The interplay of internal and external factors in varieties of
English
The validity of a division of factors for
language change into internal and external forms the focus of the
present study. A distinction is made between speaker-internal and
speaker-external on the one hand and community-internal and
community-external on the other. A central concern is whether such
distinctions are merely artefacts of linguistic analysis or whether
they reflect the reality of speakers’ linguistic behaviour. Data is
considered from varieties of English to show that instances of
change are frequently combinations of factors and that the
disruption caused by socially-triggered change can be minimised by
speakers applying considerations of system symmetry and regularity
to a change and thus provide a clear trajectory which can be
transmitted across generations.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction: Terminology
- 1.1The purported reality of the internal – external
division
- 1.2A closer look at internally-motivated and
externally-motivated change
- 1.3Lifespan and the internal – external division
- 1.4The course of internal and external change
- 1.5Further differentiation of the internal – external
division
- 2.The speaker-internal and speaker-external distinction
- 2.1Primarily speaker-internal motivation
- 2.1.1Grammaticalisation
- 2.1.2Regularisation
- 2.2Primarily speaker-external motivation
- 2.2.1The special case of mergers
- Merger of which and witch
- Pre-rhotic mergers
- Merger of horse and hoarse
- Merger of merry, Mary, marry
- The cot – caught merger
- 2.3The role of prescriptivism
- 3.Discussion and conclusion
-
Notes
-
References
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