On the influence of coronal sibilants and stops on the perception of social meanings in Copenhagen Danish

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the same sociolinguistic feature can be used as a sociolinguistic resource with different indexical potentials in different linguistic as well as social contexts. In this paper we present the results of a perceptual study of indexical meanings of fronted and palatalized variants of /t/ in combination with fronted /s/ in different registers of Copenhagen Danish. The data consist of responses to male speakers’ use of the two variants of /t/ in two different registers that we label “modern Copenhagen speech” and “street language.” Results show that the palatalized /t/ affects the indexicality of fronted /s/ with respect to perceived femininity and gayness when it occurs in “modern Copenhagen,” where fronted /s/ has previously been shown to index these traits. However, the variation has a different and less significant effect when occurring in “street language.” Furthermore, the effect is only found in “modern Copenhagen” if the speaker has not previously been heard to produce a fronted /s/. We discuss the implications for theories of the relation between features and clusters of features in listeners’ perceptions.

“Not from a ‘Danish’ home; typical of trying to sound ‘tough’” – Indexical meanings of variation in /s/ and /t/ in the speech of adolescent girls in Copenhagen / “Não é de família dinamarquesa; mas é típico de tentar parecer ‘durona’” – Significados indiciais das variáveis /s/ e /t/ na fala de meninas adolescentes em Copenhague

“…In fact, Hyttel-Sørensen (2011) shows that primary school children sometimes perceive a female speaker of street using [t j ] for /t/ to be a boy. That [t j ] also has indexical value for adolescent Danes in Copenhagen was shown in Lillelund and Pharao (2014) and Pharao and Maegaard (2017), where it was found that [t j ] would lead even male speakers of modern to be rated higher on the scales immigrant and gangster by most listeners. Furthermore, it attenuates the perception of male speakers of modern using [s+] to be perceived as "feminine sounding", suggesting at least an indirect link to masculinity for [t j ].…”

“…It is described in Quist 2000 as sounding more "staccato" than modern and was shown in Hansen (2005, 2010) to be closer to patterns found in syllabletimed languages, since the difference in duration between phonologically short and long vowels is neutralized in street by making long vowels as short as short vowels (on average, for details see PHARAO; HANSEN, 2010). The prosody of street was shown to have indexical effects of its own in Pharao et al (2014), Lillelund and Pharao (2014) and Pharao and Maegaard (2017) where it was clearly tied to perceptions of speakers as having a 'foreign' or 'immigrant' background, and was also found to be a particularly salient characteristic of this register in Møller (2009) The concept of the type of speech labeled modern is also well described in Danish sociolinguistics. In a series of speaker evaluation experiments, where modern was represented in the stimulus material, Kristiansen and colleagues have shown that modern is consistently evaluated more positively than "Conservative Copenhagen speech" (and more positively than the local dialect as well) on scales concerning self-assurance, fascination, coolness, and friendliness (for an overview of this research, see KRISTIANSEN, 2009).…”

“…The use of fronted /s/ (henceforth [s+]) in English seems often to evoke stereotypical perceptions of male speakers as gay (CAMPBELL-KIBLER, 2011;LEVON, 2006LEVON, , 2014MACK;MUNSON, 2011) and, conversely, perceived gender identity has been shown to have an effect on perceptions of /s/ quality in English (STRAND;JOHNSON 1996, MUNSON, JEFFERSON;McDONALD, 2006). In Danish, [s+] also seems to be quite strongly associated with femininity or gayness (PHARAO et al, 2014, PHARAO;MAEGAARD, 2017). However, [s+] has also been observed to be used in social and linguistic contexts where the social meanings appear to be clearly different.…”

“…However, [s+] has also been observed to be used in social and linguistic contexts where the social meanings appear to be clearly different. In a follow up study to the investigations of the social meanings ascribed to [s+] in Copenhagen Danish, the variation in /s/ was combined with variation in the production of /t/ in order to study how indexical meanings of a phonetic feature are influenced by the cluster of other features with which it co-occurs (PHARAO; MAEGAARD, 2017). Two such clusters are those that are stereotypically associated with "Modern Copenhagen speech" on the one hand, and "Street language" on the other.…”

Transgender voices: Insights on identity, embodiment, and the gender of the voice

“…Recently, sibilant consonants have been a particularly popular area of study among sociophoneticians interested in gender and sexuality. Studies of voiceless fricatives have drawn connections between femininity and a fronted, high frequency /s/ in multiple languages, including English (e.g., Holmes‐Elliott & Levon, ; Levon, ; Munson, McDonald, DeBoe, & White, ; Stuart‐Smith, ; Zimman, 2015, ), Danish (Pharao & Maegaard, ; Pharao, Maegaard, Møller, & Kristiansen, ), Mandarin (Li, ), and Japanese (Heffernan, ). Some studies have suggested that these patterns are rooted in sex differences in the front part of the vocal tract, where /s/ is produced.…”