Somali Dialects in the United States: How Intelligible is Af-Maay to Speakers of Af-Maxaa?

76 Pages·2014·0.7 MB·English

by  Deqa Hassan

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Deqa Hassan
Minnesota State University - Mankato
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Hassan, Dequa. (2011). Somali Dialects in the United States: How Intelligible is Af-Maay to Speakers of
Af-Maxaa? [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly
and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/276/
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Somali Dialects in the United States: How Intelligible is Af-Maay to Speakers of Af-
Maxaa?

By

Deqa M. Hassan

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree of

Masters of Arts

In

English: Teaching English as a Second Language

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Mankato, Minnesota

July 2011
ii

Somali Dialects in the United States: How Intelligible is Af-Maay to Speakers of Af-
Maxaa?

Deqa M. Hassan

This thesis has been examined and approved by the following members of the thesis
committee.

Dr. Karen Lybeck, Advisor

Dr. Harry Solo
iii

ABSTRACT

Somali Dialects in the United States:
How Intelligible is Af-Maay to Speakers of Af-Maxaa?

By

Deqa M. Hassan
M.A. English: TESL

Minnesota State University, Mankato
Mankato, Minnesota

The objective of this study was to determine the degree of intelligibility of Af-
Maay to Somali university student speakers (n=21) of Af-Maxaa in the United States by
implementing a perceived intelligibility test. The investigator aimed to test whether time
spent in the United States, language contact with Af-Maay speakers, native Somali
dialect, or the region of origin in Somalia affected the intelligibility of Af-Maay. The
one-sample t-test showed that Af-Maay is partially intelligible to speakers of Af-Maxaa;
t(21)=4.623, p=.000. This appears to agree with Crystal‟s (1987) Type 5 language-
dialect relationship category, where there is a partial intelligibility due to the overlapping
history between Af-Maay and Af-Maxaa speakers. The results of the Pearson‟s
correlation coefficient revealed statistically significant associations between the
participants‟ level of understanding of Af-Maay and Standard Somali, their association
with Af-Maay speakers, and their time spent in the United States. These results imply that
there is a combination of linguistic and non-linguistic factors influencing the
intelligibility of Af-Maay.
iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank everyone who helped me with this thesis. I am grateful to my
committee members for taking time out of their hectic schedules to provide helpful
feedback, especially Dr. Karen Lybeck, who helped me tremendously with her
continuous support and guidance throughout the entire process. I would also like to thank
my family and friends for always encouraging me, and lastly all the participants in the
study as their inputs were invaluable to this thesis.
v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................9
Classifying language varieties based on linguistic factors ..............................................9
Structural Differences ..................................................................................................9
Phonology ..............................................................................................................10
Vowels. ..............................................................................................................11
Grammar. ...............................................................................................................12
Morphology........................................................................................................13
Syntax ................................................................................................................15
Classifying language varieties based on non-linguistic factors .....................................15
Ethnicity and geography. ...........................................................................................16
Politics........................................................................................................................18
Non-linguistic criteria to differentiate language varieties. ........................................18
Vitality ...................................................................................................................19
Historicity. .............................................................................................................20
Standardization. .....................................................................................................21
vi

Autonomy. .............................................................................................................25
Reduction. ..............................................................................................................26
Mixture. ..................................................................................................................26
De facto linguistic norms .......................................................................................26
Mutual intelligibility tests ..............................................................................................27
Functional mutual intelligibility testing. ....................................................................28
Opinion/Perceived mutual intelligibility testing ........................................................29
Summary ........................................................................................................................30
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................33
Participants .....................................................................................................................33
Data Collection: Online Survey .....................................................................................35
Data Analysis .................................................................................................................37
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ...................................................................................................40
Data assumption results .................................................................................................41
The effects of mutual intelligibility in Standard Somali ................................................47
The effects of region in Somali and years spent in the United States ............................47
The effects of spoken dialect and language contact with Af-Maay speakers ................48
Summary ........................................................................................................................48
DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................49
vii

How intelligible is Af-Maay to Somali university student speakers of Af-Maxaa living
in the United States? ......................................................................................................50
What type of language-dialect relationship does Af-Maay have with Af-Maxaa? .......51
Is the degree of intelligibility of Af-Maay to speakers of Af-Maxaa due solely to
linguistic factors, non-linguistic factors, or a combination of both? .............................52
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................54
Limitations of the study and implications for future research .......................................55
Implications....................................................................................................................57
APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................58
Appendix A: Online Consent Form ...............................................................................58
Appendix B: Online Survey Questions ..........................................................................59
Appendix C: English Translation/Numerical Points......................................................60
Appendix D: Quantified Demographic Answers ...........................................................61
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................62
viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

Table 1.1 Language-dialect Relationships ...........................................................................4
Table 2.1 Phonological Differences between Af-Maay and Af-Maxaa ............................11
Table 2.2 Grammatical Differences between Af-Maay and Af-Maxaa .............................13
Table 3.1 Participant Demographic Information ...............................................................34
Table 4.1 Summary of Participant Dialect Intelligibility ...................................................40
Table 4.2 One-Sample Kolmogorove-Smirnov Test Results ............................................41
Table 4.3 Strength of Correlation Interpretation................................................................42
Table 4.4 Pearson's Correlation Coefficient Results .........................................................44
Table 4.5 Paired Samples Statistics T-Test Results ...........................................................45
Table 4.5 Paired Differences T-Test Results .....................................................................46
Table 4.6 One-Sample T-Test Results ...............................................................................47
ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

Figure 1.1 Distributions of Somali Dialect Groups .............................................................2
Figure 1.2 Summary of Somali Dialect Differentiations. ....................................................7
Figure 2.1 Examples of Proposed Orthographies ..............................................................23
Figure 3.1 Variable Classification. ....................................................................................38