Chicano English in Context

Chicano English in Context

Chicano English in Context Carmen Fought palgrave macmillan

* Carmen Fought 2003 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st editrion 2003978-0-333-98637-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London wn 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2003 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-0-333-98638-7 ISBN 978-0-230-51001-2 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230510012 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fought, Carmen, 1966- Chicano English in context 1 Carmen Fought. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-333-98638-7 (pbk.) 1. Mexican Americans-Languages. 2. English language-united States Foreign elements-spanish. 3. English language-variation-united States. 4. Spanish language-influence on English. 5. Bilingualism-United States. I. Title. PE3102.M4 F68 2002 427'.973'0896872-dc21 2002074837 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03

Contents List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgments viii ix x Introduction 1 I.1 What is Chicano English? Setting aside the myths 1 1.2 The scope of this work 8 1 Fieldwork in the Los Angeles Chicano Community 11 1.1 History of Mexican immigration to Los Angeles 11 1.2 The history of Chicano English 14 1.3 Field methods 20 2 The Social Context of the Chicano Community 2.1 Social structures and gender roles in Latino families 2.2 Social class differences among Chicanos 2.3 The dynamics of conflict and oppositions within the community 2.4 The structure of the gang member sub-group 2.5 Other affiliations 2.6 The role of networks 30 30 33 38 45 53 55 3 Phonology of Chicano English 62 3.1 Introduction: features of Chicano English phonology 62 3.2 Vowels 64 3.3 Consonants 67 3.4 Prosody in Chicano English 70 3.5 Comparison with the English of non-native speakers 80 3.6 Comparison with older studies 85 3.7 The influence of African-American English 86 3.8 The influence on Chicano English phonology of California Anglo English 87 v

vi Contents 4 Syntax and Semantics of Chicano English 93 Part I: Syntactic features of Chicano English 94 4.1 Features characteristic of many non-standard dialects 94 4.2 Features characteristic of African-American English 95 4.3 Features of ambiguous origin 97 4.4 Features particular to Chicano English 98 Part II: Semantic/lexical features of Chicano English 102 4.5 General lexical items 102 4.6 Use of like, be like, and be all 107 Part III: The older generation of speakers 109 5 Sociolinguistics of Chicano English I: Phonetic Variation 111 5.1 Introduction 111 5.2 Measuring /u/-fronting 113 5.3 Social categories, identity and /u/-fronting in Chicano English 118 5.4 Interacting social factors and the role of gender 121 5.5 Phonetic variables beyond /u/: /&/-backing and /&/-raising 126 5.6 Quantitative analysis of the three linguistic variables 128 5.7 Implications of the sociolinguistic patterns 135 6 Sociolinguistics of Chicano English II: Syntactic Variation 140 6.1 Syntactic variation: negative concord 140 6.2 Qualitative differences among dialects 142 6.3 Quantitative differences 143 6.4 Results and comparison with phonetic variables 146 6.5 Constructing identities: what the use of these variables reveals 149 6.6 Possible sources for negative concord 151 7 Bilingualism and Spanish Fluency 152 7.1 Background: degrees of bilingualism in the community 152 7.2 Patterns of language use among bilingual speakers 159 7.3 Rita and Avery: two individual cases 165 7.4 Experimental evidence for factors that affect Spanish fluency 169

Contents vii 7.5 The gender/social class interaction and its influence on the acquisition of Spanish phonology 188 7.6 Implications for theories of second language acquisition 190 8 Language Attitudes Part I: Attitudes about Spanish 8.1 Using Spanish in the interviews 8.2 General attitudes about speaking Spanish 8.3 Self-evaluation and linguistic insecurity 8.4 Attitudes about parents who speak Spanish: the language gap 8.5.The importance of speaking Spanish to Mexican/Chicano identity 8.6 Parents' attitudes about teaching Spanish to their children 8.7 Attitudes about other dialects of Spanish Part II: Attitudes about codeswitching Part III: Attitudes about Chicano English 8.8 Experimental evidence of language attitudes Part IV: Attitudes as represented in the media 8.9 The representation of the language of Mexican-Americans in feature films 193 193 193 197 197 198 200 204 207 208 211 211 211 212 9 Conclusions: The Future of Research on Chicano English: Where Do We Go from Here? 226 9.1 Conclusions 226 9.2 Future directions 229 Appendix A: Examples from Narratives, in IPA Transcription 235 Appendix B: Response sheet for the Accent-rating Experiment 237 Notes 238 References 242 Index 249

List of Tables 1.1 Latino population by birthplace 12 1.2 Population of Culver City, 2000 13 2.1 Social class rankings 37 3.1 'Standard' inventory for American English 68 5.1 GLM of lui-fronting (Analysis of Variance) 129 5.2 GLM of lui-fronting with significant variables only (Analysis of Variance) 130 5.3 GLM of ix'-backing (Analysis of Variance) 132 5.4 GLM of ix'-raising (Analysis of Variance) 133 5.5 GLM of ix'-raising with significant variables, plus gang status 134 5.6 Pearson correlations of values by speaker for three variables 136 6.1 Syntactic categories used to code negative concord 144 6.2 Negative concord by syntactic category (in order of weight) 145 6.3 'Conservative' and 'tough' categories 147 6.4 VARBRUL analysis of factors that affect negative concord 147 7.1 Language use among bilingual speakers 160 7.2 Language use as reported on the Bilingual Home Survey 163 7.3 Accent ratings for the bilingual speakers 179 7.4 One-way ANOVA results for family language use variables 181 7.5 One-way ANOVA results for social categories and other variables 184 7.6 Generalized linear model results for the interactions of variables 186 7.7 GLM using the model 'Nativeness = Constant + SEX*CLASS + Monolingual parent 2' 186 8.1 Major Latino characters in five feature films 222 8.2 Minor Latino roles in five feature films 223 viii

