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A sociolinguistic study of the New York City English and its lexis
DVOŘÁKOVÁ, Karolína
This bachelor´s thesis investigates the lexicon of New York City English (NYCE) dialect, which results from the rich linguistic landscape of the city. Due to the fact that New York City has a long history of immigration, many exogenous words have found their way into the speech of its residents. In addition to words that have been introduced into the dialect by immigrants, the New York lexicon is also rich for words and phrases that were coined directly in the city. Previous research conducted on this topic indicated that some lexical devices used by New Yorkers are different from those used by speakers in the rest of the United States, and many of the dialect´s characteristic traits remain unique to the area of New York City. To date there has been very little recent research done on the spread of the lexicon beyond the dialectal area and the actual use of this vocabulary among New Yorkers. This thesis has aimed to fill this gap. The spread and use of the lexicon was investigated by means of a questionnaire, targeted at three groups of respondents: New Yorkers, Americans living outside of New York City and people from other English-speaking countries. The data collected from each cohort were presented, analyzed, and interpreted. The survey results firstly confirmed that New Yorkers, in comparison with respondents from other parts of the United States and with respondents from other English-speaking countries, are generally more familiar with words that have roots in immigrant languages. New Yorkers are also more likely to use this NYCE lexis in their everyday lives. Secondly, as regards the expressions that were coined in New York City, the results revealed that many of these words remain to some extent restricted to the New York City area. Finally, the findings also indicate that some of the NYCE lexis surveyed is gradually disappearing from the speech of New Yorkers and remains known and used mainly by speakers belonging to the older generation.
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