A tipping point in dialect obsolescence? Change across the generations in Lerwick, Shetland 1
A tipping point in dialect obsolescence? Change across the generations in Lerwick, Shetland 1
复制标题
方言过时的转折点？
DOI：
10.1111/j.1467-9841.2011.00479.x
复制
发表时间：
2011
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Smith J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Smith J
设得兰群岛的方言是不列颠群岛最独特的方言之一。然而，有人声称这种品种正在迅速消失，当地的形式被年轻一代中更标准的变体所取代。在本文中，我们通过对来自勒威克主要城镇的三代说话者的变量形式进行定量分析来检验这些说法。我们的目标是六个变量：两个词汇，两个形态句法和两个语音/音系。我们的结果表明，所有六个变量中本地形式的使用都有所下降。对个人使用情况的更仔细分析表明，年龄较大的群体形成了一个语言同质的群体。相比之下，年轻的说话者形成了一个异质群体：一半的年轻说话者具有较高的本地形式使用率，而另一半则几乎绝对地使用标准变体。我们认为，这些结果可能会查明这个传统遗存方言地区快速过时的地点。
The dialect spoken in the Shetland Islands is one of the most distinctive in the British Isles. However, there are claims that this variety is rapidly disappearing, with local forms replaced by more standard variants in the younger generations. In this paper we test these claims through a quantitative analysis of variable forms across three generations of speakers from the main town of Lerwick. We target six variables: two lexical, two morphosyntactic and two phonetic/phonological. Our results show that there is decline in use of the local forms across all six variables. Closer analysis of individual use reveals that the older age cohort form a linguistically homogeneous group. In contrast, the younger speakers form a heterogeneous group: half of the younger speakers have high rates of the local forms, while the other half uses the standard variants near‐categorically. We suggest that these results may pinpoint the locus of rapid obsolescence in this traditionally relic dialect area.