List of Figures 2.1 Networks of young adults 57 3.1 Helena: English vowel space 90 3.2 Amanda: English vowel space 91 5.1 Ramon: English vowels 115 5.2 Avery: English vowels 116 5.3 Degree of lui-fronting for all speakers 118 5.4 Degree of lui-fronting by social class 119 5.5 Degree of lui-fronting by gang status 121 5.6 lui-fronting for women by class and gang status 123 5.7 lui-fronting for men by class and gang status 124 5.8 lui-fronting by sex (GLM) 129 5.9 lui-fronting by gang status (GLM) 130 5.10 lui-fronting by social class (GLM) 130 5.11 The interaction of social factors in lui-fronting 131 5.12 lcel-backing by sex (GLM) 132 5.13 lcel-backing by gang status (GLM) 133 5.14 lcel-raising by sex (GLM) 134 5.15 lcel-raising by gang status (GLM); not statistically significant 135 5.16 The interaction of social factors in lcel-raising 136 6.1 Comparison of the correlations of gang status with phonetic vs. syntactic variables 150 7.1 Means for phonological nativeness by monolingual parent (3 levels) 182 7.2 Means for phonological nativeness by monolingual parent (2 levels) 182 7.3 Means for accent nativeness by visits to Mexico (not significant) 186 7.4 Accent nativeness and the interaction of sex and social class 187 ix

Acknowledgments In writing this book, I have been blessed by a tremendous amount of support from many sources, all conspiring to make it a pleasurable process and one which I look back on with joy. My fieldwork experience was an exceptionally positive one, with few frustrations and many rewards. This is due completely to the tremendous assistance I received. At Westside Park, Dr Anita Johnson saw to it that all doors were opened to me, and shared with me her own insights and experiences. Marsha Litter and Debbie Berger helped me find my place as a participant-observer at the school. Finally, of course, I must thank the many varied individuals in the Latino community of Los Angeles who agreed to participate in this research. In particular, I thank the students at Westside Park for talking with me openly and sharing with me some of the best and worst moments of their lives. I found them generous, kind, complex, sometimes naive, often hopeful. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet them. I wish them all long, healthy lives. The parents from the Down's Syndrome network and their children were also incredibly generous with me. They introduced me to new foods, new music, and new people, and made my fieldwork a rewarding experience in and of itself. I have been fortunate to have far more than my share of mentors among my colleagues in linguistics. Ronald Macaulay, John Rickford, Otto Santa Ana, and Walt Wolfram have all given generously of their time and wisdom. I hope it is clear in my own work how much respect I have for each of them and for their contributions to the field of sociolinguistics. Additionally, I want to thank Ronald for reading and commenting on a draft of this book. I am also thankful to the two anonymous reviewers who commented on my original proposal. Their suggestions opened up new and interesting possibilities to me, which I have pursued as much as possible. lowe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my family and friends, whose support has been so crucial in the writing of this book. My friend Patti Thorp-Robinson was there when I first started my Ph.D. and has given me her full support since then, through all the ups and downs. I am also x

Acknowledgments xi grateful to Sheryl Wilson for saying 'How bad would it be if you just trusted yourself?' And I am thankful to Martha Crunkleton in so many ways that I cannot begin to summarize them here. I hope that since she is a wise woman, she will know what I want to say. My family has showered me with love and support in this endeavor, as in all things. My brother Carlos is a constant source of support, humor, and inspiration. My mother, a.k.a. my 'Spanish-speaking research assistant,' has had such a large part in who I am that I imagine her voice speaks through every page. Her love has been a constant through my entire life. My husband, John Fought, has accepted my mood swings, distracted responses, late hours at the library, and requests for editorial help with great equanimity. All this in addition to helping me extensively with Chapter 3, and doing all the laundry for more than a year. His patience, humor, and love give me strength. I also wish to thank the students who worked as my research assistants, especially Lea Harper, Laura Staum and Rebecca Wilson, for their efficient and insightful participation. Their assistance, as well as the transition into book form of this material generally, was funded by a grant from the Pitzer Research and Awards Committee. Additionally, I want to thank the Journal of Sociolinguistics for permission to use passages from my article' A majority sound change in a minority community: lui-fronting in Chicano English' (Journal of Sociolinguistics 3:1, 1999, 5-23) in an adapted and revised form, as part of Chapter 5. Finally, I am grateful to Jill Lake, my editor, for making the publishing process as easy as possible, and for giving me this opportunity to say something. I have said it as I thought best, and if there are any failures in this regard, they are purely my own.