CC BY
236
https://doi.org/10.29013/EJLL-19-4-23-30
Trinh Cam Lan,
PhD. Ass. Prof. Director of Department of Linguistics University of Social Sciences and Humanities Vietnam National University, Hanoi E-mail: tclan.vnu@gmail.com
URBANIZATION AND LANGUAGE CHANGE IN VIETNAM: EVIDENCE FROM A RURAL COMMUNITY IN HANOI
Abstract. Language change and contact in Vietnam has recently intensified among some demographic groups. As such, certain sociolinguistic patterns help to describe these changes in language and society. Thisstudy is aimed at observing and measuring dialect change in Vietnam influenced by urbanization, with evidence from aruralcommunity in Hanoi, speech community in Xuan Canh commune, Dong Anh district. The study investigates the ways in which dialect change in thisregion has developed according to specific social and culturalfactors.
The Xuan Canh speech community evidences a narrowing usage of local variants. For its method, the study employs fieldwork, and subsequent quantitative methods to aid in the analysis. The data set includes 34 informants, randomly selected, which were categorized into certain social variables. The study alsoreleased 34 questionnaires, 11 recorded files of natural speech, from which emerged two sets of 34 recorded files of word lists and a text.
The results indicate a gradual reduction in the frequency of use of local variants, a decrease in the number of lexical forms with rural characteristics and an increase in certain types of urban variants. This trend can be seenby observing changing social variables sensitive to urbanization, such as youths, officials, students, people who have out-community communication scope. Here, the quantitative correlations prove statistically significant.
The state of dialect change in thiscommunity thus signifies a phenomenon common to Vietnamese rural communities under the effect of the urbanization, that is, a tendency emerging following language urbanization in Vietnam.
Keywods:
1. Introduction
Regarding social change, urbanization is a kind of complex, multi-faceted process. The impact of urbanization on culture and language is clear. Language contact and consequently the rate and amount of language change in Vietnam is increasing due to recent demographic fluctuations. Certain social language models have well supported the description of these changes in language and society. The
goal of the study is to observe and measure dialectic variation due to the impact of urbanization, with evidence from a rural community in Hanoi, Xuan Canh commune, Dong Anh district. The study investigated ways dialects are changing in this area, based on specific social and cultural factors.
Urbanization in rural areas in Vietnam in general and Hanoi in particular since the late 20th and early 21stcenturies has been intense, leading to
many changes in Vietnamese. Through the language change in the studied community, this article will try to answer the questions of how and to what extent urbanization influences Vietnamese in the periphery of the capital.
2. Literaturereview
Increasingly, linguists are aware that the relationship between social processes and language processes is extremely complex (Miller [6]). It will be even more complicated when those processes take place during the period of urbanization. The same social phenomenon, such as migration, can cause many different types of language change depending on the historical and social issues of that migration (Werner [17]; Trudgill [15]; Amara [5]; Ann-Marie [2]; Miller [6]). That means language change depends very much on the social-historical environment where the change takes place. Migration and urbanization have made linguists face huge problems of dialect and language contact (Kerswill [5]; Miller [6]). Studies show that both forms of language maintain and language change are influenced by political, social and cultural factors related to urban development (So ylemez [8]).
The study of language change under the impact of urbanization has a long history. Since the 1970 s, sociolinguists have been well aware of the complex three-hand relationship, that is, urbanization, migration and language change. One such study -The decline of Germandialects - mentioned the issue of dialect contact and of urbanized rural dialects (Werner [17]). At that time, it was discovered that the languagechange went in the direction of the loss of dialect features, instead of the more common features that people called 'language urbanization'.
