Doctoral Dissertation Research: The English of American-Born Chinese in New York City: Sociophonetic Variation and Social Meaning

语言的快速转变使英语成为许多在美国出生的中国人所说的主要语言，如果不是唯一的语言的话。这些人如何利用美式英语的语音/语音变化来构建人物形象，协商社会文化边界，并投射新兴身份？即使这些人的语言能力有限，他们的传统语言是否会影响这一过程？在约翰·辛格勒博士的指导下，艾米·王的论文研究将研究在纽约市出生和长大的三十二代华裔美国人的语言实践，因为他们使用一系列英语方言变体来驾驭社会景观。结合社会语音分析和民族志方法，本研究解决了三个相互关联的问题：第一，纽约出生的粤语后裔是否产生了纽约市英语的白话特征？第二，他们的英语是否包含来自他们的传统语言的语音影响的特征？第三，这些语音/语音资源在多大程度上被用作社会文化认同和当地互动意义的指标？黄女士将利用从几个社区组织和社交网络团体中收集的年龄在11至29岁之间的演讲者的三种数据：从社会语言学和民族志访谈中收集的研究者驱动的演讲，在自然环境中记录的演讲者驱动的自发对话，以及通过参与者观察获得的深入的民族志信息。充分记录的方言特征和未充分研究的基材特征分析使用器乐社会语音学技术。通过对说话人的风格、社会人口背景、社会结盟和交叉身份（例如：语音）的定性民族志检查，可以定量分析说话人之间和说话人内部的语音/语音变化。“女性”、“初来乍到”、“世界主义者”)。这项研究的结果将告诉我们，在一个多元化的大都市环境中，少数民族是如何使用和可能塑造英语的。他们还将增强我们对华裔美国人身份认同的理解，以及对美国不断变化的民族语言景观中身份认同实践的动态的理解

Rapid language shift has made English the dominant, if not the only, language spoken by many American-born Chinese in the U.S. How do these speakers draw on phonetic/phonological variation in American English to construct personae, negotiate sociocultural boundaries, and project emergent identities? Does their heritage language influence this process even if these speakers have limited competence in it? Under the direction of Dr. John Singler, Amy Wong's dissertation research will examine the linguistic practices of thirty second-generation Chinese Americans, born and raised in New York City, as they navigate the social landscape using a range of dialectal variation in English. Merging sociophonetic analysis with ethnographic methods, this study addresses three interrelated questions: First, do New York-born Chinese of Cantonese descent produce the vernacular features of New York City English? Second, does their English contain features that show phonological effects from their heritage language? Third, to what extent are these phonetic/phonological resources in English employed as indices of sociocultural identities and local interactional meanings? Ms. Wong will utilize three kinds of data collected from speakers between the ages of 11 and 29, recruited from several community organizations and social networking groups: researcher-driven speech collected from sociolinguistic and ethnographic interviews, speaker-driven spontaneous conversations recorded in natural settings and in-depth ethnographic information obtained through participant observation. Well-documented dialect features and understudied substrate features are analyzed using instrumental sociophonetic techniques. Quantitative analysis of inter- and intra-speaker phonetic/phonological variation is informed by qualitative ethnographic examination of speakers' styles, sociodemographic backgrounds, social alignments and intersecting identities (e.g. "female", "fresh-off-the-boat", "cosmopolitan"). Results from this study will inform our knowledge on how ethnic minorities use and possibly shape the English spoken in a diverse metropolitan setting. They will also enhance our understanding not only of Chinese American identities but also of the dynamics involved in identity practices within the changing ethnolinguistic landscape of the U.S.