Linguistic repertoire and ethnic identity in New York City

Abstract

This paper expands on the ethnolinguistic repertoire approach to consider the use of a broad linguistic repertoire by a single speaker in the construction of a multivalent identity. African American speakers in North America are often analyzed from an ethnolectal perspective, and placed in contrast to (white) speakers of regional varieties of American English. A close analysis of three features – one that is traditionally ethnolectal (copula absence as a feature of African American English), one that is traditionally dialectal (bought-raising as a feature of New York City English), and one that is potentially either (non-rhoticity in the syllable coda) – reveals intersectional identification practices that go beyond ethnicity and regional identity. The results of a variationist analysis of a community sample of speakers from the Lower East Side of Manhattan is contrasted with a micro-analysis of the repertoire of a single speaker, with the repertoire analysis demonstrating the fluid nature of speaker identity and of the boundaries between ethnolect and dialect in New York City.