The Perception of Pitch-width in Turkish and Indexicality in the Framework of Sociophonetics

Year 2019, Volume: 36 Issue: 1, 33 - 50, 17.06.2019

Emre Yağlı

https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.433571

Abstract

In variationist sociolinguistics that emerged out of the works by Labov (1966), social meaning has been defined by
linking linguistic variables (i.e. Prosody, word, affix, allophones) to broad social categories (i.e. Gender, class and
region). However, the studies given lately assert that the social meaning is found in the society in dynamic and
cumulative ways (Agha, 2003; Eckert, 2008; Silverstein, 2003). This ideologically accumulated knowledge, which is
either called as ‘indexical order’ (Silverstein, 2003) or ‘indexical field’ (Eckert, 2008), has been described as collective
social meanings which are not stable and fixed and thus bearing the probability of changing according to social
movements. In this regard, this study, which resides in the field of sociophonetics, aims to uncover indexical fields
that emerge in the perception of pitch-width, e.g., the range between the highest and the lowest pitch in speech. With this aim, the study focuses on the perception of speech, and not how people speak. A tripartite experimental design has
been employed: (i) In the first stage, recordings were adopted by speakers through interviews and map-task (N=8) to
form speech stimuli. (ii) Then, the speech stimuli were further manipulated in terms of pitch-width and duration to
create tokens. (iii) In the last stage, the 12 tokens determined were presented to the perception of the listeners through
sociolinguistic group interviews (N=52) and matched-guise survey (Lambert et al., 1960) (In three sessions, N=224).
The qualitative findings yielded by the sociolinguistic group interviews which were conducted with university students
were later presented to random population through matched-guise survey, and the quantitative results obtained from
the survey were analysed by employing factor analysis and linear/mixed effect models. As a result, it has been found
that the indexical fields on the pitch-width are determined by the perceived education level of the speakers. In the
indexical interpretation of ‘education level’, there are such implications as dominance, having a job which requires
distinct education level, using standard language, reliability and formality.

Keywords

sociophonetics, speech perception, indexical field, pitch-width, Sociolinguistics, pitch-width

Toplumsesbilgisel Açıdan Türkçede Perde Genişliğinin Konuşma Algısı ve Belirtisellik

Abstract

Labov (1966) ile başlayan klasik değişkesel toplumdilbilimde toplumsal anlam, konuşmadaki dilsel değişkenlerin
(Örn. Tümce ezgisi, sözcük, ek, altses görünümleri) geniş toplumsal ulamlarla (Örn. Cinsiyet, sınıf, bölge) eşleşmesi
üzerinden açıklanmaktadır. Alanda son dönemde yapılan çalışmalar ise toplumsal anlamın dinamik ve bütünleşik bir
bilgi birikimi olarak toplumda var olduğunu belirtmektedir (Agha, 2003; Eckert, 2008; Silverstein, 2003). ‘Belirtisel
dizi’ (Silverstein, 2003) ve ‘belirtisel alan’ (Eckert, 2008) kavramlarıyla açıklanan bu ideolojik bilgi birikimi, kesin ve
sabit olmayan, toplumsal yönelimler ve dönüşümler sonucu her zaman değişime açık olan dilsel birimleri içeren anlam
kümeleri olarak verilmektedir. Toplumsesbilgisel ölçekteki bu çalışma, ezgideki en düşük ve en yüksek titreşim
bölümleri arasındaki alanı ifade eden perde genişliğini değişken olarak ele alarak bu değişken üzerinden dinleyicilerin
algısında anlam kümeleri olarak yer eden ‘belirtisel alanlara’ ulaşmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu odak ile çalışma, bireylerin
ya da grupların nasıl konuştuklarına değil, üretimlerinin hangi anlamlar çerçevesinde algılandığına yoğunlaşmaktadır.
Çalışmada üç aşamalı bir deney uygulanmıştır. (i) İlk aşamada ölçünlü dil kullanan konuşuculardan (N=8) mülakat ve
harita yöntemleriyle ses kayıtları alınmıştır. (ii) Alınan bu ses kayıtları ikinci aşamada perde genişliği ve süre
çerçevesinde güdümlenmiş ve dinleyici algısına sunulacak örnekçeler hazırlanmıştır. (iii) Belirlenen 12 örnekçe
üçüncü ve son aşamada toplumdilbilimsel grup mülakatı (N=52) ve örtük eşleştirmeli anket (Lambert ve diğ., 1960)
ile dinleyicilerin algısına sunulmuştur (Üç farklı oturumda N=224). Üniversite öğrencileriyle gerçekleştirilen ve her
birinde dört katılımcının bulunduğu grup mülakatı ile elde edilen nitel bulgular örtük eşleştirmeli ankette katmansız
bir gruba sunulmuş ve faktör analizi ve doğrusal/karma model ile gelen nicel bulgular üzerinden konuşma algısı
verisinin üçgenlemesi yapılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonucunda dil konuşucularının üretimlerinde gerçekleşen perde
genişliğinin konuşma algısında ‘öğrenim durumu/eğitim düzeyi’ merkezli belirtisel alanlar oluşturduğu görülmektedir.
‘Öğrenim durumu/eğitim düzeyi’ merkezli belirtisel alanın içeriğinde baskınlık, öğrenim durumu temelli mesleğe
sahip olma, ölçünlü dil kullanımı, güvenilirlik ve resmilik gibi anlamlar bulunmaktadır.

Keywords

toplumsesbilgisi, konuşma algısı, belirtisel alan, perde genişliği, Toplumdilbilim

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