Synopses & Reviews
Over the last half century many scholars have recorded, analysed and theorised language death. At the same time, many sociolinguists have considered how rapid and dependable transport, mass education and increasingly globalised work patterns have affected how dialects in industrial and post-industrial societies are constructed and perceived; more often than not, these changes have been detrimental to the integrity of traditional dialects. The forces involved are most perceptible in loss of local lexis; this has been barely touched upon in the literature, primarily because the study of lexical variation and change has proved considerably more problematical in methodological terms than its phonological and morphosyntactic equivalents. This book considers these theoretical and methodological issues in relation to a representative sample of fishing communities along Scotland's east coast, in most of which the trade is now moribund. Can the lexical variation and change found in these communities be perceived as primary evidence for dialect death?
Synopsis
This book considers various theoretical and methodological issues in relation to a representative sample of fishing communities along Scotland's east coast. Can the lexical variation and change found in these communities be perceived as primary evidence for dialect death?
Synopsis
An account of the Fisher Speak project which documents the language of the Scottish East Coast GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup( 'ISBN:9780748691777', 'ISBN:9780748691784']);
Over the last half century many scholars have recorded, analysed and theorised language death. At the same time, many sociolinguists have considered how rapid and dependable transport, mass education and increasingly globalised work patterns have affected how dialects in industrial and post-industrial societies are constructed and perceived; more often than not, these changes have been detrimental to the integrity of traditional dialects. The forces involved are most perceptible in loss of local lexis; this has been barely touched upon in the literature, primarily because the study of lexical variation and change has proved considerably more problematical in methodological terms than its phonological and morphosyntactic equivalents. This book considers these theoretical and methodological issues in relation to a representative sample of fishing communities along Scotland's east coast, in most of which the trade is now moribund. Can the lexical variation and change found in these communities be perceived as primary evidence for dialect death?
- Documents the dialects of Anstruther, Eyemouth, Lossiemouth, Peterhead and Wick
- Advances our understanding of lexical variation and change
- Provides an in-depth study of the nature of lexical attrition in highly discrete traditional dialects
- Presents a theoretical and methodological analysis of whether language death and dialect death can be considered aspects of the same phenomenon
About the Author
Robert McColl Millar is Reader in Linguistics in the School of Language and Literature at the University of Aberdeen.
William Barras is a Lecturer in Language and Linguistics at the University of Aberdeen.
Lisa Marie Bonnici received her PhD in Linguistics from UC Davis in 2010.
Table of Contents
1. Language Attrition and Lexical Variation and Change
2. The history and culture of the Scottish fishing communities
3. Methodology
4. Analysis of the data
5. Conclusions
Footnotes
References.