Overview
This research examines how habitual exposure to socially evaluated speech varieties influences individual production patterns and participation in community-level language change. Work in this area combines sociolinguistic field methods with quantitative analyses that connect local social dynamics to measurable phonetic outcomes.
Active Workstreams
- TH-stopping and related segmental variables in Philadelphia Puerto Rican English.
- Community-level variation and social meaning in local speech networks.
- Effects of sociolinguistic exposure on adaptation patterns over time.
Methods
- Community recordings and sociolinguistic interviews.
- Annotation and acoustic-phonetic analysis of variable features.
- Statistical modeling of social, linguistic, and interactional predictors.
- Cross-study integration with lab-based adaptation measures.
Recent and Prior Outputs
- 2024: Patchell, A., and Berry, G.M. "TH-Stopping in Philadelphia Puerto Rican English." Language Variation and Change. DOI: 10.1017/S0954394524000012.
- Berry, G.M. (2022). Cognitive correlates of phonological adaptation: Reactive control predicts participation in simulated sound change. Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America.
- Patchell, A., and Berry, G.M. (2022). Do Philly Puerto Ricans say dat? An acoustic analysis of TH-stopping as a change in-progress. Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America.
- Berry, G.M. (2021). Cognitive processing strategy and the phonological integration of phonetic variation. New Ways of Analyzing Variation 49.
- Requena, P.E., and Berry, G.M. (2021). L2 learners processing of syntactic variation in the L1. Variation and Language Processing 5.
Project Snapshot
- Cluster: Community
- Geographic focus: Philadelphia
- Primary outcomes: variation rates, social patterning, change-in-progress indicators
- Latest listed peer-reviewed output: 2024
- Recent output window: 1 publication (2024)
Last Updated
February 2026