The variable + context:

Variable: (ING)

Variable (ING) is the alternation between -ing and -in in words with (ING) contexts. For example, the person was walkin(g) across the street.

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Speaker:

DCB_se1_ag3_f_03 is a working class Black woman from Washington, D.C. approximately 30-50 years old. 

Information about CORAAL: DCB: currently consists of 48 primary speakers across 63 audio files, collected specifically for CORAAL. The speakers were recorded between July 2015 and December 2017. Speakers were collected through a friend of a friend network to fill a 4 x 3 demographic matrix. The socioeconomic groups here are meant to capture broad social strata; the qualitative labels are simple descriptors to help orient users around the ordering. These are not meant to represent theoretically motivated socio-economic assessments of individuals. The interviewer (DCB_int_01) is not meant to be analyzed here.

Step 1: Preparation and hypothesizing 

What is the variable? What are the possible variants of the variable? 

In what contexts does it occur/not occur (e.g. in the beginning, middle, and/or end of a word; In which word classes (verbs, nouns, prepositions, etc.). In other words, attempt to circumscribe the variable context.

What are some linguistic factors you might hypothesize could impact what variant is chosen?

What are some social factors you might hypothesize could impact what variant is chosen?

Step 2: Coding

Look at the transcript below and as a group identify the occurrences of the variable. Then using the audio listen closely to determine what variant was realized (i.e. what did the person say?)

1. Highlight all occurrences of the variable (i.e. highlight all variants).
   1. For this variable, I would recommend breaking up the work a bit and each person or pair taking a few pages and identifying the variable, asking each other questions as they come up. 
   2. Pay special attention to contexts that you feel unsure about, or your group has differing opinions on. It will help you in the second step.
2. Then listen to the variable examples you’ve highlighted to determine which variant the speaker produced. 
3. Count the variants you’ve coded so far to get a ratio.
4. Now revisit your variable context–is it how you circumscribed it? Are there occasions where you’re not sure if the token (i.e. a single item) fits your variable context?
5. What patterns do you notice in the data?
   1. Do they use a lot of ing or a lot of in? Do they seem to be pretty mixed from what you can tell?

Step 3: Reporting results. WRITE ANSWERS TO Q#5 HERE:

Example of coding:

Here I’ve highlighted an example of the variable in yellow, and next to it I’ve put the realization (as heard in the audio) in blue highlight.

92	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	132.4458	growing[in] up here was fun,
93	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	133.7654	(pause 1.29)
94	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	135.0512	you know.
95	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	135.6108	(pause 0.69)
96	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	136.3055	<ts>
97	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	136.3755	(pause 0.18)
98	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	136.5573	It was safer,
99	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	137.392	(pause 1.40)
100	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	138.7955	because
101	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	139.7001	(pause 0.65)
102	DCB_se1_ag3_f_03	140.3471	we didn’t have all this stuff going[in] [on, you] know.