Phonological variables: consonant cluster simplification

Here, the feature of interest is the variable (-t,d). Tagliamonte observes the deletion of the variable in natural speech, in both York, England and Toronto, Canada in order to compare the communities' application of consonant cluster simplification, illustrated in (1).

(1) I did a college course when I lefØ school actually, but I left it because it was business studies. (YRK/h/2.3)

To begin with, she focuses her attention on the overall frequency of the variable in the two communities, discovering that Toronto has almost double the rate of deletion in York. In a second step she compares the frequency in regards to Individual vs. Group. Though there is some statistical fluctuation among the various individuals, in general, the rates hover around 20% in York and around 40% in Toronto, thus coinciding with her initial findings in the aggregate form. After having ascertained that this variation can be found in both communities, the next question to solve is whether the underlying system, regulating the individual's choice process, is identical in both cities. Therefore, she gathers information regarding probable constraints that influence the variation from the secondary literature, according to which, the following phonological segment is known to be the strongest constraint on variable (-t,d). A constraint is often also referred to as factor group which, in turn, can be subdivided into different categories. In this case, the factor group of interest is the following phonological segment which is categorized into three major divisions: C for consonants, V for vowels, and Q for following pauses. Again, Tagliamonte gathers the data and runs it through the program. The results show that “the ranking of this constraint is relatively constant for each individual” (Tagliamonte, Chapter 20: 393) and that, although the frequency value does differ, the distribution pattern is similar in both communities, suggesting that the underlying grammar is indeed the same (cf. Tagliamonte, Chapter 20).

As for the other case studies, the author proceeds in much the same manner, although the analysis becomes more complex, as more types of evidence and larger numbers of factor groups are put into account.

Although the author explains the basic ideas behind each step of the analyses comprehensibly and illustrates the results lucidly, she refrains from giving detailed information concerning the operation of the program. Therefore, either go to Operating the variable rule program, or check the online manual or one of the references listed under Standard descriptions of the variable rule program for more information concerning this matter.

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