The role of sociocognitive salience in the acquisition of structured variation and linguistic diffusion: Evidence from quotativebe like

Abstract

Quotative be like is a much discussed variable linguistic feature recruited in this investigation in order to revisit the hypothesis of linguistic diffusion (Labov 2007) predicting re-ordering of original patterns by L2 populations. As a sociocognitively salient variant spreading above the level of conscious awareness, be like has been appropriated by adult speakers from two distinctive L2 English ecologies with a high degree of precision, a finding previously not reported in studies exploring the acquisition of structured variation. In this article, I explain how, supported by frequency and constraint complexity, sociocognitive salience may have contributed to the generally accurate replication of the variable grammar for be like and, by this token, how it can inform existing models of language change. (Sociocognitive salience, linguistic diffusion, L2 acquisition of structured variation, variationist sociolinguistics, World Englishes, be like)

The role of social factors in the acquisition of vernacular English: A variationist study with pedagogical implications

“…The quote type was not selected as significant in a model that considers all of the predictors simultaneously, a finding previously reported in Davydova (2015) and Davydova and Buchstaller (2015). In line with the previous investigations of quotative marking by adult learners (Davydova, 2019a, 2019b, 2021), the learner grammar reported in Table 3 exhibits many of the properties reported for native‐speaker systems. I will take up this issue in the ensuing discussion of findings.…”

“…Drawing on data collected from a cohort of German learners, the study reported here has tested a set of social and sociopsychological variables in order to explore how these mediate acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in learners mastering English as a foreign language. While drawing on the domain of quotative marking as a diagnostic baseline, the study brings forth evidence demonstrating German learners’ largely wholesale acquisition of the target language patterns of variation, a finding consistent with previous research (Davydova, 2019a, 2019b, 2021, 2022; Davydova & Buchstaller, 2015). It also highlights the relevance of age, gender as well as learners’ linguistic identity to the process of mastering vernacular variation.…”

“…There is an array of studies that report this finding (see Davydova 2019: 138-142). The good news is that it is possible to acquire the variable conditioning of at least some linguistic features, quotative be like being a case in point (Davydova, 2019a(Davydova, , 2021(Davydova, , 2022Davydova & Buchstaller, 2015, Davydova, reported here). Against this backdrop and given that quotative be like has become ubiquitous in L1 English speech, it makes sense to suggest that English teachers should make their students' more aware of this informal feature as well as its main contexts of use since appropriate use of vernacular features throughout dialogue is "the hallmark of the fluent speaker" possessing native-like proficiency in their target language (cf.…”

“…The study reported here sides with the second tradition, maintaining that grammatical subject is bound to be implicated in the variable realization of quotative ( be ) like exactly because it features such a salient constraint—neuter it as part of its environment. It is this constraint that captivates speakers’ attention throughout interaction and entails decisive consequences both for language acquisition and language change (see also Davydova, 2019a, 2021, 2022). The analyst thus needs to construct a statistical approximation of linguistic variation reflecting the behavior demonstrated by a variant in its naturally occurring language‐internal patterns and contexts.…”

The role of frequency in the acquisition of structured variation: The case of Basque ergativity

“…For instance, Linford and colleagues (2017) found no independent effects of lexical frequency in the production of subject pronoun expression among non-native speakers of Spanish but Zhang and Dong (2019) report that token frequency predicted activation of L1 in the acquisition of subject relative clauses in English. Importantly, Davydova (2021) reports that cognitive salience is implicated in frequency effects in the replication of native like patterns of quotative like among L2 English speakers, with the implication being that frequency interacts with other factors in complex ways (Ellis, 2016).…”