Mapping Dominican lexical items: Visualizing perceptual communities and measuring attitudes towards Dominican lexical items in New York
Document Type
Paper Presentation
Presenter Language
English
Research Area
Sociolinguistics & Spanish in the US
Location
MBSC Omaha Room 304
Start Date
17-10-2024 3:30 PM
End Date
17-10-2024 4:00 PM
Abstract
While perceptual dialectology has been extensively researched, there remains a significant gap in understanding perceptions of Dominican Spanish, particularly in suburban Long Island, New York. To date, no studies have explored Dominican presence in NY, specifically within its suburban context and few studies have looked at the lexicon as its main linguistic variable (Bucholtz et al., 2007; Prikhodkine, 2015; Callesano, 2020). This study addresses the gap of understanding how lexical variation is present and perceived in suburban areas by employing a mixed-methods approach to investigate perceptions of Dominican lexical items among Spanish-speaking residents in New York. Lexical items were selected based on popular content on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, followed by a pre-test to ascertain associations with Dominican nationality. Twenty-five Long Island residents completed a language perception survey comprising a heat mapping task to assess perceived residence, a social evaluation task to gauge attitudes, an open-ended question to elicit semantic associations, and a demographic questionnaire. Results revealed consistent associations among Nassau County residents, who predominantly linked the lexical items — que lo qué, coño, vaina, en olla, and tiguere — with the Bronx, contrasting with Suffolk County participants who identified these terms with their local neighborhoods. Notably, distinct patterns emerged between the two counties, with Nassau residents displaying indications of racial erasure through their exclusive alignment of the words with urban areas. In language evaluations, que lo qué and vaina were highly associated with pleasantness, tiguere with higher social status, and que lo qué with friendliness. Thematic analysis of semantic associations further underscored the salience of que lo qué and vaina in participants’ lexical repertoires, highlighting their organic linkage to Dominican nationality. These findings suggest that these lexical items are indexically associated with Dominicaness and are attributed to the Bronx, reflecting the area's significant Dominican presence. This study expands upon prior research by emphasizing the relationship between the lexicon and the indexical field of meaning, offering insights into the linguistic ideologies held by Spanish speakers in New York towards Dominicans.
Keywords: perceptual dialectology, Dominican Spanish, lexicon, Long Island, indexical field of meaning, heat mapping task, language attitudes, language ideologies
References
Mapping Dominican lexical items: Visualizing perceptual communities and measuring attitudes towards Dominican lexical items in New York
MBSC Omaha Room 304
While perceptual dialectology has been extensively researched, there remains a significant gap in understanding perceptions of Dominican Spanish, particularly in suburban Long Island, New York. To date, no studies have explored Dominican presence in NY, specifically within its suburban context and few studies have looked at the lexicon as its main linguistic variable (Bucholtz et al., 2007; Prikhodkine, 2015; Callesano, 2020). This study addresses the gap of understanding how lexical variation is present and perceived in suburban areas by employing a mixed-methods approach to investigate perceptions of Dominican lexical items among Spanish-speaking residents in New York. Lexical items were selected based on popular content on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, followed by a pre-test to ascertain associations with Dominican nationality. Twenty-five Long Island residents completed a language perception survey comprising a heat mapping task to assess perceived residence, a social evaluation task to gauge attitudes, an open-ended question to elicit semantic associations, and a demographic questionnaire. Results revealed consistent associations among Nassau County residents, who predominantly linked the lexical items — que lo qué, coño, vaina, en olla, and tiguere — with the Bronx, contrasting with Suffolk County participants who identified these terms with their local neighborhoods. Notably, distinct patterns emerged between the two counties, with Nassau residents displaying indications of racial erasure through their exclusive alignment of the words with urban areas. In language evaluations, que lo qué and vaina were highly associated with pleasantness, tiguere with higher social status, and que lo qué with friendliness. Thematic analysis of semantic associations further underscored the salience of que lo qué and vaina in participants’ lexical repertoires, highlighting their organic linkage to Dominican nationality. These findings suggest that these lexical items are indexically associated with Dominicaness and are attributed to the Bronx, reflecting the area's significant Dominican presence. This study expands upon prior research by emphasizing the relationship between the lexicon and the indexical field of meaning, offering insights into the linguistic ideologies held by Spanish speakers in New York towards Dominicans.
Keywords: perceptual dialectology, Dominican Spanish, lexicon, Long Island, indexical field of meaning, heat mapping task, language attitudes, language ideologies