Читать книгу Levelling and diffusion in the Cumbrian city dialect of Carlisle - Sandra Jansen - Страница 4

For its novelty to the newcomer,

its variety and its preserving so much that is historical,

Carlisle’s must surely rank as one of the

most interesting city dialects in the British Isles

(Wright 1978: 15)

This is a sociophonetic study of speakers from Carlisle, Cumbria in the far north west of England, an area which has had little attention from a dialectological and variationist sociolinguistic point of view. Language change in the community is studied by investigating variation in the speech of adults of different ages. The results are set in the context of geolinguistic processes, i.e. geographical diffusion and dialect levelling. These are mechanisms in dialect contact situations which lead to language change.

The thesis examines six phonological features of Carlisle English in a variationist sociolinguistic framework. Auditory and acoustic methods as well as statistical modelling are employed to investigate processes of language change. The following research questions are addressed:

 Which geolinguistic processes are observable?

 How does linguistic variation pattern across the social categories age, sex and social class in Carlisle English?

 Is variation leading to language change? If so, are these changes led by internal or external motivation?

 Can geolinguistic processes explain variation and change in the linguistic system of Carlisle English?

The book is structured as follows:

Chapter 2 presents the theoretical framework of this study. I concentrate on a dialect contact framework since dialect contact (often due to mobility) is responsible for various changes that have occurred and are occurring in varieties across the north of England. Of considerable interest is Trudgill’s (1986) seminal work Dialects in Contact. Processes such as geographical diffusion and dialect levelling are identified as key processes in dialect contact scenarios. Moreover, external an internal factors of language change are discussed.

Chapter 3 introduces Carlisle as research site comprising essential geographic, demographic and historic background information.

Chapter 4 provides a detailed account of the data collection and highlights relevant issues in connection with the fieldwork.

In chapter 5 the variation of the following phonetic variables is discussed:

The first of these variables is the degree of fronting of the GOOSE vowel. In addition, results of possible fronting of GOAT and FOOT are discussed in relation to the GOOSE vowel. For studying variation and change in Carlisle English vowels, acoustic phonetics as a mean of measuring variation has been chosen.

The use of (T) in intervocalic and word-final position such as butter or hat but not in word-initial position such as tea is analysed. In contrast to the vowel variables, the consonant variables are studied by auditory means.

The use of (R) in words such as red, merry and free is considered. However, /r/ in final or pre-consonantal position (rhoticity) such as pair or park are not taken into account here.

The use of voiced and voiceless variants of (TH) in words such as other, breathe, three, something and north is analysed.

The sociolinguistic variables have been selected because of their ubiquity in northern English varieties due to diffusional mechanisms (e.g. Burbano-Elizondo 2006; Llamas 2007; Atkinson 2011; Flynn 2012). One goal is to observe whether these features are already part of Carlisle English despite Carlisle’s geographical distance from London. Another goal will be to see if a change in progress is observable. The diffusional mechanisms within the community but also in relation to other urban areas in close proximity to Carlisle will be taken into account.

In chapter 6 the results obtained in chapter 5 are discussed and common themes are identified. They are related to theories and findings in the literature on language variation and change. The research objectives proposed in this chapter are revisited in the light of the results. In addition, the results are linked to social practice in Carlisle English. The analysis of social practice of people can yield important insights into the linguistic behaviour.

The conclusion in chapter 7 completes the book.