In North Africa, the first issue that sociolinguis-tic research focuses on is the changes in linguistic structure, especially among rural dialects when they come into contact (Amara [1]; Miller [6]). If internal change in linguistic systems is usually slow (e.g. hundreds orsometimes thousands of years), change due to external causes such as social, political and/
or cultural factors will often be faster and more powerful. And, in the process of urbanization, language processes also operate and change more dynamically. Because languages and dialects are then in the situation of contact, they are in contact, and in those ways, language change is an inevitable result. The relationship between urbanization and language changein this case is an interactive, mutually changing relationship. Dialects cannot reveal all the changing tendencies without putting them in situations of contact (Miller [6]). When rural dialects are in contact with urban dialects, language change may occur in both directions, but rural dialects are often under pressure of stronger change. It is an expression of communicativeaccom-modation, and this depends on many factors, in which the social network structure of the speakers plays the most important role (Amara [1]; Ann-Marie [2]; Miller [6]; Trinh [11; 12]). Language change in urbanization makes the traditional dialect difference between rural and urban areas balanced. The inevitable tendency oflanguage change is dialect leveling, and the main changeinvolves rural dialects with the fading of marked features (Werner [17]; Trudgill, [15]; Kerswill [5]; So ylemez [8]; Ann-Marie [2]; Trinh, [11]). Consequently, urban features, especially standard forms, appear more and more in the speechof young rural people and then spread throughout the community (Thomas [9]; Kerswill [5]; Tillery & Bailey [10]; Durian [3]).
3. About the studiedregion and the linguistic variables
a. Xuan Canh commune is in Dong Anh district, which is separated from Hanoi by two rivers -the Red River and Duong River, but still adjacent to Hanoi. Located in the confluence of the Red River and Duong River, the commune has many mudflats. Across the Red River is the inner city. Because of the separation from Hanoi by the Red River, traditionally, the Xuan Canh people mainly contacted the neighboring communes, but they did not have much contact with the inner city. The main occupation of the population is small-scale agricultural production
and services. In the last years of the 20th and early 21stcenturies, the rural appearance of Xuan Canh has been significantly updated, and the invested infrastructure has made the commune a new rural appearance. Compared to many other communes in the district, Xuan Canh does not have any newly developed industrial and urban areas As a result, the the residential area has few job opportunities and a smaller, less concentrated population. the population from other places to work and live is negligible. However, the commune has a small town called Dau Street. It used to be a market of the commune, but because of the increasingly busy trade, it became a street. This area represents development and urbanization to the local people, and it is the gateway to trade with outside regions.
b. The linguistic variables investigated in the locality are two consonants /l/ and /n/ andtwo vowels /o/ and /e/. These are phonemes whose local variants are commonly used and strongly marked, both in terms of the region and society.
Consonants /n/ and /l/
Like many rural communities in Hanoi and northern Vietnam, in this community, the phenomenon of confusion between /l/ and /n/ is quite common (e.g. standard lau 'long time' pronounced as [nyw] and standard nau 'brown' pronounced as [lyw]). In our notation, variant 0 is a mainstreampronounciation,
while variant 1 is a local variant. Thus, [n]-0 is pronounced as [n] (the standard pronunciation) and [n]-1 is pronounced as [l] (the local variant). As for /l/, [l]-0 is pronounced as [l], while [l]-1 is pronounced as [n]. These local variants are not considered by many Vietnamese, especially those in urban areas, to be phonetically acceptable, and those with this phonetic variation are sometimes discriminatedagainst by the mainstream Vietnaemse-speaking community.
Vowels /o/ and /e/
In the Xuan Canhcommunity, the two vowels/o/ and / e/ have two variants, both the standard and local types.
(1) Variants [o]-0, [e]-0: These are commonly pronounced as / o/ and / e/.
(2) Variants [o]-1, [e]-1: These are pronounced with anunstable timbre, from [u] to [0] or from [u] to [o] and then [a] (with /o/), or from [i] to [e] (with /e/), in other words, ranging from a narrow vowel to a open vowel. The range from narrow vowels to open vowels resemblesdiphthongs. However, in this combination, [o] and [e] are still the main vowels, [u] and [i] are only gliding vowels, which have an auxiliary role and can be denoted by [uo] / [uoa] and [ie]. These are typical local variants, appearing regularly on all syllables with / o/ and / e/ as main vowels. It is possible to locate local variants of these two vowels as follows.
