Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume 3

Written by the world-renowned pioneer in the field of modern sociolinguistics, this volume examines the cognitive and cultural factors responsible for linguistic change, tracing the life history of these developments, from triggering events to driving forces and endpoints.

Klappentext This third and final volume of the Principles of Linguistic Change set examines the cognitive and cultural causes responsible for linguistic change, and traces the history of these developments, from triggering events to driving forces and endpoints.Labov draws upon the newly completed Atlas of North American English to look more deeply into questions of linguistic change, focusing on the cognitive factors that determine the capacity of the linguistic system to transmit information, and exploring social influences in the development of large-scale cultural patterns. The third volume also deals with the diffusion of change across dialect boundaries, and across racial and ethnic groups. It establishes an essential distinction between transmission within the community, which is dependent on child language acquisition, and diffusion across communities, which is dependent on adult learning.This final installment in the Principles of Linguistic Change series builds upon the foundations established by the groundbreaking first two volumes. Volume 1 investigates the internal factors that control change, examining the regularity of sound change and reviewing the evidence for functional explanations of linguistic change. Volume 2 follows by presenting the social factors governing linguistic change and proposed models for the transmission and incrementation of change. Written by the pioneering researcher of sociolinguistic inquiry, Principles of Linguistic Change is an essential resource for researchers, scholars and students in the field. Zusammenfassung Written by the world-renowned pioneer in the field of modern sociolinguistics, this volume examines the cognitive and cultural factors responsible for linguistic change, tracing the life history of these developments, from triggering events to driving forces and endpoints. Explores the major insights obtained by combining sociolinguistics with the results of dialect geography on a large scale Examines the cognitive and cultural influences responsible for linguistic change Demonstrates under what conditions dialects diverge from one another Establishes an essential distinction between transmission within the community and diffusion across communities* Completes Labov's seminal Principles of Linguistic Change trilogy Inhaltsverzeichnis Forward.Chapter 1. Cognitive and cultural factors in linguistic change.Part A. Cross dialectal comprehension.Chapter 2. Natural misunderstandings.Chapter 3. A controlled experiment on vowel identification.Chapter 4. The gating experiments.Part B. The life history of linguistic change.Chapter 5. Triggering events.Chapter 6. Governing principles.Chapter 7. Forks in the road.Chapter 8. Divergence.Chapter 9. Driving forces.Chapter 10. Yankee cultural imperialism and the Northern Cities Shift.Chapter 11. Social evaluation of the Northern Cities Shift.Chapter 12. Endpoints.Part C. The unit of linguistic change.Chapter 13. Words floating on the surface of sound change.Chapter 14. The binding force in linguistic change.Part D. Transmission and diffusion.Chapter 15 The diffusion of language from place to place.Chapter 16. The diffusion of language from group to group.Chapter 17. Conclusion. ...

Auteur

William Labov is Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Linguistics Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania. His major studies include The Social Stratification of English in New York City (1966), Sociolinguistic Patterns (1972), Language in the Inner City (1972), Principles of Linguistic Change: Internal Factors (Wiley-Blackwell, 1994) and Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume 2: Social Factors (Wiley-Blackwell, 2001). With S. Ash and C. Boberg, he published the Atlas of North American English in 2006.

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This third and final volume of the Principles of Linguistic Change set examines the cognitive and cultural causes responsible for linguistic change, and traces the history of these developments, from triggering events to driving forces and endpoints. Labov draws upon the newly completed Atlas of North American English to look more deeply into questions of linguistic change, focusing on the cognitive factors that determine the capacity of the linguistic system to transmit information, and exploring social influences in the development of large-scale cultural patterns. The third volume also deals with the diffusion of change across dialect boundaries, and across racial and ethnic groups. It establishes an essential distinction between transmission within the community, which is dependent on child language acquisition, and diffusion across communities, which is dependent on adult learning.

This final installment in the Principles of Linguistic Change series builds upon the foundations established by the groundbreaking first two volumes. Volume 1 investigates the internal factors that control change, examining the regularity of sound change and reviewing the evidence for functional explanations of linguistic change. Volume 2 follows by presenting the social factors governing linguistic change and proposed models for the transmission and incrementation of change. Written by the pioneering researcher of sociolinguistic inquiry, Principles of Linguistic Change is an essential resource for researchers, scholars and students in the field.

Contenu

List of Figures. List of Tables.

Foreword.

Preface.

Abbreviations.

1 Introduction to Cognitive and Cultural Factors in Linguistic Change.

1.1 Cognitive Factors.

1.2 Cultural Factors in Linguistic Change.

1.3 Convergence and Divergence.

1.4 The Darwinian Paradox Revisited.

1.5 Divergence and the Central Dogma.

1.6 The Community Orientation of Language Learning.

1.7 The Argument of this Volume.

1.8 The English Vowel System and the Major Chain Shifts of North American English.

Part A Cross-Dialectal Comprehension.

2 Natural Misunderstandings.

2.1 The Collection of Natural Misunderstandings.

2.2 Modes of Correction.

2.3 How Common Are Misunderstandings?

2.4 What Is the Role of Sound Change in Misunderstanding?

2.5 The Linguistic Focus of the Misunderstandings.

2.6 The Effect of Mergers.

2.7 Chain Shifts.

2.8 Philadelphia Sound Changes.

2.9 r-less vs r-ful Dialects.

2.10 Sound Changes General to North America.

2.11 An Overview of Natural Misunderstandings.

3 A Controlled Experiment on Vowel Identification.

3.1 The Peterson-Barney Experiment.

3.2 Replicating the Peterson-Barney Experiment.

3.3 Overall Success in Identification.

3.4 Responses to the Chicago Speakers.

3.5 Responses to the Birmingham Speakers.

3.6 Responses to the Philadelphia Speakers.

3.7 Overview.

4 The Gating Experiments.

4.1 Construction of the Gating Experiments.

4.2 Overall Responses to the Gating Experiments.

4.3 Comprehension of the Northern Cities Shift in Chicago.

4.4 Recognition of Chicago Sound Changes in the Word Context.

4.5 The Effect of Lexical Equivalence.

4.6 Comprehension of Southern Sound Changes in Birmingham.

4.7 Comprehension of Philadelphia Sound Changes.

4.8 Overview of the Gating Experiments.

Part B The Life History of Linguistic Change.

5 Triggering Events.

5.1 Bends in the Chain of Causality.

5.2 Causes of the Canadian Shift.

5.3 Causes of the Pittsburgh Shift.

5.4 Causes of the Low Back Merger.

5.5 The Fronting of /uw/.

5.6 The Northern Cities Shift.

5.7 An Overview of Triggering Events.

6 Governing Principles.

6.1 The Constraints Problem.

6.2 The (Ir)Reversibility of Mergers.

6.3 The Geographic…