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Bolzano (FUB) on December 2 nd and 3 rd in 2011. The idea for the conference was to continue the ... more Bolzano (FUB) on December 2 nd and 3 rd in 2011. The idea for the conference was to continue the tradition established at previous 'r-atics meetings in Nijmegen (2000) and Bruxelles (2002) providing a forum for the presentation and discussion of current research on rhotics. In this respect, we would like to acknowledge Didier Demolin, Roeland van Hout and Hans Van de Velde for allowing us to pick up the title and the concept of the 'r-atics workshops. The entire process of peer-reviewing for each paper was only possible thanks to an external group of anonymous referees who made numerous valuable suggestions, many of which have been incorporated into the final version of the book. We are deeply grateful to the Language Study Unit of the FUB, which funded the conference as well as the publication of this book. We would also like to thank the Language Study Unit team for their outstanding support in organizing the conference and the bu,press staff for their assistance in preparing this book.
The Social Life of Language, 1980
New Directions for Historical Linguistics, 2019
Contact Language Library, 2021
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 2020
This article reviews Variation, versatility and change in sociolinguistics and creole studies Har... more This article reviews Variation, versatility and change in sociolinguistics and creole studies Hardback £95/EUR 94.35/US $104.00
The Social Life of Language, 1980
Creole Language Library, 1991
The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, 2008
Asia-Pacific Language Variation, 2015
Marrying Durkheim’s definition of the social fact (1895) with Gumperz’ classic framework for stud... more Marrying Durkheim’s definition of the social fact (1895) with Gumperz’ classic framework for studying the speech community (1968), the paper argues that these concepts are crucial to the 21st century sociolinguistic enterprise. It explores the basic dimensions of variation across speech communities, illustrating their applicability to communities of several different types. These include monolingual communities where speakers have a common base in linguistic structure as well as complex multilingual communities with internal social divisions. Illustrations are drawn from the author’s research in French Canada and Papua New Guinea, and from Blanc’s (1964) study of Baghdad. Finally, the study of multilingual speech communities is linked to the understanding of how superposed linguistic knowledge is integrated across the lifespans of individual speakers and across communal groups. Even in such situations, members who do not share a language seek to communicate with each other, finding ...
Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, 2006
The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, 2013
Revue québécoise de linguistique, 2002
Le parcours individuel de locuteurs dans des changements linguistiques en cours à l’échelle de la... more Le parcours individuel de locuteurs dans des changements linguistiques en cours à l’échelle de la communauté linguistique francophone de Montréal constitue le thème de cet article. Un examen du comportement linguistique d’une cohorte de francophones montréalais interviewés à trois reprises au cours de leur vie, en 1971, 1984 et 1995, lève certaines zones d’ombre sur la participation individuelle aux changements sociolinguistiques et sur la question de l’âge critique de l’acquisition. Les résultats livrés concernent deux changements en cours – la norme de prononciation du /r/ et l’usage des pronoms toniques au pluriel – et l’interprétation proposée tient compte des caractéristiques linguistiques et de la signification sociale des deux variables.
Langue française, 1977
1.0. Il existe en français un groupe de verbes qui se conjuguent aux temps composés avec l'a... more 1.0. Il existe en français un groupe de verbes qui se conjuguent aux temps composés avec l'auxiliaire être, ce qui les distingue de la majorité des verbes qui se conjuguent avec l'auxiliaire avoir. Sur le plan sémantique, les verbes de cette classe minoritaire se ...
Language Variation and Change, 1997
ABSTRACTUse of discourse markers by 17 speakers of Anglophone Montreal French (AMF) showed great ... more ABSTRACTUse of discourse markers by 17 speakers of Anglophone Montreal French (AMF) showed great variation in individual repertoires and frequency of use. Only five subjects manifested rates of usage comparable to those of native speakers or to their own LI usage in English. In decreasing order of frequency, the speakers used tu sais ‘y'know’; là ‘there’ (the most frequent among L1 Montreal French speakers); bon ‘good’, alors ‘so’, comme ‘like’, and bien ‘well’; and the local discourse conjunction fait que ‘so’. The subjects occasionally made use of the English markers you know, so, like, and well. Québécois French markers with no English equivalent were used by the speakers who had been exposed to French in their early childhood environment. The one marker that showed influence from English was comme, apparently calqued on English like. Overall, frequent use of discourse markers correlated only with the speakers' knowledge of French grammar – evidence that a higher frequenc...
