Student Outcomes

Using Longitudinal Data. Research Report, the Urban Institute and CALDER, Washington DC.

Acknowledgements

We’d like to thank Susan Zeisel, Walt Wolfram,

Tyler Kendall, the UO LVC Lab, and the NCLLP.

National Science Foundation Grant

BCS-0544744

BCS-0843865

School mobility: changing schools at non-promotional time points

“Strategic” vs. “reactive” moves

“When children change schools they experience an ecological transition. Ecological transitions are changes in the settings, roles, or expectations of an individual (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).” (Mehana and Reynolds 2004)

“Overall, only 45% of Black third graders are enrolled in their kindergarten school, as compared to nearly 60% of White and Asian third graders” (Burkham, Lee, Dwyer 2009)

Schools as centers for vernacular

reorganization 58

School mobility: changing schools at non-promotional time points

“Strategic” vs. “reactive” moves

“When children change schools they experience an ecological transition. Ecological transitions are changes in the settings, roles, or expectations of an individual (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).” (Mehana and Reynolds 2004)

Schools as centers for vernacular

reorganization 59