Reading and Writing I / Unit 2 Test / CEZL/celz/1/2012 / Date: _____________

Name: _________________________ I.D. ______________

Name: _________________________ I.D. ______________
Global mark: 20 points. Criterion: 65%. Minimum passing grade: 13 points.
Criterion for a make-up test: 40%. Minimum grade for make-up: 8 points.

General Instructions:
- The test has been designed over 40 points. Once graded, the result will be transformed into the scale of 20 points to fit the evaluation plan.
- According to the information provided in class, first identify the topic sentence in each paragraph and its elements; that is, topic, limiting
statement and point of view; second, considering the discursive techniques of developing sentences, the main idea, and the author’s intention,
determine what type of paragraph each paragraph is in the text.
- To answer the test, fill in the charts for each paragraph provided below the text. Avoid any other type of code such as colors, underlying,
boldface or italics style of font.
- Correct answers will be credited as follows:
Topic Sentence identification: 1.50 points
Topic, Point of view, Limiting statement, and function: 0.50 points each
Type of paragraph: 1.50 points
So each paragraph adds up a total of 5 points.
- Send your test with one day in advanced before the deadline to avoid last minute internet delivery problems. Remember in these cases
problems like “attaching documents” or “bad connection service” are always an excuse that will be no longer tolerated since provisions are
being taken. If problems to deliver your test still persist, hand-in a printed copy of your test on the deadline during class, at the teacher’s
office: Room 247, or at the Department office addressed to the secretary: Miss Villalonga.

Exploring the Dialect of the Franco-Americans of Manchester, New Hampshire 1

Diversity in a spoken language can be produced by numerous factors, such as the languages one is exposed to, the geographic area one is
raised in, and family traditions. This research focuses on the first of these factors, examining the French language’s influence on Franco-
American English in Manchester, a city in southern New Hampshire.
The questions we explore include the following: Does the Franco-American community of Manchester have its own French-influenced
dialect of English? What sociolinguistic factors influence this dialect? Do speakers with stronger cultural ties to the Franco-American
community produce a more French-sounding English? Can immersion in Franco-American culture have an influence on speakers who are
monolingual (in English)? Our data support the hypothesis that speakers who are culturally more Franco-American oriented will have a
greater incidence of French-source variants in their English language. Correlations between linguistic attitude, social background, and choice

1
Ryback-Soucy, W & Nagy, N. (2000). Exploring the Dialect of the Franco-Americans of Manchester, New Hampshire. Journal of English Linguistics, 28(3), pp.
249-264
of a particular pronunciation variant of a sound have been demonstrated repeatedly (cf. Labov 1972; Nagy, Moisset, and Sankoff 1995), but
the Manchester Franco-American community has not previously been examined in this light. The effect of ethnicity (but rarely the degree of
ethnic activity involvement) has been examined in other communities. See, for example, Labov’s (1972) analysis of linguistic variation in
New York City, the geographically relevant analysis of ethnic variation in Boston by Laferrière (1979), and Horvath’s (1985) work, which
examines aspects of ethnic variation in Australian English.
Manchester, New Hampshire, was chosen for this investigation because of its large population of Franco-Americans. Between the years
1870 and 1930, there was a large-scale immigration of French Canadians to New England because of the explosion of the textile industry
and the ensuing need for laborers. By 1900, the population of Manchester, New Hampshire, was 40 percent Franco-American (Brault 1986).
For years, the west side of Manchester has been called “Little Canada” because of its density of Franco-Americans. Residents there are very
involved in Franco-American culture and community, attending Franco-American churches, holding membership in the Association Canado-
Americaine and the American-Canadian Genealogical Society, and attending conferences, meetings, and social events put on by these
groups. It is not surprising that this active ethnic pride affects speech.
New Hampshire’s population was reported to be 15 percent French by the 1976 Survey of Income and Education (Grosjean 1982, 45).
The same survey found that 1.9 million Americans reported French-language background, making French the fourth largest language
minority group in the United States (Grosjean 1982, 47). Nationwide, approximately 40 percent of people of French descent were speaking
French at least part of the time as of 1976 (Grosjean 1982, 56). As of the 1995 census, 1,702,000 U.S. residents (nearly 1 percent of the U.S.
population) reported speaking French natively (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1995). Speaking French every day is an important link to the
Franco-American heritage. The exposure to French on a daily basis influences the production of English in this community.

The Linguistic (Dependent) Variables

To examine the effect of French on Manchester’s English, a group of speakers were recorded, and two linguistic variables were selected
for study. The two linguistic variables examined are interdental fricatives (TH) and word-initial /h/ (H).

Interdental Fricatives (TH)

Interdental fricatives (spelled “th”) may be pronounced as the interdental fricatives [?] and [D], as in English, or as the (dental or) alveolar
stops [t] and [d]. For example, in this community, them may be pronounced as [DEm] or [dEm] and with as [wI?] or [wIt], the latter in each
pair suggesting French influence. The process of changing a fricative to a stop is known as fortition. The fortition of these fricatives has been
cited as an urban phenomenon (Eckert 1999), but its prevalence in the speech of non-Franco-Americans of Manchester has not yet been
examined. It has been shown to correlate to Polish ethnic identification in Detroit and Italian ethnic identification in Chicago (Penelope
Eckert, personal communication, November 1999). French, Polish, and Italian all lack interdental fricatives, and these coronal stops are
among the most similar phonemes available from the source languages.

Word-Initial /h/ (H)

This segment may be either articulated as /h/ or deleted, producing forms such as [?r] hair, [ænd] hand, and [?dek] headache. Standard
French lacks /h/ in any environment (Janda and Auger 1992); therefore, deletion of this sound indicates French influence. While French has
some words spelled with word-initial “h,” such as le haricot (green bean), the segment, known as h-aspiré, does not have any phonetic
realization in Standard French (Christine Moisset, Julie Auger, personal communication, November 1999).
The deletion of /h/ in content words may be an overgeneralization of the pan-English tendency to delete unstressed word-initial /h/, as in
“I saw ’im go.” One speaker demonstrated hypercorrection of this variable. When talking about a local high school, she called it [ho?li he?nd
?l haj] “Holy (H)angel High.” Her husband, also Franco-American, joked with her about “HHH” during the interview, indicating that this
pattern is recognized and stigmatized.

Paragraph 1
Topic Sentence Topic Limiting Statement Point of View Function

Paragraph 2
Topic Sentence Topic Limiting Statement Point of View Function

Paragraph 3
Topic Sentence Topic Limiting Statement Point of View Function

Paragraph 4
Topic Sentence Topic Limiting Statement Point of View Function

Paragraph 5
Topic Sentence Topic Limiting Statement Point of View Function

Paragraph 6
Topic Sentence Topic Limiting Statement Point of View Function
 Paragraph 7
Topic Sentence Topic Limiting Statement Point of View Function

Paragraph 8
Topic Sentence Topic Limiting Statement Point of View Function