Koine formation in context
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Randi Neteland
Abstract
In this paper, I argue that the koine formation process is better understood when placed in a national context of language norms and use. Researchers often state that in cases of koine formation, where a koine forms within the same speech community from which the speakers originate – for instance within the same nation – the process will be influenced by that same speech community. Yet, most research on koine formation focusses on the local level, such as the levelling between the language variants of the incomers or the negotiations of power between social classes in the new town. The empirical data presented in this paper, collected in the Norwegian industrial town of Sauda, show that the historical context of language norms and use on the national level has influenced the process on the local level. This influence can be demonstrated by the variants that go into the so-called mix, as well as by the direction on the formation and the outcome of the focussing process. The mechanistic view that the majority variant always wins does not fit the facts presented here. I also hypothesise that since the koine formation process stretches out in time, the context of language norms and use may change during that period, and this sociocultural change may cause the formation process to change direction.
References
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- When natives became Africans: A historical sociolinguistic study of semantic change in colonial discourse
- Koine formation in context
- Historical sociolinguistics in colonial New Guinea: The Rhenish mission society in the Astrolabe Bay
- James Buchanan’s use of Anne Fisher’s A new grammar: Towards the development of an English grammar teaching method in eighteenth-century English grammar writing
- Book Reviews
- Nicola, McLelland: German through English Eyes. A History of Language Teaching and Learning in Britain 1500–2000
- Wilcken, Viola: Historische Umgangssprachen zwischen Sprachwirklichkeit und literarischer Gestaltung. Formen, Funktionen und Entwicklungslinien des ‚Missingsch
- Rena Torres Cacoullos, Nathalie Dion & André Lapierre: Linguistic variation: Confronting fact and theory
- Villa, Laura & Rik Vosters: The Historical sociolinguistics of spelling
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- When natives became Africans: A historical sociolinguistic study of semantic change in colonial discourse
- Koine formation in context
- Historical sociolinguistics in colonial New Guinea: The Rhenish mission society in the Astrolabe Bay
- James Buchanan’s use of Anne Fisher’s A new grammar: Towards the development of an English grammar teaching method in eighteenth-century English grammar writing
- Book Reviews
- Nicola, McLelland: German through English Eyes. A History of Language Teaching and Learning in Britain 1500–2000
- Wilcken, Viola: Historische Umgangssprachen zwischen Sprachwirklichkeit und literarischer Gestaltung. Formen, Funktionen und Entwicklungslinien des ‚Missingsch
- Rena Torres Cacoullos, Nathalie Dion & André Lapierre: Linguistic variation: Confronting fact and theory
- Villa, Laura & Rik Vosters: The Historical sociolinguistics of spelling
