Globalisation versus internal development: the reverse short front vowel shift in South African English

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dc.contributor.advisorMesthrie, Rajenden_ZA
dc.contributor.authorChevalier, Alidaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-11T13:49:20Z
dc.date.available2016-07-11T13:49:20Z
dc.date.issued2016en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe South African Chain Shift involved the raising of the short front vowels KIT, DRESS and TRAP when compared to Received Pronunciation (Lass & Wright 1986). This raising wasparticularly evident in the speech of middle class white speakers of South African English, as well as coloured speakers in the Cape. Recent scholarship has suggested that this raising is being reversed in the speech of young white South Africans. In particular, Bekker and Eley(2007) and Bekker (2009) report the lowering and retraction of TRAP. Mesthrie (2012a)reports not only the lowering and retraction of TRAP, but also the lowering of KIT and DRESS. In addition, scholars such as Mesthrie (2010) have found post-segregation deracialisation of middle class South African English. This thesis therefore investigates the extent to which the reversal of the older South African Chain Shift exists in the speech of white and black middle class South Africans from Cape Town. It furthermore explores the potential merger between TRAP~STRUT and KIT~DRESS. In so doing, 53 participants in sociolinguistic interviews are reported on. The Forced Alignment and Vowel Extraction Toolkit was utilised for formant measurement and extraction. Statistical testing via R was performed, including linear mixed-effects modelling, random forest analyses, conditional inference trees, Euclidean Distance measures, Welch's Two Sample t-tests and Pillai Scores. The analysis finds evidence of the reversal of the South African Chain Shift in the speech of participants under the age of 30. In particular, speakers aged between 18 and 25 participate the most in lowering KIT, DRESS and TRAP. Moreover, the short front vowels are retracting in the speech of younger Capetonians, indicating that within the process of vowel lowering, further innovation occurs via vowel retraction. The Reverse Vowel Shift is found to be a combination of push and pull chains: the fronting of FOOT causes the lowering of KIT, and the lowering of TRAP causes the lowering of DRESS. The retraction of TRAP furthermore causes the backing and raising of STRUT, such that an anti-clockwise rotation of the short front vowels (barring LOT) is evidenced in South African English. The Reverse Vowel Shift evident in Cape Town is similar to trends observed in California, Canada, southeast England, Ireland and Australia. This illustrates the effects of globalisation on English in South Africa, though internal motivations are also responsible.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationChevalier, A. (2016). <i>Globalisation versus internal development: the reverse short front vowel shift in South African English</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20292en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationChevalier, Alida. <i>"Globalisation versus internal development: the reverse short front vowel shift in South African English."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20292en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationChevalier, A. 2016. Globalisation versus internal development: the reverse short front vowel shift in South African English. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Chevalier, Alida AB - The South African Chain Shift involved the raising of the short front vowels KIT, DRESS and TRAP when compared to Received Pronunciation (Lass & Wright 1986). This raising wasparticularly evident in the speech of middle class white speakers of South African English, as well as coloured speakers in the Cape. Recent scholarship has suggested that this raising is being reversed in the speech of young white South Africans. In particular, Bekker and Eley(2007) and Bekker (2009) report the lowering and retraction of TRAP. Mesthrie (2012a)reports not only the lowering and retraction of TRAP, but also the lowering of KIT and DRESS. In addition, scholars such as Mesthrie (2010) have found post-segregation deracialisation of middle class South African English. This thesis therefore investigates the extent to which the reversal of the older South African Chain Shift exists in the speech of white and black middle class South Africans from Cape Town. It furthermore explores the potential merger between TRAP~STRUT and KIT~DRESS. In so doing, 53 participants in sociolinguistic interviews are reported on. The Forced Alignment and Vowel Extraction Toolkit was utilised for formant measurement and extraction. Statistical testing via R was performed, including linear mixed-effects modelling, random forest analyses, conditional inference trees, Euclidean Distance measures, Welch's Two Sample t-tests and Pillai Scores. The analysis finds evidence of the reversal of the South African Chain Shift in the speech of participants under the age of 30. In particular, speakers aged between 18 and 25 participate the most in lowering KIT, DRESS and TRAP. Moreover, the short front vowels are retracting in the speech of younger Capetonians, indicating that within the process of vowel lowering, further innovation occurs via vowel retraction. The Reverse Vowel Shift is found to be a combination of push and pull chains: the fronting of FOOT causes the lowering of KIT, and the lowering of TRAP causes the lowering of DRESS. The retraction of TRAP furthermore causes the backing and raising of STRUT, such that an anti-clockwise rotation of the short front vowels (barring LOT) is evidenced in South African English. The Reverse Vowel Shift evident in Cape Town is similar to trends observed in California, Canada, southeast England, Ireland and Australia. This illustrates the effects of globalisation on English in South Africa, though internal motivations are also responsible. DA - 2016 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 T1 - Globalisation versus internal development: the reverse short front vowel shift in South African English TI - Globalisation versus internal development: the reverse short front vowel shift in South African English UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20292 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/20292
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationChevalier A. Globalisation versus internal development: the reverse short front vowel shift in South African English. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Linguistics, 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20292en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentLinguisticsen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherLinguisticsen_ZA
dc.titleGlobalisation versus internal development: the reverse short front vowel shift in South African Englishen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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