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Studies in Language Variation (vols. 1–18, 2006–2015)
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Studies in Language Variation (vols. 1–18, 2006–2015)
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Collection Contents
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Stability and Divergence in Language Contact
Editor(s): Kurt Braunmüller, Steffen Höder and Karoline KühlMore LessConvergence, i.e. the increase of inter-systemic similarities, is usually considered the default development in language contact situations. This volume focuses on the other logical possibilities of diachronic development, namely stability and divergence – two well-attested, but under-researched phenomena. The contributions investigate the sociolinguistic and structural factors and mechanisms that lead to or at least reinforce both types of non-convergence, despite of language contact. The contributions cover a wide range of language contact situations, including standard and non-standard varieties.
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The Structure of Discourse-Pragmatic Variation
Author(s): Heike PichlerEveryday language use overflows with discourse-pragmatic features. Their frequency, form and function can vary greatly across social groups and change dramatically over time. And yet these features have not figured prominently in studies of language variation and change. The Structure of Discourse-Pragmatic Variation demonstrates the theoretical insights that can be gained into both the structure of synchronic language variation and the interactional mechanisms creating it by subjecting discourse-pragmatic features to systematic variationist analysis. Introducing an innovative methodology that combines principles of variationist linguistics, grammaticalisation studies and conversation analysis, it explores patterns of variation in the formal encoding of I DON’T KNOW, I DON’T THINK and negative polarity tags in a north-east England interview corpus. Speakers strategically exploit the formal variability of these constructions to signal subtle meaning differences and to index social identities closely linked to the variables’ and their variants’ functional compartmentalisation in the variety. The methodology, results and implications of this study will be of great interest to scholars working throughout variationist sociolinguistics, grammaticalisation and discourse analysis.
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Swiss German Intonation Patterns
Author(s): Adrian LeemannSwitzerland is renowned for having a diverse linguistic and dialectal landscape in a comparatively small and confined space. Possibly, this is one of the reasons why Swiss German dialects have been investigated thoroughly on various linguistic levels. Nevertheless, natural speech intonation has, until today, not been examined systematically. The aim of this study is to analyze natural Swiss German fundamental frequency behavior according to linguistic, paralinguistic, and extralinguistic variables, using statistical tests against the backdrop of detecting dialect-specific patterns as well as cross-dialectal differences. The intonation analyses were conducted with the mathematically-formulated Command-Response model. This is the first large-scale study that applies this framework on a large corpus of natural, dialectal speech. It brings to light detailed underlying patterns of Swiss German dialectal fundamental frequency behavior and provides a holistic account of the truly multilayered features of natural speech intonation.
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Style-Shifting in Public
Editor(s): Juan Manuel Hernández-Campoy and Juan Antonio Cutillas-EspinosaMore LessLanguage acts are acts of identity, and linguistic variation reflects the multifaceted construction of verbal alternatives for transmitting social meaning, where style-shifting represents our ability to take up different social positions due to its potential for linguistic performance, rhetorical stance-taking and identity projection.Traditional variationist conceptualizations of style-shifting as a primarily responsive phenomenon seem unable to account for all stylistic choices. In contrast, more recent formulations see stylistic variation as initiative, creative and strategic in personal and interpersonal identity construction and projection, making a significant contribution to our understanding of this aspect of sociolinguistic variation.
In this volume social constructivist approaches to style-shifting are further developed by bringing together research which suggests that people make stylistic choices aimed at conveying (and achieving) a particular social categorization, sociolinguistic meaning, and/or to project a specific positioning in society. Therefore, there is a need, we collectively argue, to adopt permeable and flexible multidimensional, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to speaker agency that take into consideration not only reactive but also proactive motivations for stylistic variation, and where individuals – rather than groups – and their strategies are the main focus when examining style-shifting in public.
This book will be of interest to advanced students and academics in the areas of sociolinguistics, dialectology, social psychology, anthropology and sociology.
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