Doctoral Dissertation Research: Sociolinguistic Variation and Biracial Identity

2010年美国人口普查估计，有900万美国人认为自己是多种族的，人口学家观察到，在过去15年里，认为两个或更多种族的个人数量显著增加。多种族的美国人，特别是黑人和白人混血的美国人，也越来越多地出现在公众意识中。多种族美国人可能有个人、社会和/或文化动机来认同和投射不同的社会和种族身份。以前的研究表明，多种族美国人的身份选择往往通过个人装饰和友谊网络的选择等因素反映在社会实践中，但很少有学者研究这些身份选择对语言实践的影响。本论文项目通过语言的视角研究种族认同，考察千禧一代男性(18-32岁)是如何在与白人和黑人同龄人的对话中展示他们的种族身份的。在蕾妮·布莱克博士的指导下，妮可·霍利迪将从研究组成员那里收集不同采访条件下的会话语音样本，并对收集到的样本进行一系列语音分析。这些分析将集中于他们在使用某些超音段特征方面的文体差异，如语调和节奏，这些特征似乎在非裔美国英语和主流美国英语中有所不同。这些功能包括使用基频(F0)范围(包括假声发声)、峰值延迟和可比较发音中的基音重音数量。了解这些特征在语体转换中是如何起作用的很重要，因为研究表明，听众依靠语言信息来对说话者做出种族判断，这种类型的语言侧写会产生切实的后果：个人往往得不到住房、就业或其他类型的机会。这项研究的结果将有助于阐明语言特征是如何被用来感知和传达个人的种族身份的。

The 2010 U.S. census estimates that 9 million Americans identify as multiracial, and demographers observe that the number of individuals identifying as two or more races has increased significantly over the last 15 year. Multiracial Americans, especially black/white biracial Americans, are also increasingly visible in the public consciousness. Multiracial Americans may have personal, social, and/or cultural motivations to identify with and project different social and racial identities. Previous research has shown that the identity choices of multiracial Americans are often reflected in social practice though elements such as personal adornment and choice of friendship networks, but few scholars have examined the effects of these identity choices on linguistic practice. This dissertation project investigates racial identity through the lens of language, examining how Millennial generation men (ages 18-32) with one black parent and one white parent project their racial identities in conversations with white and black peers. Under the direction of Dr. Renee Blake, Nicole Holliday will collect conversational speech samples under varying interview conditions from members of the study group, and will perform a set of phonetic analyses on the collected samples. The analyses will focus on the stylistic variation in their use of certain suprasegmental features, such as intonation and rhythm, which appear to differ between African American English and Mainstream U.S. English. These features include the use of Fundamental Frequency (F0) range (including falsetto phonation), peak delay, and the number of pitch accents in comparable utterances. Understanding how these features work in style-shifting is important because research has demonstrated that listeners rely on linguistic information to make racial judgments about speakers and that this type of linguistic profiling has tangible consequences: individuals are often denied housing, employment, or other types of opportunities. The results of this study will shed light on how linguistic features are used to perceive and to convey an individual's racial identity.