210 research outputs found
English and the use of the simple past in Dutch
The global dominance of English has resulted in contact-induced change in many of the worldâs languages. While lexical influence is perhaps the most widespread and the most visible form of change, there are indications that English may also be influencing languages on a structural level. In this article, we investigate a case of potential contact-induced structural change in the verb tense system of Dutch. Non-standard use of the simple past (instead of the standard present perfect) has been noticed for some time, and often linked to English influence. Based on an acceptability judgment questionnaire, we show that there is little evidence for language change in this feature in apparent time, but that judgments do depend on ratersâ exposure to English, with higher exposure correlating with more positive judgments. This suggests that contact-induced change through diffusion may be a factor in the use of this construction
Variation in Faroese and the development of a spoken standard:In search of corpus evidence
Although Faroese exhibits extensive linguistic variation and rapid social change, the language is near-uncharted territory in variationist sociolinguistics. This article discusses some recent social changes in Faroese society in connection with language change, focusing in particular on the development of a de facto spoken standard, Central Faroese. Demographic mobility, media and education may be contributing to this development in different ways. Two linguistic variables are analysed as a first step towards uncovering the respective roles of standardisation, dialect levelling and dialect spread as contributing processes in the formation of Central Faroese: morphological variation in -st endings and phonological variation in -ir and -ur endings. The analysis confirms previously described patterns of geographically constrained variation, but no generational or stylistic differences indicative of language change are found, nor are there clear signs that informants use Central Faroese. The results may in part be due to the structure of the corpus used
Minority languages between reformation and revolution
In this thesis, I intend to further our knowledge of the sociolinguistics of Early Modern
minority languages. Social and political developments in North-Western Europe in the
16th to 18th centuries caused an emancipation of vernacular languages, which took over
from Latin as the main language in official domains. The sociolinguistics of this change
are well known (e.g. Burke 2004); the fate of languages that did not make it to this new
status, emerging âminority languagesâ, remains under-researched.
Chapter 2 introduces some of the terminology used in this study. I discuss four categories
of research methods into minority language shift and how they are applicable to research
on historical situations, which often suffers from âbad dataâ. I then present a model of
ethnolinguistic vitality that I use to survey the socio-historical backgrounds of several
minority language groups in Chapter 3.
Chapter 3 begins with a brief presentation of minority language groups from the Early
Modern period. I choose three language groups to focus on in more depth: speakers of
Norn in Shetland, of Flemish in Northern France, and of Sorbian in Germany. A survey of
these three cases, with the initial wider presentation, identifies three recurring issues that
are the focus of the subsequent chapters.
The first of these is the influence of demographic change (Chapter 4). In the formation of
nation-states in this period, many speakers of the majority language migrate to peripheral
minority-language areas. I present two historical-demographic studies showing the integration
of immigrants into the local community through intermarriage, based on 17th-century
population registers from Shetland and Dunkirk (France). Both show a large amount of intermarriage, despite a bias towards in-group marriage. Intermarriage brings the majority
language into the minority-language home; the strength of the bias against intermarriage
is likely to be a factor in the rate of shift, one of the main differences between Shetland
and Dunkirk.
Language policies are the topic of Chapter 5. They are an important part of minority
language studies in the present day, particularly with regard to language maintenance. I
survey the language legislation that existed in Shetland, French Flanders, and Lusatia, its
purpose and implementation, and its effects on language shift. Purpose and implementation
of language policies were limited, and its effect on minority language communities
therefore only secondary.
Chapter 6 is about target varieties in language shift. The question of whether language
shift happened through education in a standard variety or through contacts with majoritylanguage
speakers from nearby areas can be answered by looking at the new majoritylanguage
dialect in the minority area.
I undertake two different studies in this context. The first is an analysis of Shetland Scots
using theories of dialect contact. The dialect has a number of âstandardisedâ features, but
I argue these are mainly due to koinĂŠisation of various dialects of Scots immigrants to
Shetland and a second-language variety of Scots spoken by the local population. The
second is a study of the French dialect of French Flanders using computational methods
of data comparison on data taken from dialect atlases. This dialect shares features with
neighbouring Picard dialects, but we can also identify Standard French features. This
pattern correlates with what we know of migration to the area (Chapter 4). Both new
dialects suggest the shifting population acquired the majority language mainly through
contacts with majority-language speakers in their direct environment.
In conclusion, I show that language shift in the Early Modern period was an organic
process, where the inception, the rate, and the result of shift were steered by the minority populationâs social networks. The influence of institutions often blamed for language
shift in modern situations â educational and language policies â was very restricted. In
addition, I show that methods used in modern sociolinguistics can be successfully applied
to historical situations, despite the bad data problem. This opens the door for more
extensive research into the area
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