Figure 7. Evaluations of [aw] as good vowel and probability
of maintainance of [aw]

5. General considerations

The sound change which we have looked at constitutes yet another instance in the Segrià (western Catalonia) of the progressive imposition of a model of prestigious speech which is directly connected to the forms used in the written language. This model presents divergences which carry social connotations for speakers of all populations, namely age, educational level, and knowledge of (written) Catalan. Age, together with schooling, is one of the most important variables when it comes to explaining trends of this sort: in this particular case, we observe that the oldest inhabitants, who in many instances are those with the least schooling, maintain the traditional variant [aw] in a very large percentage of cases; on the other hand, with those in the middle age range and those in the youngest age group, the probability that they will use this traditional form is relatively low.

Turning to subjective factors linked to change, we should remember something that is sometimes forgotten: that in a speech community there are forms which are prestigious or stigmatised by speakers (12) in accordance with overt or covert prestige determined by social status and by group solidarity. These subjective criteria for evaluation which speakers take as reference points are directly related to language production and in the case under analysis here, serve to complete or fill out the explanation for the change in progress which we analyse in the following way:

a) In general terms, the informants evaluate the [aw] variant as odd in half the realisations that they heard (52%), suggesting the diphthong lacks prestige for the people of Sunyer.

b) In Sunyer, unusual pronunciations are not tolerated and [aw] is viewed as odd in words that seldom adopt this outcome, for instance oració. Directly connected with this, there is a substantial relationship between the degree of tolerance of a phonological form and the frequency of usage; on this point, note that words in which [aw] is considered neither a good option nor own pronunciation or that of the community have in common that they are seldom realised with [aw], as in the case of ovella.

c) Finally, there is a correlation between the use of a form by a given generation of speakers, and the degree of acceptance of this form by members of the said generation, such that, generally speaking, younger, more educated speakers are the ones who least use and least tolerate [aw].

6. Bibliography

ALMEIDA, M. "Seguridad e inseguridad lingüísticas en la sociolingüística laboviana." J. D. Luque-Duran, A. Pàmies-Bertrán & F. J. Manjón-Pozas (Eds.) Nuevas tendencias en la investigación lingüística. Granada: Granada Linguística, (2002), p. 351-360.

BADIA I MARGARIT, A. M. Gramàtica Històrica Catalana. Valencia: Tres i Quatre, [1951]1984.

CARRERA-SABATÉ, J. Escola catalana i variació fonètica. Una evolució del vocalisme àton a Alguaire i a Lleida. Lleida: Pagès Editors, 2002.

CHAMBERS, J. K.; TRUDGILL, P. SCHILLING-ESTES, N. The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Massachusetts and Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.

COSERIU, E. Teoría del lenguaje y lingüística general. Madrid: Gredos, [1952]1973.

COUPLAND, N.; COUPLAND, J.; GILES, H. Language, society & the elderly. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991.

FEIER, C.; GERSTMAN, L. "Sentence comprehension abilities throughout the adult life span." Journal of Gerontology, (1980), no. 35, p. 722-728.

FERRANDO, A.; GUIRAU, A. "Particularitats fonètiques i anivellament geolingüístic a la comarca de Morella." L'Espill (1983), no. XVII-XVIII, p. 209-230.

FOWLER, C. A. "An event approach to the study of speech perception from a direct-realist perspective." Journal of Phonetics. (1986), no. 14, p. 3-28.

GADET, F. Le français ordinaire. París: Colin, 1989.

INSTITUT D'ESTUDIS CATALANS. Proposta per a un estàndard oral de la llengua catalana. I. Fonètica. Barcelona: IEC, [1990]1992.

JANSON, T. "Sound change in perception and production." Language. (1983), no. 59. 1, p. 18-34.

LABOV, W. The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, (1966).

LABOV, W. Principles of linguistic change. Internal factors. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1994.

MACAULAY, R. S. K. "Negative prestige, linguistic insecurity, and linguistic self-hatred." Lingua. (1975), no. 36, p. 147-161.

MARCELLESI, J. B.; GARDIN, B. Introduction à la Sociolinguistique. La linguistique sociale. Paris: Larousse, 1974.

MARTÍ, J. "Dialectologia social. Estudi de les localitats de Marcà, la Torre de Fontaubella, Margalef de Montsant i Alió." Actes del VIIè Col·loqui Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes. Barcelona: PAM, (1985), p. 545-583.

MOOSMÜLLER, S. "Sociophonology." P. Auer; A. di Luzio (eds.) Variation and Convergence. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 1988, p. 76-93.

PRADILLA, M. À. Variació i canvi lingüístic en curs al català de transició nord-occidental/valencià. (doctoral thesis). Tarragona: Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 1993.

PUEYO, M. L'estructura fonològica del vocalisme lleidatà. (manuscript). Lleida, 1976.

PUEYO, M. "Vikings i pagesos: una batussa continuada. Assaig per a un estudi de les relacions interdialectals en català." Treballs de Sociolingüística Catalana. (1980), no. III, p. 83-102.

RAND, D.; SANKOFF, D. GoldVarb: A Variable Rule Application for the Macintosh (version 2.1). Montreal: Centre de recherches mathématiques de la Universitat de Montréal, 1991.

RECASENS, D. Fonètica descriptiva del català. Barcelona: IEC, [1991] 1996.

ROBINSON, J.; LAWRENCE, H.; TAGLIAMONTE, S. A Multivariate Analysis Application for Windows. User’s manual. York: University of York, 2001.

SEGARRA, M. Història de l'ortografia catalana. Barcelona: Empúries, 1985.

SIGUÁN, M. "El lenguaje en la escuela." Siguán, M. (coord.) Lengua del alumno, lengua de la escuela. Barcelona: Institut de Ciències de l'Educació de la Universitat de Barcelona (1990), p. 9-28.

SOLANS, E. Estudi fonètic sobre la parla de Lleida. Lleida: Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs, 1996.

VENY, J. Els parlars catalans. Palma de Mallorca: Raixa, 1982.

WALLEY, A. C. "Spoken word recognition by young children and adults." Cognitive Development (1988), no. 3, p. 137-165.

WARREN, R. M. "Perceptual restoration of missing speech sounds." Science (1970), no. 176, p. 392-393.

Josefina Carrera-Sabaté
Universitat de Lleida and de Barcelona  
josefinacarrera@teleline.es  

Elisabet Freixenet i Esteve 
Universitat de Lleida 
efreixenet@alumnes.udl.es