Language Variation and Language Change Across the Lifespan : Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives from Panel Studies

Description

This volume brings together research on panel studies with the aim of providing a coherent empirical and theoretical knowledge-base for examining the impact of maturation and lifespan-specific effects on linguistic malleability in the post-adolescent speaker. Building on the work of Wagner and Buchstaller (2018), the present collection offers a critical examination of the theoretical implications of panel research across a range of geographic regions and time periods. The volume seeks to offer a way forward in the debates circling about the phenomenon of later-life language change, drawing on contributions from a variety of linguistic disciplines to examine critical topics such as the effect of linguistic architecture, the roles of mobility and identity construction, and the impact of frequency effects. Taken together, this edited collection both informs and pushes forward key questions on the nature of lifespan change, making this key reading for students and researchers in cognitive linguistics, historical linguistics, dialectology, and variationist sociolinguistics. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Figures Tables Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Panel Research: Theoretical and Methodological Implications Part I: Revelations from Past Trend and Panel Studies Part II: Insights in the Analysis of Intra-Speaker(In)Stability Part III: A Glimpse from the Past: Panel Research from Archival Material Part IV: New Methodological Approaches for Lifespan Studies References Part I: Revelations from Past Trend and Panel Studies 1. The Beginnings of Panel Research: Individual Language Variation, Change, and Stability in Eskilstuna 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Data and Methods in Early Panel Research 1.2.1. The Eskilstuna Community 1.2.2. The Informant Pool 1.2.2.1. Socioeconomic Status 1.2.2.2. Integration Index 1.2.2.3. Social Mobility 1.2.3. The Conversational Interviews 1.2.4. The Linguistic Variables 1.2.4.1. Frequency and Geographical Distribution 1.2.4.2. Sociolinguistic Salience 1.3. Analysis and Results 1.3.1. Age 1.3.2. Gender 1.3.3. Socioeconomic Status 1.3.4. Social Mobility 1.4. Discussion 1.5. Conclusion Notes References 2. Alignment of Individuals with Community Trends: Subjects from the Portuguese 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Data and Methodology 2.3. The Pronominal System of Brazilian Portuguese 2.4. Changes Across the Lifespan and Across the Community 2.4.1. The Loss of Null Referential Subjects 2.4.2. The Loss of Third-Person Accusative Clitic 2.4.3. Subject-Verb Agreement 2.5. Conclusions Notes References 3. Stylistic Variation in Panel Studies of Language Change: Challenge and Opportunity 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Stylistic Variation as a Challenge for Panel Studies of Linguistic Change: Exemplifications 3.2.1 Fischer 3.2.2 The Lanchart Study 3.2.3 My Work on Guyanese Creole 3.2.4 The Foxy Boston and Tinky Gates Series of Interviews 3.3. Stylistic Variation as an Opportunity for Panel Studies of Change: "Solutions" 3.3.1 Ghyselen's Solution: Five Settings 3.3.2 The LANCHART Discourse Context Analysis 3.3.3 Topic Analysis as Another Solution 3.4. Summary and Conclusion Notes References Part II: Insights in the Analysis of Intra-Speaker (In)Stability 4. Individual and Group Trajectories Across Adulthood in a Sample of Utah English Speakers 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Data Source and Panel 4.3. Results 4.3.1. Low Back Merger 4.3.2. Onset (wh) 4.4. Discussion 4.5. Conclusions Notes References 5. Accent Reversion in Older Adults: Evidence from the Queen's Christmas Broadcasts 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Methods 5.2.1. Materials 5.2.2. Data Preparation and Analysis 5.3. Results 5.4. Discussion 5.5. Summary and Conclusions Acknowledgements References Part III: A Glimpse of the Past: Panel Research from Archival Material 6. Exploiting Convention: Lifespan Change and Generational Incrementation in the Development of Cleft Constructions 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Background 6.2.1. Corpus and Data Collection 6.2.2. Social Propagation and Individual Change 6.2.3. Information Structure 6.2.4. Clefts: Definition and Usage 6.3. Results 6.3.1. Information Status of Cleft Focus 6.3.2. Information Status of the Cleft Topic 6.3.3. Informative Presupposition 6.4. Discussion 6.5. Conclusion Notes References 7. Corpus-Based Lifespan Change in Late Middle English 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Methodology 7.2.1. Corpus and Informants 7.2.2. Linguistic Variable: ⟨th⟩ 7.3. Results and Analytical Interpretation 7.3.1. Apparent-Time Study 7.3.2 Real-Time. Trend and Panel Study 7.3.3. Intra-Speaker Variation 7.4. Conclusion Notes References Part IV: New Methodological Approaches for Lifespan Studies 8. Exploring the Effect of Linguistic Architecture and Heuristic Method in Panel Analysis 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Language Change 8.2.1. Data and Methods 8.2.1.1 The Realisation of (ing) 8.2.1.2 The Realisation of (t) 8.2.1.3 Quotation 8.2.2. Quantitative Analysis 8.3. Results 8.4. Discussion and Conclusion Notes References 9. Loss of Historical Phonetic Contrast across the Lifespan: Articulatory, Lexical, and Social Effects on Sound Change in Swabian 9.1. Introduction 9.2. Research Background 9.3. Data and Methodology 9.3.1. The Panel Corpus 9.3.2. Speakers 9.3.3. Transcriptions 9.3.4. Formant Frequencies 9.3.5. Swabian Orientation 9.3.6. Statistical Modelling 9.3.7. Example Analysis 9.4. Analysis and Results 9.4.1. Lifespan Change 9.4.2. Phonetic Change 9.4.3. Interaction Effects of Change in Progress 9.5. Discussion Notes References 10. Deconfounding the Effects of Competition and Attrition on Dialect across the Lifespan: A Panel Study Investigation of Swabian 10.1. Introduction 10.1.1. The Hypotheses 10.1.2. The Current Study 10.2. Data and Methods 10.2.1. Swabian Corpus 10.2.2. Social Predictors 10.2.3. Types and Tokens 10.2.4. Vocabulary Growth 10.2.5. Statistical Methods 10.3. Analysis and Results 10.3.1. Vocabulary Growth 10.3.2. Orientation and Lexical Choice 10.3.3. Individual Patterns of Change 10.3.4. Word Frequency 10.4. Concluding Remarks Notes References Part V: Future Directions for Panel Research 11. What's the Point of Panel Studies? Conclusion Notes References Index