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Word-final consonant devoicing in a variety of working-class French – a case of language contact?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Timothy Pooley
Timothy Pooley
Affiliation:
Department of Language Studies, London Guildhall University, Old Castle Street, London El 7NT.
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Abstract

The article examines the variable distribution of word-final consonant devoicing (=WFCD) among working-class speakers in the Roubaix district, with respect to phonological conditioning and speaker characteristics. WFCD is shown to affect coronals, labials and velars in that order, and to be favoured by pre-pausal position. Among speakers over forty-five WFCD is primarily associated with female speakers, and to a lesser degree with male speakers under thirty. This sociolinguistically unusual distribution of a strongly vernacular variant may plausibly be attributed to language/dialect contact consequent on the immigration of Flemish-speaking textile workers. Such language contact would have tended to reinforce an already existing characteristic of Picard patois rather than introducing a totally new feature as the brief review of other Picard varie-ties would suggest.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , September 1994 , pp. 215 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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