Abstract
In recent years there has been growing interest in quantitative methods for analyzing linguistic data. Advanced multifactorial statistical analyses, such as inferential trees and mixed-effects logistic regression models, have become more accessible for linguistic research as a result of the availability of an open source programming environment provided by the statistical software R. In the present paper, we introduce a novel toolkit, Language Variation Suite, a software program that offers a friendly environment for conducting quantitative analyses. We demonstrate how theory built on traditional monofactorial analysis can be extended to macro and micro multifactorial approaches allowing for a deeper understanding of language variation. The focus of the analysis is based on intervocalic /d/ deletion in Spanish from the Diachronic Study of the Speech of Caracas 1987 and 2004-2010. In contrast to traditional methodological approaches we have treated intervocalic /d/ as a continuous dependent variable according to the intensity ratio measurements obtained. Furthermore, we have integrated various syntactic, phonetic and sociolinguistic factors. Non-parametric and fixed-effects regression models revealed that overall age (younger speakers), sex (male speakers), phonetic context (low vowels), token frequency and morphosyntactic category (past participles) have a significant effect on the lenition of intervocalic /d/. In contrast, the mixed-effects model selected only phonetic context, frequency and category, showing that individual speaker variation is higher than group variation.
Highlights
A century ago, Edward Sapir noted that "language is variable" (Sapir 1921:147)
We propose to address these issues by introducing a user-friendly application—Language Variation Suite—that implements state-of-the-art statistical methods
We examine the weakening of intervocalic /d/ in Spanish, a gradable phonological phenomenon that has been traditionally treated in sociolinguistic studies as a categorical variable
Summary
Edward Sapir noted that "language is variable" (Sapir 1921:147). Subsequent research in sociolinguistics has shown that variation is "a universal and functional design feature of language" (Foulkes 2006). This variation is structural, systematic, and predictable (Labov 1969). Sociophonetic variation has been traditionally analyzed as the alternation between two discrete auditory categories, e.g. deletion versus retention. It has been recently pointed out that acoustic analysis "reveals important variation that is difficult to detect or analyze auditorily" (Thomas 2013:114). The quality of discrete auditory analysis is affected by the researcher's experience, ear and perception, which are based on his or her native language. Auditory analysis cannot reveal some important acoustic variations, e.g. vowel quality and consonant intensity
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