Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:55:24.315Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dialect contact and phonological reallocation: “Canadian Raising” in the English Fens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2009

David Britain
David Britain
Affiliation:
Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, Great Britain, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article reports on research carried out in the Fens in Eastern England, a region noted in the dialectological literature as the site of a number of important phonological transitions, most notably [] and [a – a:], which separate northern and southern varieties of British English. Recordings of 81 speakers from across the Fens were analyzed for the use of (ai), a particularly salient local variable. A “Canadian Raising” type of allophonic variation was found in the central Fenland: speakers in this area used raised onsets of (ai) before voiceless consonants but open onsets before voiced consonants, morpheme boundaries, and //. The article weighs a number of possible explanations for the emergence of this variation in the Fens. Based on compelling evidence from the demographic history of the area, it supports a view that such an allophonic distribution, previously thought not to be found in Britain, emerged as the result of dialect contact. The sociolinguistic process of koinéization that is commonly associated with post-contact speech communities (Trudgill 1986) is held responsible for the focusing of this allophonic variation from the input dialects of an initially mixed variety. The article concludes by suggesting a socially based explanatory model to account for the way that speakers implement processes of focusing and koinéization in areas of dialect contact. [English, dialects, contact, koiné, geographical linguistics, social networks, structuration theory)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 1997 , pp. 15 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aitken, Adam J (1962) Vowel Length in Modern Scots MSGoogle Scholar
Aitken, Adam J (1981) The Scottish vowel length rule In Benskin, Michael & Samuels, Michael L (eds), So meny people, longages and tonges, 131–57 EdinburghMiddle English Dialect ProjectGoogle Scholar
Allen, Harold B (1989) Canadian Raising in the upper midwest American Speech 64 74–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, H (1986) Center and periphery adoption, diffusion and spread Paper presented at the International Historical Dialectology Conference,Poznan, PolandGoogle Scholar
Ayearst, M (1939) A note on Canadian speech American Speech 14 231–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barz, Richard K, & Siegel, Jeff (1988), eds Language transplanted The development of overseas Hindi WiesbadenHarrassowitzGoogle Scholar
Bortoni-Ricardo, Stella Maris (1985) The urbanization of rural dialect speakers A sociolmguistic study of Brazil Cambridge & New YorkCambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Britain, David (1991) Dialect and space A geolinguistic study of speech variables in the Fens Dissertation, University of EssexGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope, & Levinson, Stephen (1987) Politeness Some universal in language use Cambridge & New YorkCambridge University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J K (1973) Canadian Raising Canadian Journal of Linguistics 18 113–135CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J K (1975), ed Canadian English Origins and structures TorontoMethuenGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J K (1979), ed The languages of Canada MontrealDidierGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J K (1981) The Americanization of Canadian Raising In Hendnck, Roberta A et al. (eds), CLS 17, Parasession on Language and Behavior, 20–35ChicagoChicago Linguistic SocietyGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J K (1989) Canadian Raising Blocking, fronting, etc American Speech 64 75–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J K (1992) Dialect acquisition Language 68 673–705CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J K, & Trudgill, Peter J (1980) Dialectology Cambridge & New YorkCambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Ira J (1989) Structuration theory Anthony Giddens and the constitution of social life LondonMacmillanGoogle Scholar
Darby, Henry (1956) The draining of the Fens CambridgeCambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Darby, Henry (1974) The medieval Fenland Newton AbbottDavid & CharlesGoogle Scholar
Dillard, Joey (1985) Toward a social history of American English BerlinMouton de GruyterCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domingue, N (1981) Internal change in a transplanted language Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 4 151–59Google Scholar
Giddens, Anthony (1984) The constitution of society Outline of the theory of structuration CambridgePolity PressGoogle Scholar
Giddens, Anthony (1989) A reply to my critics In Held, & Thompson, (eds), 249–301CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giddens, Anthony (1990) The consequences of modernity CambridgePolity PressGoogle Scholar
Glauser, B (1991) Transition areas versus focal areas in English dialectology English WorldWide 12 1–24Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark (1973) The strength of weak ties American Journal of Sociology 78 1360–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregg, R J (1973) The diphthongs ai and i in Scottish, Scotch-Irish and Canadian English Canadian Journal of Linguistics 18 136–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, Derek (1985) Suspended animation The stasis of diffusion theory In Gregory, & Urry, (eds ), 296–336CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, Derek (1989) Presences and absences Time-space relations and structuration theory In Held, & Thompson, (eds ), 185–214CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, Derek, & Urry, John (1985), eds Social relations and spatial structures LondonMacmillanCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagerstrand, Torsten (1952) The propagation of innovation waves (Lund studies in geography, B Human geography, 4) Lund, SwedenGleerupGoogle Scholar
Held, David, & Thompson, John (1989), eds Social theory of modern societies Anthony Giddens and his critics Cambridge & New YorkCambridge University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
HMSO (1992) Britain 1992 LondonHer Majesty's Stationery OfficeGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Janet, Bell, Alan, & Boyce, Mary (1991) Variation and change in New Zealand English A social dialect investigation WellingtonDepartment of Linguistics, Victoria UniversityGoogle Scholar
Horvath, Barbara M (1985) Variation in Australian English Cambridge & New York Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Arthur, & Trudgill, Peter (1987) English accents and dialects LondonArnoldGoogle Scholar
