Isolation and Language Change Contemporary and Sociohistorical Evidence from Tristan da Cunha English

by Schreier, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9781403904072
• ISBN10: 1403904073
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-17
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Extremely isolated communities offer "laboratory conditions" for examining the processes of language change and dialect formation. This book presents findings of the first ever ethnographic field work on the most remote island in the world with a permanent population, Tristan da Cunha. It documents the historical formation of a unique local dialect and investigates the sociolinguistic mechanisms that underlie dialect contact and new-dialect formation. It also uncovers the linguistic consequences of post-insularity - language change processes as a result of increasing contacts with other communities and speakers. Researchers and students of language variation will find this book a unique resource.

Author Biography

Daniel Schreier is at University of Regensburg, Germany.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	ix
List of Maps and Figures	x
Acknowledgements	xi
List of Abbreviations	xiv
Introduction	1	(7)
Contact, Isolation and Language Change: A Theoretical Framework	8	(33)
Introduction	8	(2)
Dialect contact and koineisation	10	(11)
Language contact	21	(13)
Change without contact: enclave communities	34	(7)
Tristan da Cunha	41	(32)
Topographical and geophysical aspects	41	(2)
A social history of Tristan da Cunha	43	(19)
Sociolinguistic and linguistic implications	62	(8)
Conclusion	70	(3)
Methodology and Fieldwork	73	(18)
The `pre-history' of the Tristan da Cunha project	73	(1)
Fieldwork on Tristan da Cunha	74	(5)
Fieldwork and ethnographic activities	79	(5)
Defining the object of investigation	84	(7)
Determining Input Interaction: Present Tense Concord	91	(20)
Present tense concord in British English	91	(4)
Present tense marking in TdCE	95	(8)
Historical and contemporary aspects of present tense marking in TdCE	103	(5)
Discussion and conclusion: input interaction and feature selection	108	(3)
Categoricality and Levelling: Present/Past be Regularisation	111	(32)
The special status of be in English	112	(2)
Historical and contemporary aspects of be levelling	114	(4)
The patterning of is/was regularisation in TdCE: an overview	118	(17)
Discussion and conclusion: transplantation and categoricality	135	(8)
Dynamism v. Retention: `Completive done'	143	(26)
`Completive done' in world English	144	(4)
The (Aux) done V(ed) construction: an overview	148	(6)
`Completive done' in TdCE	154	(10)
Discussion and conclusion: dynamic or archaic?	164	(5)
Innovation and Independent Developments: Useta went	169	(26)
Delineating useta went	170	(2)
Regular and irregular verbs	172	(1)
Past tense marking in non-standard English	173	(3)
Tense marking in TdCE	176	(7)
The useta went construction	183	(5)
Discussion and conclusion: insularity and innovation	188	(7)
Conclusion	195	(12)
Selection	196	(5)
Conservatism v. innovation	201	(3)
Post-insularity	204	(2)
Conclusion	206	(1)
Appendix	207	(6)
Notes	213	(6)
References	219	(14)
Index	233