Language in Society, 1979
Language in Society, 1982
people for purposes of linguistic and cultural continuity. Dixon strongly equates linguistic surv... more people for purposes of linguistic and cultural continuity. Dixon strongly equates linguistic survival with tribal survival in Australia and believes that literacy programs are doomed to failure unless they (i) introduce literacy in the native language, (2) provide instruction for all people-not just the young, (3) provide materials that are culturally relevant, (4) involve the recording of traditionally oral literature, (5) stress the importance that every reader must also be a writer. Dixon's views are committed and accessible. One of the important features of these introductory chapters is a style suited for general readers. Terms are defined as they are used, contrasts and analogies with Indo-European languages are employed to advantage, and the social ramifications of language use are clearly detailed. Whether or not one reads onward into the complexities of Australian grammars is concerned with the specifics of genetic relationships, this book is an important resource and an excellent introduction to Australian languages in their social settings.
Language, 2007
We address the articulation between language change in the historical sense and language change a... more We address the articulation between language change in the historical sense and language change as experienced by individual speakers through a trend and panel study of the change from apical to dorsal /r/ in Montreal French. The community as a whole rapidly advanced its use of dorsal [R]. Most individual speakers followed across time were stable after the critical period, with phonological patterns set by the end of adolescence. A sizeable minority, however, made substantial changes. The window of opportunity for linguistic modification in later life may be expanded with rapid change in progress when linguistic variables take on social significance.* * We thank the National Science Foundation for funding this research (Language Change Across the Lifespan, Grant BCS-0132463 to Gillian Sankoff). This joint research was begun when Hélène Blondeau held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide à la Recherche, Gouvernement du Québec, at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999-2001. We gratefully acknowledge the invaluable contributions of David Sankoff and Henrietta Cedergren in codesigning and implementing (along with the first author) the original Montreal study in 1971; of Pierrette Thibault and Diane Vincent in carrying out the 1984 followup study; and of Diane Vincent, Marty Laforest, and Guylaine Martel in undertaking the 1995 followup. We are especially grateful to Pierrette Thibault for her help in making materials of many kinds available for our present research, often at short notice, and thank her and Bill Labov for discussion of theoretical and methodological issues, as well as questions of substance. For their assistance in coding and verification of the data, we thank
Journal of Linguistics, 1977
Bolzano (FUB) on December 2 nd and 3 rd in 2011. The idea for the conference was to continue the ... more Bolzano (FUB) on December 2 nd and 3 rd in 2011. The idea for the conference was to continue the tradition established at previous 'r-atics meetings in Nijmegen (2000) and Bruxelles (2002) providing a forum for the presentation and discussion of current research on rhotics. In this respect, we would like to acknowledge Didier Demolin, Roeland van Hout and Hans Van de Velde for allowing us to pick up the title and the concept of the 'r-atics workshops. The entire process of peer-reviewing for each paper was only possible thanks to an external group of anonymous referees who made numerous valuable suggestions, many of which have been incorporated into the final version of the book. We are deeply grateful to the Language Study Unit of the FUB, which funded the conference as well as the publication of this book. We would also like to thank the Language Study Unit team for their outstanding support in organizing the conference and the bu,press staff for their assistance in preparing this book.
The Social Life of Language, 1980
New Directions for Historical Linguistics, 2019
Contact Language Library, 2021
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 2020
This article reviews Variation, versatility and change in sociolinguistics and creole studies Har... more This article reviews Variation, versatility and change in sociolinguistics and creole studies Hardback £95/EUR 94.35/US $104.00
The Social Life of Language, 1980
Creole Language Library, 1991
The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, 2008
Asia-Pacific Language Variation, 2015
Marrying Durkheim’s definition of the social fact (1895) with Gumperz’ classic framework for stud... more Marrying Durkheim’s definition of the social fact (1895) with Gumperz’ classic framework for studying the speech community (1968), the paper argues that these concepts are crucial to the 21st century sociolinguistic enterprise. It explores the basic dimensions of variation across speech communities, illustrating their applicability to communities of several different types. These include monolingual communities where speakers have a common base in linguistic structure as well as complex multilingual communities with internal social divisions. Illustrations are drawn from the author’s research in French Canada and Papua New Guinea, and from Blanc’s (1964) study of Baghdad. Finally, the study of multilingual speech communities is linked to the understanding of how superposed linguistic knowledge is integrated across the lifespans of individual speakers and across communal groups. Even in such situations, members who do not share a language seek to communicate with each other, finding ...
Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, 2006
The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, 2013
Revue québécoise de linguistique, 2002
Le parcours individuel de locuteurs dans des changements linguistiques en cours à l’échelle de la... more Le parcours individuel de locuteurs dans des changements linguistiques en cours à l’échelle de la communauté linguistique francophone de Montréal constitue le thème de cet article. Un examen du comportement linguistique d’une cohorte de francophones montréalais interviewés à trois reprises au cours de leur vie, en 1971, 1984 et 1995, lève certaines zones d’ombre sur la participation individuelle aux changements sociolinguistiques et sur la question de l’âge critique de l’acquisition. Les résultats livrés concernent deux changements en cours – la norme de prononciation du /r/ et l’usage des pronoms toniques au pluriel – et l’interprétation proposée tient compte des caractéristiques linguistiques et de la signification sociale des deux variables.
Langue française, 1977
1.0. Il existe en français un groupe de verbes qui se conjuguent aux temps composés avec l'a... more 1.0. Il existe en français un groupe de verbes qui se conjuguent aux temps composés avec l'auxiliaire être, ce qui les distingue de la majorité des verbes qui se conjuguent avec l'auxiliaire avoir. Sur le plan sémantique, les verbes de cette classe minoritaire se ...
Language Variation and Change, 1997
ABSTRACTUse of discourse markers by 17 speakers of Anglophone Montreal French (AMF) showed great ... more ABSTRACTUse of discourse markers by 17 speakers of Anglophone Montreal French (AMF) showed great variation in individual repertoires and frequency of use. Only five subjects manifested rates of usage comparable to those of native speakers or to their own LI usage in English. In decreasing order of frequency, the speakers used tu sais ‘y'know’; là ‘there’ (the most frequent among L1 Montreal French speakers); bon ‘good’, alors ‘so’, comme ‘like’, and bien ‘well’; and the local discourse conjunction fait que ‘so’. The subjects occasionally made use of the English markers you know, so, like, and well. Québécois French markers with no English equivalent were used by the speakers who had been exposed to French in their early childhood environment. The one marker that showed influence from English was comme, apparently calqued on English like. Overall, frequent use of discourse markers correlated only with the speakers' knowledge of French grammar – evidence that a higher frequenc...
Language in Society, 1979
Language in Society, 1982
people for purposes of linguistic and cultural continuity. Dixon strongly equates linguistic surv... more people for purposes of linguistic and cultural continuity. Dixon strongly equates linguistic survival with tribal survival in Australia and believes that literacy programs are doomed to failure unless they (i) introduce literacy in the native language, (2) provide instruction for all people-not just the young, (3) provide materials that are culturally relevant, (4) involve the recording of traditionally oral literature, (5) stress the importance that every reader must also be a writer. Dixon's views are committed and accessible. One of the important features of these introductory chapters is a style suited for general readers. Terms are defined as they are used, contrasts and analogies with Indo-European languages are employed to advantage, and the social ramifications of language use are clearly detailed. Whether or not one reads onward into the complexities of Australian grammars is concerned with the specifics of genetic relationships, this book is an important resource and an excellent introduction to Australian languages in their social settings.
Language, 2007
We address the articulation between language change in the historical sense and language change a... more We address the articulation between language change in the historical sense and language change as experienced by individual speakers through a trend and panel study of the change from apical to dorsal /r/ in Montreal French. The community as a whole rapidly advanced its use of dorsal [R]. Most individual speakers followed across time were stable after the critical period, with phonological patterns set by the end of adolescence. A sizeable minority, however, made substantial changes. The window of opportunity for linguistic modification in later life may be expanded with rapid change in progress when linguistic variables take on social significance.* * We thank the National Science Foundation for funding this research (Language Change Across the Lifespan, Grant BCS-0132463 to Gillian Sankoff). This joint research was begun when Hélène Blondeau held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide à la Recherche, Gouvernement du Québec, at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999-2001. We gratefully acknowledge the invaluable contributions of David Sankoff and Henrietta Cedergren in codesigning and implementing (along with the first author) the original Montreal study in 1971; of Pierrette Thibault and Diane Vincent in carrying out the 1984 followup study; and of Diane Vincent, Marty Laforest, and Guylaine Martel in undertaking the 1995 followup. We are especially grateful to Pierrette Thibault for her help in making materials of many kinds available for our present research, often at short notice, and thank her and Bill Labov for discussion of theoretical and methodological issues, as well as questions of substance. For their assistance in coding and verification of the data, we thank
Journal of Linguistics, 1977