4.2 Perception
of [aw], [o] and [u]
4.2.1
[aw] as an "odd" variant
Around half of the
Sunyerites see the [aw] variant as an odd pronunciation (52%), so apparently according
little prestige to this variant. Having said that, the degree to which the sound is
thought odd differs from word to word: [aw]ració (oració - prayer) is seen as the oddest
instance, and [aw]perat (operat - operated) and [aw]lives (olives - olives) the most
normal instances (see figure 1). These general replies have to be put alongside results
from the closed question questionnaire, since the villagers of Sunyer scarcely tolerate
pronunciations which they do not usually use themselves.
Figure
1. Degree of oddness and probability of maintaining [aw]
Turning to the
social factors, it can be seen that, in general terms, the degree to which the
pronunciation [aw] is viewed as odd is in direct (inverse) proportion to age of
interviewee: the oldest group scarcely find it odd or marked, among the youngest its
oddness or markedness is very great, and here again this result connects directly with the
results we obtain for production. (See figure 2).
Figure 2.
Degree of perceived "oddness" of [aw] and probability
of maintaining
Schooling also
emerged as a relevant factor related to subjective evaluation of [aw]: the interviewees
with little or no knowledge of written Catalan, and either had no education or only
elementary education, are the only ones to consider the [aw] variant as normal or
unmarked, and this falls off proportionally as educational level rises (see figure 3). And
here too, production follow in step with perception, such that interviewees with secondary
education maintain the [aw] variant at lower level than other speakers.
Figure 3.
Degree of perceived oddness of [aw] of maintaining
Lastly, social
status of the speakers is also a modifying factor: speakers with a higher sociocultural
level have a greater tendency than others to view the [aw] pronunciation as odd:
consultants (informants) with greater status view this as odd in some 64% of instances,
while those with lower sociocultural status, only do so in 8% of cases.
4.2.2
The contrast between [aw] / [o] and [u] and evaluations of [aw]
4.2.2.1 The
contrast between [aw] / [o] and [u]
In general terms,
the phonic contrast between [aw] and [o] or [u] well perceived in Sunyer, as one would
expect. The speakers who see this clearest of all are speakers aged between 19 and 39 and
are the most innovative in analysis of production. Apart from that, the oldest
interviewees, aged from 66 to 85, are the least equipped to perceive the contrast in
vowels in pretonic position and are also the most conservative. This state of affairs
leads us to relate what we have just described with what in psychology is called the
restoration effect, (9) whereby the auditory system is
capable of restoring correctly a sound either not uttered at all, or different from the
utterance that one expects (Fowler, 1986). In the case we are concerned with here, after
hearing the variants [o] and [u] in pretonic position it seems that the elderly
consultants automatically replace them with the [aw] form, which they use in words of a
similar nature. And, consequently, they do not note substantial qualitative differences in
two words supposedly the same. This line of argument comes from the field of psychology,
there are also factors of a biological nature that could be taken into consideration, such
as the auditory capacity of those questioned (Walley 1988), (10) when explaining these
auditory mismatches.
4.2.2.2
Evaluations of [aw], [o] and [u]
What we find
overall is that 67% of evaluations made by Sunyerites take [o] as the "good"
variant in pretonic position in olor (smell) ovella (sheep) orella (ear) and [u] as the
"good" one in ufanosa (luxuriant); nonetheless, in more than 80% of instances
the interviewers state that [aw] is the variant that they themselves use and also the one
generally used in the village (see figure 4):
Figure 4.
Evaluation of pre-tonic realisations [aw] and [o]
Looking at how
evaluations made by the inteviewees in relation to lexical items, we see that ovella is
the word where [o] is considered most normal; on the other hand, in the case of ufanosa,
[aw] is seen as normal. Lastly, in the case of orella speakers are more insecure: 75% of
the interviewees deem [o] the "good" variant 100% claim [aw] is the variant they
use and consider this is the form used in Sunyer. These results tie in, once again, with
the data obtained in the analysis of production (see figure 5) and make it possible to
track the process of decline of the [aw] realisation from the subjective point of view of
the speakers.
Figure 5.
Evaluations and probability of maintaining [aw]
The consultants'
impressions regarding the pretonic [aw] variant vary significantly in relation to age: 1)
[aw] is considered own variant (the variant used by the speaker) in 97% of the elderly
group; among the youngest speakers this falls by some 30% but still occurs at a
comparatively high rate (66%). 2) [aw] is considered the form used in Sunyer and occurs at
a high level among all speakers, above all the elderly. 3) Lastly, only the elderly
(mostly) view the [aw] diphthong as the "good" form, (at 77%) while in the case
of the other speakers the percentage who think so falls to a mere 10% (see figure 6). From
all this, we can deduce that, on a subjective level, the sound change has reached an
intermediate stage in the case of the youngest speakers and practically speaking has not
even begun among the oldest age group, the only ones who have a high level of linguistic
security. (11)
Figure 6.
Evaluation and probability of maintaining [aw]
by age group of interviewee
As regards
schooling, the only evaluations that present interesting differences among the
interviewees are those that have to do with which vowel is considered the good one. In
effect, the interviewees who have no knowledge of written Catalan and those who did not
receive any schooling consider [aw] to be good; all the others view [aw] as the good
variant in a progressively decreasing curve in inverse relation to education (see figure
7). This, combined with the results obtained in the analysis of production enable us to
detect the beginning of the sound change among the more educated, who are in turn show
greater discrepancy between their evaluations and production. |