Abstract/Summary

One salient feature that has been associated with the L2 English of Polish migrants, the largest linguistic minority in the UK (Census, 2011), is the way they pronounce /r/. Szpyra-Kozłowska (2018) and Waniek-Klimczak & Matysiak (2016) suggest the potential social function of /r/ in Polish-accented English as a higher-level indexical (Johnstone & Kiesling, 2008; Labov, 1972; Silverstein, 2003); nonetheless, very little research on variable rhoticity and non-prevocalic /r/ realisations had been done in the context of L2 English of Polish migrants in the south of England. This study attempted to address this gap by providing further evidence for variable rhoticity, investigating /r/ variants employed by these speakers and exploring the various factors that impact their choices, focusing on SLA-related, phonological and social constraints. Participants’ beliefs regarding indexical meanings linked to the variable were also examined. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 26 participants. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and a sociolinguistic interview in English were employed. 6,955 tokens, i.e. words with non-prevocalic /r/, were elicited, coded using auditory analysis and visual inspection of spectrogram, analysed in SPSS and contextualised using qualitative data. The results confirm variability in rhoticity and non-prevocalic /r/, the most-frequently employed variant being approximants (57% of all tokens), followed by non-rhotic realisations (38.7%). Evidence of taps/tap-like variants and idiosyncratic realisations was also found. A small percentage of trills was only identified in Word List data. A number of statistically-significant SLA-related and social variables were found, including Formal Instruction in English in Poland, Grammatical Range & Accuracy, Self-estimated Level of English and Social Grade. Two strongest predictors discouraging non-rhoticity were NORTH and NEAR vowels. The presence of style shifts was also identified. In addition, ample evidence for meta-discourse regarding /r/ variants was found. [ɾ] and [r] were found to be frequently linked to second-order indexical meanings, signalling alignment with Poland, the notion of foreignness, a lack of willingness to integrate into the British society or a specific brand of “Polishness” represented by the commonly-reported stereotype of Polish-thug-in-a-track-suit. By examining variability in /r/ realisations and its origins, the current study has made a contribution to the body of knowledge regarding rhoticity in Polish-accented English as well as the wider field of sociophonetics, warranting the need for further investigation of the variable in the context of out-group stereotypes and the attached stigma and accent bias.