Figure 1. The change of /0/ and /e/ on vowel trapezoid
4. Materials and methods speech: formal, careful and informal. Data in the
4.1. Materials formal style was collected through a word list or
The study was carriedout mainly on minimal pair of words, data in the careful style was
recordeddata of 34 participants in 3 styles of collected through paragraphs (or text), and data
inthe informal style was collected through natural data to help find quantitative correlation models
speech. between linguistic change and socio-cultural factors
In addition to recorded data, we also distributed influenced by urbanization. 34 questionnaires to 34 participants for additional
Table 1. - The social features of the participants
Features Frequency Ratio%
< 30 8 23.5
Age 30-50 15 44.1
> 50 11 32.4
Total 34 100.0
School 26 76.5
Education Colleges, University 8 23.5
Total 34 100.0
Farmer 4 11.8
Trader 13 38.2
Occupation Pupil, Student 6 17.6
Officials 11 32.6
Total 34 100.0
Open 14 41.2
Communicative scope Close 20 58.8
Total 34 100.0
4.2. Method
After the data was gathered, phonetic features of variants were analyzed and described. The investigated material was then processed by quantitative analysis on SPSS statistical software using the Chi-square test.
5. Results and discussion
The trend ofsignificant language change reflected by the data is indication of dialect leveling. This is a common language process in modern times, reflecting a fast and strong social change in the era of urbanization in many countries. Dialect leveling is the
Table 2. - Percentage using
reduction or elimination of marked variants which are uncommon or minority forms (Trudgill [15]). In this sense, dialect leveling can be seen as a result of convergence towards common usage, usually of standardized language (Trudgill [15]; Kerswill [5]).
5.1. The data which recorded the first and the most visible manifestation of the dialect leveling phenomenon was the reduction in the frequency of using local variants. In terms of style, the models of change of local variantsis also proportional to attention to speech.
variants in language styles*
Variables Variants (expressions) Word list, text (%) Natural speech (%)
1 2 3 4
[n] - 0 (n) 69.5 13.8
/n/ [n] - 1 (l) 30.5 86.2
Total 100.0 100.0
[l] - 0 (l) 100.0 86.0
/l/ [l] - 1 (n) 0.0 14.0
Total 100.0 100.0
1 2 3 4
M - 0 (o) 44.5 7.4
/□/ [o] - 1 (u0/u0A) 55.4 92.6
Total 100.0 100.0
[e] - 0 (e) 76.2 6.8
/£/ [e] - 1 Ce) 23.8 93.2
Total 100.0 100.0
Note: * Usually, variationists divide language style into three categories: formal style, careful style and informal style. Datafor the formal style are collected by asking participants to read a word list or minimal pairs of words. Datafor the careful style are collected by asking participants to read a paragraph. Datafor the informal style are collected in natural speech.
In natural conversation, the rates of usage of local variants is very high. /n/, / o/ and / 8/ have frequencies of 86.2%, 92.6% and 93.2% respectively. As for /1/, the ratio of occurrence of local variant [l]-1 is much lower - 14.0%. Thus, the confusion between /l/ and /n/ appears mainly in one direction. This is also the general situation of many rural areas in the North (Nguyen [7]; Vu [16]). In terms of style, in natural speech, local variants are markedly reduced. The average rate of usage of local variants in careful styles is only
27.5%, while the rest are common variants that are prevalent in urban areas.
In terms of regional usage, urban variants tend to be used in cities, which have anurban lifestyle and a higher level of socio-economic development than purely agricultural areas. Socially, urban variants tend to spread noticeably in social groups representing high levels of intellectual development such as officials, students, groups ofyoung people and groups ofpeople withopen access to other speech communities. This situation can be demonstrated through the following data.
Table 3: Variants of social characteristics of speakers (*)
Social features % variants Total
variant0 variant 1 Both variants
Age <30 55.0 12.5 32.5 100.0
30-50 37.3 21.3 41.4 100.0
>50 41.8 25.5 32.7 100.0
0.036 < p < 0.423
Education Primary/Secondary 30.8 24.6 44.6 100.0
Post-secondary 82.5 7.5 10.0 100.0
0.000 < p < 0.042
Occupation Farmer 7.5 32.5 60.0 100.0
Merchant/Seller 20.0 32.3 47.7 100.0
Pupil, student 56.7 13.3 30.0 100.0
Officials 72.8 9.1 18.1 100.0
0.006 < p < 0.072
Access to other speech communities Open 60.4 14.6 25.0 100.0
Closed 32.5 27.4 40.1 100.0
0.007 < p < 0.049
Note: (*): the average value of all 4 variables; (**): P is a statistically significant difference in which the statistical difference is at 95%, i.e.p = 0.05. All values of p> 0.05 are considered not to reach statistically significant differences.