Jahr, Ernst Hakon (1992), ed Language contact Theoretical and empirical studies BerlinMouton de GruyterCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, D P (1990) Security versus autonomy motivation in Anthony Giddens' concept of agency Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 20 111–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerswill, Paul (1994a) Babel in Buckinghamshire? Pre-school children acquiring accent features in the New Town of Milton Keynes In Melchers, Gunnel & Johannesson, Nils-Lennart (eds), Nonstandard varieties of language StockholmAlmqvist & WiksellGoogle Scholar
Kerswill, Paul (1994b) Dialects converging Rural speech m urban Norway OxfordClarendonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerswill, Paul (1994c) New towns in the vanguard of dialect levelling? Evidence from Norway and England Paper presented at the 10th Sociolinguistics Symposium,Lancaster UniversityGoogle Scholar
Kerswill, Paul, & Williams, A (1992) Some principles of dialect contact Evidence from the new town of Milton Keynes In Philippaki-Warburton, Irene & Ingham, R (eds), Working Papers 1992, 68–90 Reading Department of Linguistic Science, University of ReadingGoogle Scholar
King, Robert (1972) A note on opacity and paradigm regularity Linguistic Inquiry 3 535–38Google Scholar
Lass, Roger (1987) The shape of English Structure and history LondonDentGoogle Scholar
Lass, Roger (1990) Where do extraterritorial Englishes come from? Dialect input and recodification in transported Englishes In Adamson, Sylvia et al. (eds), Papers from the 5th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics, 245&80 AmsterdamBenjaminsCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Page, Robert B (1978) Projection, focussing, diffusion (Occasional papers, 9 ) St Augustine, Trinidad Society for Caribbean LinguisticsGoogle Scholar
Le Page, Robert B, & Tabouret-Keller, Andree (1985) Acts of identity Creole-based approaches to language and ethnicity Cambridge & New YorkCambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Lippi-Green, Rosina L (1989) Social network integration and language change in progress in a rural Alpine village Language in Society 18 213–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mæhlum, B (1992) Dialect socialization in Longyearbyen, Svalbard (Spitsbergen) A fruitful chaos In Jahr, (ed), 117–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesthne, Rajend (1992) Language in indenture A sociolmguislic history of Bhojpuri-Hindi in South Africa LondonRoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Milroy, James (1992) Linguistic variation and change OxfordBlackwellGoogle Scholar
Milroy, James & Milroy, Lesley (1985). Linguistic change, social network and speaker innovation. Journal of Linguistics 21:339–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milroy, Lesley (1980) Language and social networks. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Milroy, Lesley (1987). Observing and analysing natural language. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Moag, Rodney (1979). Linguistic adaptations of the Fiji Indians. In Mishra, Vijay (ed.), Rama's banishment, 112–38. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Montgomery, M. (1989). Exploring the roots of Appalachian English. English World-Wide 10:227–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Omdal, Helge (1977). Høyangermalet, en ny dialekt (Sprakhg Samling, 1.) OsloGoogle Scholar
Orton, Harold, & Tilling, Philip M. (1969). Survey of English Dialects, Volume 3: East Midlands and East Anglia. London. Arnold.Google Scholar
Petyt, K. M. (1980) The study of dialect An introduction to dialectology. London: Deutsch.Google Scholar
Picard, M. (1977). Canadian Raising: The case against reordering. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 22:144–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Platts, Graham (1985) Land and people in medieval Lincolnshire Lincoln: History of Lincolnshire Committee.Google Scholar
Pugh, R B. (1953). The Victoria history of the county of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Volume 4. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Russ, C. V J. (1983) The geographical and social variation of English in England and Wales. In Bailey, Richard W. & Gorlach, Manfred (eds.), English as a world language, 11–55Ann ArborUniversity of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Scholtmeijer, Harm (1990) De uitspraak van het Nederlands in de IJsselmeerpolders. Leuvense Bijdragen 79:385–425.Google Scholar
Scholtmeijer, Harm (1992) Het Nederlands van de IJsselmeerpolders. Kampen: MondissGoogle Scholar
Siegel, Jeff (1987). Language contact in a plantation environment: A sociolinguistic history of Fiji. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Siegel, Jeff (1993) Dialect contact and koineization. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 99:105–21Google Scholar
Strang, Barbara (1970). A history of English. London: MethuenGoogle Scholar
Taeldeman, Johan (1989). A typology of dialect transitions in Flanders In Schouten, Marten E. H & van Reenen, Pieter Th. (eds.), New methods in dialectology, 155–63 Dordrecht Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, E. R. (1991). The origin of Canadian Raising in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 36:147–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, Peter J. (1983). On dialect. Oxford. BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, Peter J. (1985). New dialect formation and the analysis of colonial dialects: The case of Canadian Raising. In Warkentyne, H. J. (ed.), Papers from the 5th International Conference on Methods in Dialectology, 34–45. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter J. (1986). Dialects in contact. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter J. (1989). Interlanguage, interdialect and typological change. In Gass, Susan et al. (eds.), Variation in second language acquisition: Psycholinguistic issues, 243–53. Clevedon, UK:Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Trudgill, Peter J. (1990). The Dialects of England. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, Peter J. (1992). Dialect typology and social structure. In Jahr, (ed.), 195–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, Peter J. (1995). Grammaticahzation and social structure: Nonstandard conjunction-formation in East Anglian English. In Palmer, Frank R (ed.), Grammar and semantics, 135–47. Cambridge & New York. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Vance, T J. (1987) “Canadian Raising” in some dialects of the Northern United States. American Speech 62:195–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wakehn, M. F. (1983). The stability of English dialect boundaries. English World-Wide 4:1–15.Google Scholar
Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English, I: An introduction. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamada, N. (1984). On characterising the English Great Vowel Shift Lingua 62:43–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar