The perception of multiethnolectal Zurich German: A continuum rather than clear-cut categories

Abstract

Since about 2000, the emergence of so-called ‘multiethnolects’ has been observed among adolescents in German-speaking Switzerland; however, a systematic description of these varieties is lacking at present. The few existing perception studies of multiethnolects in other European countries are usually based on two or more predetermined groups that are compared. This paper investigates which labels are used for multiethnolectal Zurich German and how this way of speaking is perceived by adolescents; we adopt a perceptual sociolinguistics approach which focuses on the conceptualizations of lay people rather than on those of linguists.
 In a rating experiment, 40 adolescents listened to short speech samples of 48 pupils recorded in two different schools in the city of Zurich and were asked to rate the speakers on a 7-point Likert scale according to how multiethnolectal they sounded (not at all – very strongly). The results yielded a perceptual continuum rather than a clear-cut binary categorization [±multiethnolectal]. A smaller follow-up experiment with 12 adult raters (using the same stimuli) yielded a highly significant correlation between the mean rating scores of the two groups of raters.

Pairing peers and pears

“…To be sure, the results display convergence but do not tell anything about whether G3 speakers from Zurich apply the same strategies as their non-migrant-background Swiss German peers nor how they perform in terms of morphology and lexicon. We do not know to what extent our G3 participants differ from speakers of the other majority language and/or possibly converge on an ethnolectal variety of (Swiss) German (Tissot, Schmid, and Galliker, 2011;Morand, Schwab, and Schmid, 2020). A qualitative assessment of the Swiss German versions of the renarration by non-migrant-background speakers does not endorse the assumption that G3 speakers differ substantially from native performance.…”

Syllable rate and speech rhythm in multiethnolectal Zurich German: a comparison of speaking styles

“…In a previous study on read speech, we found slower syllable rates in speakers of rather multiethnolectal Zurich German (MEZ) compared to speakers of rather traditional Zurich German [24]. Based on a rating experiment, adolescents could be placed on a perceptual continuum between multiethnolectal and traditional Zurich German [25]. It now remains to be seen whether syllable rate also proves to be linked to multiethnolectality in spontaneous speech and thus could be classified as a general prosodic feature of MEZ.…”

“…To obtain an 'emic' perspective [37] -i.e., as from inside the cultural system of MEZ -we conducted a 'rating experiment' with a different, but very similar group of adolescents [25].…”