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Slide 2 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 1 Jacob Thgersen, University of Copenhagen Jan Heegrd, Copenhagen Business School jthoegersen@hum.ku.dk Changes in linguistic style as a consequence of changing media norms Reductions as an indicator of vernacularization? Slide 3 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 2 Why investigate language change in the national broadcast media Media language reflects language norms Media language affect our language norms Background Denmark had (has?) a broadcast monopoly (DR) Established 1925 with strong national and educational aims Focus on proper language in particular in serious programs like the news. Proper language as a sign of credibility. DR reflect language ideals and disseminate language ideals Slide 4 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 3 Grand questions How does the style of the radio news, i.e. the standard of excellence, change over time? How do these stylistic changes correlate with changes in media norms? Slide 5 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 4 Media norms 1940 & 2010. From enlightenment to infotainment The National Broadcasting Company was established to connect with all households in the country []. A state institution was created, free from speculation, advertising and private interests, an institution intended solely to serve country and people and to act as a link to the outside world. (Then prime minister Thorvald Stauning, in Breidahl & Res book in celebration of DRs 15th anniversary, 1940:5) Precisely in a time which is more fragmented than ever before, where we use more media than ever before and gather our information and find our experiences in far more sources than ever before, there is a need that we are also supplied with a common platform. (Then minister of cultural affairs Per Stig Mller, DRs Public service contract, 2010) Can we see the results of these changing ideals in the style of the language of the media? Slide 6 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 5 Style changes: Independent evidence Non-linguistic changes in news reading style, speed, pauses etc.: News readings Only the actual reading of news, not e.g. interviews or reports from correspondents 1936-2010 7.6 hours 50 programs 70,000 words Slide 7 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 6 Style changes: Increasing speed The speaking rate and articulation rate increase noticeably Fewer and shorter pauses (cf. Thgersen 2001) Slide 8 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 7 Reductions as improper media language Even for leading Danish media people the rushed times we live in often impede clarity. This is mainly due to the omnipresent cutting disease [i.e. cutting off syllables] or syllable cannibalism. In the whirling tempo of the times, smaller or even larger percentages of the words are lost. We see for instance how billeder becomes /bedl/, stearin becomes /sdaRI;N/, teater /tad/, parentes /pangTE;S/. In all four examples, one of three syllables is lost. The cannibal swallows 33 %. (Prof. Peder Skyum-Nielsen, 2007) Thgersen, forthc. Slide 9 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 8 Style changes: Reductions Changes in the frequency of reductions in the reading style: News readings Only the actual reading of news, not e.g. interviews or reports from correspondents 1936-2010 6 hours 38 programs 53,000 words Slide 10 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 9 Syllable, consonant and schwa reductions Variable(d)()() Variants mensd /mensdl m/l mg /g Orthographymindstelammedegange Type(syll.) (schwa) 9 listeners / 3 variables Variable(m)(pretonics)(cluster) (C ) (gd)(VgV) Variants sd m/ sd m me i k nsg / m i k nsg pilo d sd g / pilo sd g nd / nd sb g d / sb d t g i / t i Orthographystemmeamerikanskepilotstrejkeandrerespekttrykkeri Type(schwa)(syll.)(cons.) 2 listeners / 6 variables Slide 11 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 10 Method Words in isolation (total n 3800) Automatic extraction of tokens based on (automatically generated) phonological transcription Using Praat Forced-choice form: Reduced or not? with N/A to report errors. (N/As excluded in statistics) Slightly different tasks: semantic (past. vs partc. / sing. vs. plur.) or phonetic differentiation Each token scored as the number of listeners who heard it as reduced, 0-2 or 0-9 reduction score Mean scores per decade: index (0-2 or 0-9) Slide 12 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 11 Results: Increase in the degree of reductions (d )( ) *( ) * Slide 13 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 12 (m ) *(pretonic) (clusters) * Results: Increase in the degree of reductions Slide 14 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 13 (gd)(VgV) * (C ) * Results: Increase in the degree of reductions Slide 15 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 14 Reductions as style indicator: Conclusion More reductions vernacularization Some variables show a somewhat linear development: ( ), ( ), (clusters), (C ), (pretonics) Some show little development: (d ), (gd) Some show a large difference between old (30s, 40s) and later: ( ), (m ) Some show erratic development: (m ), (VgV) Noise in the experiment? Variation in individual speakers due to salience leading to corrections? DRs news reading style becomes more like the vernacular, but is it like the vernacular? Slide 16 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 15 (d )()()( )(m ) (pretonics)(cluster) (C ) (gd)(VgV) Radio news3.5%40.0%35.6%32.6%7.4%43.9%69.3%38.0%71. 1% DanPASS7.3%74.0%74.4%61.3%31.1%40.5%30.8%23.3%73.5% p (chi 2 )0.05< 0.001 n.s.< 0.0010.002n.s. Lanchart54.5% 1 76.7% 2 p (chi 2 )< 0.001 Reductions Compared with corpora of spontaneous spoken Danish Radio news After 1980 Only tokens where both listeners agreed on the coding DanPASS (Danish Phonetically Annotated Spontaneous Speech) Map-tasks in experimental set-up ( 10 hours) Forms annotated as reduced in the authorized transcription Lanchart: Sociolinguistic interviews 1) ( 15 hours), 2) 1 long interview with 2 informants ( 2 hours) Slide 17 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 16 Conclusion Increasing frequency of reducions vernacularization the intrusion of improper language in the serious media Still perceived as proper language demotization improper language accepted as proper language Changes in articulation rate and reductions as a consequence of new media norms? The era of good-enough Not all reductions are equally frequent Categorically different phenomena: Some are phonologized, others are indicators of casual style? Some are salient (at some times), others are not? News reading style (still) differs markedly from spontaneous speech. How great was this difference earlier? Slide 18 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 17 Style changes - Speed Slide 19 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 18 Consonant reductions Variable(d)()() Examplemindstelammedegange Variants mensd /mensd l m/l m g /g n620/1298383/928157 0.9790.9160.905 9 listeners / 3 variables Variable(me)(pretonics)(cluster)(Cr)(gd)(VgV) Examplestemmeamerikanskepilotstrejkeandrerespekttrykkeri Variants sd m/ sd m me i k nsg / m i k nsg pilo d sd g / pilo sd g nd / nd sb g d / sb d t g i / t i n131418197506477934 0.7230.6220.7810.7580.4550.664 2 listeners / 6 variables Slide 20 Sted og dato (Indst --> Diasnummer) Dias 19 Consonant reductions - Results (d )()()( )