Cet article présente une étude diachronique portant sur le changement de la norme de prononciation québécoise entre 1970 et 2008 sur la base d'un corpus de quatre heures et trente minutes de journaux télévisés de Radio-Canada, 52 à 58 minutes d'enregistrements ayant été prises en compte tous les dix ans durant cette période. L’étude compare la perspective sociolinguistique externe sur la norme (de prononciation) à la perspective interne de la phonétique sur cette même norme en se basant sur une analyse quantitative de deux traits de prononciation particulièrement saillants du français québécois : l'affrication de /t, d/ ainsi que la réalisation antériorisée de /ɑ̃/. Les résultats indiquent – du moins pour ces deux traits de prononciation – un changement significatif partant du standard de prononciation parisien et débouchant sur un standard québécois, les changements les plus frappants pouvant être observés entre les années 1970 et 1990.

Dewell (1994), following Brugman (1981) and Lakoff (1987), provides a semantic analysis of over by relying more exclusively on image-schema transformations than did Brugman and Lakoff. The Brugman-Lakoff-Dewell analysis, however, can be improved by using simpler image-schemas, more natural image-schema transformations, and metaphorical extensions. A key idea adopted in the present article is to capture both trajectors and landmarks three-dimensionally and topologically. This modification brings about the elimination of unessential features such as the shape and size of the trajector and the landmark, contact/non-contact between the trajector and the landmark, and physical properties of the trajector. Its main advantage is that a central image-schema for a semicircular path provides the basis for explaining all of the senses of over using natural image-schema transformations and metaphorical extensions. The proposed image-schema transformations include: segment profiling, profiling the endpoint of access paths, the profiled peak position of the semicircular path with the constraint that the rest of the semicircular path is excluded, and the extension of the semicircular path-trajectory to an image of covering. The proposed metaphorical senses are time, means, and control. In addition, the radial category relating each sense of over is presented.

This paper presents a case study of verb phrase ellipses with adverbially modified antecedents. It is shown experimentally that there is a preference for resolving ellipses in certain embedded clauses with unmodified VPs. The effect is hypothesized to reflect a general requirement to minimize the complexity of accommodated content. Four experiments support this hypothesis over plausible candidate hypotheses, including syntactic approaches to the effect (Matsuo 2001; Sailor 2014).

This paper provides a novel Optimality Theoretic analysis of the 19th century French secret language Largonji. While Largonji is a reversal game, we show that it is a type not previously described, in which the first onset that is not an /l/ reverses, even if it is not at an edge. Thus, traditional approaches to reversal games, such as cross-anchoring, do not work for Largonji. However, our account does not require direct reference to onsets. Instead, it is based on preservation of moraic structure, combined with alignment of a Largonji-specific prefix. Though suprasegmental faithfulness has been noted previously in language games, the present account implements it in Optimality Theory for the first time. Further, in analyzing the Largonji affix as a prefix that is sometimes realized as an infix, we suggest that Largonji provides additional evidence that language games can reflect cross-linguistic patterns not present in the base language.

In this paper we explore differences in prosodic rhythm between two English speech communities in rural Southern Alberta, Canada: speakers of Blackfoot First Nation descent and those of settler descent. Using the Variability Index (VI), we show that there are statistically significant differences between English speakers of settler descent and those of Blackfoot descent, where those of Blackfoot descent have a higher VI, that is, they are further along the stress-timing continuum than those of settler descent. We hypothesize that these differences are due to language transfer effects stemming from the community's original Blackfoot phonology which were present in their L2 English when the community norm shifted primarily to English, and that the historical, social, and geographical isolation of Blackfoot people in Southern Alberta has contributed to the development of a new local Blackfoot English norm.