The collected data shows the tendency to leave local variants in several social groups such as officials, students, young people and those who have many opportunities to communicate with communities outside their locality. Occupational characteristics, age and psychological characteristics, and opportunities to contact with urban communities make these groups sensitive to urbanization and actively participate in local language change processes. Quantitative analysis models have found and shared significant correlations between these social groups and prestigious language variants in many communities due to migration and urbanization, not only in Vietnam (Nguyen [7]; Trinh [11]; Trinh [12]; Trinh & Dang [13]) but also in many communities around the world (Werner [17]; Wolfram & Fasold [18]; Trudgill, [15]; Ann-Marie [2] ...).
5.2. The second expression of dialect levelingis innovation in vocabulary by reducing the number of words with rural characteristics, appearing or increasing the number of words with urban characteristics, and the phenomenon of code-switching with English.
First, the usage of some rural-specific language words tends to decrease. If in the past, these words were popularly used by peasantry andyoung boys and girls, but now they are rarely used. Users may even encounter discrimination from the community. This situation creates a trend in which rural words are gradually replaced with urban ones. This trend occurs mainly in the following lexical categories.
(1) Some address forms (self-address: I (impolite), your father, your grandfather, yourgrandgrandfa-ther; referential terms: you (impolite), friend's name + his/her father's/mother's name...);
(2) Some taboowords (shit, lick, fuck,patriarch, a woman's or man's genitalsin folk sayings ...);
(3) Some ways of enclave popularized in the peasantry (connecting elements in sentences): as if, that is... in such examples as "I went to see it (as if) in 6 stores, butnowhere... "; "Today, grandfatherhas been hospitalized (that is) 17 days already!".
Groups (1) and (2) are most used among middle-aged men (usually in times of drunkenness or anger), some low-quality students or jobless young people. Group (3) tends to insome elderly people or female farmers. The remaining groups mostly use urban expressions.
Secondly, in natural speech, some types of linguistic lexical formsappear to be considered a characteristic of modern and integrated urban. This innovation focuses primarily on young people, students, for example: some address formswith friends showed group identity (e.g. callingfriends by the words used for old men/women-addressing onself as "I", calling friends by the words used for husbands/wives- self-addressby words used for wives/husbandseven with members of the same sex, etc.). Some teen idioms have appeared recently in urban areas due to the use of metaphony, harmonics in Vietnamese. These form, which are considered stylish by teenagers, have phonetic harmony but are generally meaningless, for example, [can5pw1 kon1zan5](bored like cockroaches) and[buon2pw1 kon1cuon2 cuon2](sad like dragonflies), [ak5pw1 kon1 te1 zak5] (evil like rhinos).
Thirdly, code-switching with English inVietnamese utterances of young people also appears to give rural speechurban characteristics.
- Mixing English words: hello, bye, OK, thank you, hotboy, hotgirl, happyetc.;
- Pidginized forms: [hot5yrn1](hotgirl), [he2 lo5] rural characterized lexical formsand the increase
(hello), [he1 no1] (hello), [yut5 ap5 tr1 lun1] (good af- in the use ofsome urban lwords, are also recorded.
ternoon), etc. These changes appear first and foremost in urban-
The two phenomena above, on the one hand, ization-sensitive social groups such as officials, stu-
may be due to an increase in the number of people dents, and groups with frequent language contact
who havethe ability to use English in the communi- with other speech communities. They are also the
ty, but on the other hand, they are clearly due to the social groupsleading in linguistic processes (dialect
psychology of interest in new things, such as stylish leveling) and social processes (urbanization) of the
things and wanting to act according to the trend of region. Based on the expressions described above,
urban youth. we can see the areas with local dialectal diversity are
6. Conclusion beginning to be reduced due to the replacement of
Language change in Hanoi rural communities in rural variants with urban variants. It can be said that
the process of urbanization have been experiencing the dialect change in this community is evidence
rapid dialect leveling with a strong decrease in the of the relationship between urbanization and lan-
use of local variants. In addition, the innovation in guagechange in Vietnam. vocabulary, expressed in the disappearance of some
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