Doctoral Dissertation Research: Investigating the mechanism of phonological change in progress: Allophonic restructuring of /ae/ in Philadelphia

本论文项目的目标是加深我们对语言变化如何通过语言社区传播的理解。语言的变化是语言中一个持续的、不可避免的事实：新的词汇、新的音型、新的句法结构。由于大规模录音是相对较新的东西，对于在语音变化时期习得语言的个体的大脑中声音变化的产生和心理表征，人们知之甚少。这个项目调查了目前正在费城进行的语音重组，以确定语音变化的机制，因为它在言语社区中通过个体说话者传播。研究结果将成为费城音韵变化科学展览的基础，向公众宣传语言变化，强调语言多样性的价值。音位变化被定义为控制音位段的抽象表示或音位规则的变化，而不包括语音变化，语音变化导致音位段物理输出的变化。先前的假设表明，语音变化是语音增量的结果（Ohala, 1981），发生在任何语音增量之前（Fruehwald, 2013; Janda and Joseph 2003），或者是通过竞争语法（Kroch, 1989; 2001）扩展到语音变化（Fruehwald et al. 2013）。费城的short-a的重组为这三种语音变化理论提供了一个理想的试验场，因为它是一个持续的变化，允许进入关键的说话者，因为两个系统的输出都提供了关于底层系统的明确证据。理解个体内部语音变化的机制将更广泛地揭示语言变化的心理表征。初步研究结果表明，在同一说话者内部存在两个语音子系统，支持竞争语法扩展到语音变化，并表明句法和语音领域的范畴语言变化可能发生在个体说话者内部的一段时间的语法竞争中。

The goal of this dissertation project is to deepen our understanding of how language change spreads through a speech community. Language change is a constant and inevitable fact about language: new words, new sound patterns, new syntactic constructions. Because large-scale sound recordings are relatively new, very little is understood about the production and mental representation of sound changes in the minds of individuals who acquire language during a period of phonological change. This project investigates a phonological restructuring currently in progress in Philadelphia, in order to identify the mechanism of phonological change as it propagates through individual speakers in a speech community. The results will form the basis of a science fair exhibit on phonological change in Philadelphia, educating the public on language change and emphasizing the value of linguistic diversity. Phonological change is defined as a change in the abstract representation or allophonic rules governing a phonological segment, to the exclusion of phonetic change, which entails a change in the physical output of a phonological segment. Previous hypotheses have suggested that phonological change occurs as the result of phonetic incrementation (Ohala, 1981), occurs before any phonetic incrementation (Fruehwald, 2013; Janda and Joseph 2003), or through an extension of competing grammars (Kroch, 1989; 2001) to phonological change (Fruehwald et al. 2013). The restructuring of short-a in Philadelphia provides an ideal testing ground for these three theories of phonological change, as it is an ongoing change allowing access to the critical speakers, and as the outputs of both systems provide clear evidence regarding the underlying system. Understanding the mechanism of phonological change within individuals will shed light on the mental representations of language change more broadly. Preliminary findings suggest the operation of two phonological subsystems of short-a within a single speaker, supporting the extension of competing grammars to phonological change and suggesting that categorical linguistic change in both the syntactic and phonological domain may occur through a period of grammar competition within individual speakers.