... ging uns der ganze alte Dialektbegriff in eine Illusion auf
-
Christian Mair
Abstract
Referring to the work of the Innsbruck-born and Berlin-based dialectologist Alois Brandl (1855–1940), the paper shows how the opportunities provided by early recording technology made linguists question the notion of dialect as a stable, regionally defined variety of a language. It goes on to argue that since then rapid migration and the new media, with their interactive potential, have joined to further sever the link between territory and dialect and have, in many instances, led to an almost instant globalization of vernacular features which is not yet adequately captured by our existing variationist models. Examples are taken from English-based pidgins and creoles, which were geographically and socially marginal languages in the colonial period, but have gained considerable visibility world-wide in the last few decades. The paper concludes by making the point that globalization does not merely affect the spread and influence of standard varieties of English but that there is today also a large pool of deterritorialized dialect features which make it useful to postulate the existence of a “World Non-Standard English” (WNSE).
Abstract
Referring to the work of the Innsbruck-born and Berlin-based dialectologist Alois Brandl (1855–1940), the paper shows how the opportunities provided by early recording technology made linguists question the notion of dialect as a stable, regionally defined variety of a language. It goes on to argue that since then rapid migration and the new media, with their interactive potential, have joined to further sever the link between territory and dialect and have, in many instances, led to an almost instant globalization of vernacular features which is not yet adequately captured by our existing variationist models. Examples are taken from English-based pidgins and creoles, which were geographically and socially marginal languages in the colonial period, but have gained considerable visibility world-wide in the last few decades. The paper concludes by making the point that globalization does not merely affect the spread and influence of standard varieties of English but that there is today also a large pool of deterritorialized dialect features which make it useful to postulate the existence of a “World Non-Standard English” (WNSE).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Introduction 1
-
Corpus linguistics today and tomorrow
- Can’t see the wood for the trees? 13
- Spelling variation in Middle English manuscripts 31
-
Aspects of language change
- The development of compound numerals in English Biblical translations 49
- The complements of causative make in Late Middle English 59
- The pragmaticalization and intensification of verily , truly and really 75
- Concept-driven semasiology and onomasiology of CLERGY 93
- ANGER and TĒNE in Middle English 109
-
Middle and Modern English case studies
- The subjunctive vs. modal auxiliaries 127
- Some notes on the distribution of the quantifier all in Middle English 141
- Interjections in Middle English 157
- Why and what in Early Modern English drama 177
- Colloquialization and not -contraction in nineteenth-century English 191
-
Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary and thereafter
- The complexity and diversity of the words in Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 209
- Etymology in the English Dialect Dictionary 225
- Towards an understanding of Joseph Wright’s sources 241
- The importance of being Janus 257
- ... ging uns der ganze alte Dialektbegriff in eine Illusion auf 269
- Index 285
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Introduction 1
-
Corpus linguistics today and tomorrow
- Can’t see the wood for the trees? 13
- Spelling variation in Middle English manuscripts 31
-
Aspects of language change
- The development of compound numerals in English Biblical translations 49
- The complements of causative make in Late Middle English 59
- The pragmaticalization and intensification of verily , truly and really 75
- Concept-driven semasiology and onomasiology of CLERGY 93
- ANGER and TĒNE in Middle English 109
-
Middle and Modern English case studies
- The subjunctive vs. modal auxiliaries 127
- Some notes on the distribution of the quantifier all in Middle English 141
- Interjections in Middle English 157
- Why and what in Early Modern English drama 177
- Colloquialization and not -contraction in nineteenth-century English 191
-
Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary and thereafter
- The complexity and diversity of the words in Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 209
- Etymology in the English Dialect Dictionary 225
- Towards an understanding of Joseph Wright’s sources 241
- The importance of being Janus 257
- ... ging uns der ganze alte Dialektbegriff in eine Illusion auf 269
- Index 285
