Social distance and the pidginized speech of Punjabi women in British Columbia
Date
1984
Authors
Sandhu, Teresa Jane
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Abstract
This thesis examines the English speech of Punjabi women who have been long-time residents of British Columbia. Their speech is analysed for evidence of pidginized forms and for restriction in speech function. Because restrictions are assumed to have arisen from the social context of the second language learning (2LL) situation, the particular circumstances in which Punjabi women find themselves in British Columbia are also examined.
The linguistic and sociological analyses test the so-called Pidginization Hypothesis (Schumann 1975) which correlates the persistence of pidginized speech forms to the 'social distance' of the 2LL community from the target language (TL) community. Unfortunately, no systematic measurement of 'social distance' has been developed. In this thesis, a framework for the design of 'social distance indicators' provides a tenable means of addressing information on the Punjabi Sikhs in British Columbia.
This study shows that this 2LL community has been historically subordinate to the TL community and that there is evidence of prevailing negative attitudes in the TL community towards the 2LL group. These areas of discrepancies are related to social distance. Information collected on the individual subjects corroborates their membership in the group and their 'distance' from the TL community. In spite of the evidence of the 'social distance' of the 2LL community and its members, the subjects use differing amounts and kinds of pidginized English speech forms.
The adequacy of the Pidginization Hypothesis is questioned with reference to the definition of 'social distance'. It must be reformulated or we must begin to look at other interpretations for the persistence of pidginization in the speech of some subjects and for the tenacity of 'social distance' in spite of second language fluency in other subjects.