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The Multiple Prediction of Phonological Variables in a Bilingual Speech Community 1
Author(s) -
FISHMAN JOSHUA A.,
HERASIMCHUK ELEANOR
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1969.71.4.02a00040
Subject(s) - speech community , context (archaeology) , variable (mathematics) , variables , variance (accounting) , regression analysis , value (mathematics) , puerto rican , linguistics , regression , statistics , mathematics , econometrics , psychology , geography , sociology , anthropology , economics , mathematical analysis , philosophy , accounting , archaeology
The analysis of variance via regression analysis permits investigators to go far beyond the interaction between linguistic context and a single demographic factor, the level of prior sociolinguistic description and prediction of phonological realizations. The differential use of a value in Puerto Rican Spanish (SpC‐O) is predicted best on the basis of speech context. Nevertheless, the addition of several demographic variables (age, education, birthplace) plus the interaction between one of them and speech context significantly improves the prediction of SpC‐0 ( R = 0.602). Efforts to explain and predict a value in Puerto Rican English (EH‐2) benefit most from the cumulative use of several demographic variables. After such variables have been utilized to the point where the incremental contribution of yet others would no longer be significant, the introduction of another linguistic variable (UH‐3) raises the cumulative prediction of EH‐2 to previously unattained heights ( R = 0.890).