Suzanne Romaine

The Cambridge history of the English language

1. Introduction Suzanne Romaine 2. Vocabulary John Algeo 3. Syntax David Denison 4. Onomastics Richard Coates 5. Phonology Michael K. C. MacMahon 6. English grammar and usage Edward Finegan 7. Literary language Sylvia Adamson Glossary of linguistic terms Bibliography Index.

Reversing Language Shift

Language shift is symptomatic of much larger scale social processes affecting people everywhere, even in the remotest regions of the Amazon. The term ‘reversing language shift’ (RLS) refers to attempts to counteract forces leading to language shift, which may be thought of as a loss of speakers and domains of use, both of which are critical to the survival of a language. The achievement of intergenerational transmission in the context of stable diglossia, where each language has its own domains of use, has been the focus of one prominent theoretical paradigm. Other conceptions are possible, which may not restore intergenerational transmission but extend the language to new uses.

Co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity in biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversity wilderness areas

As the world grows less biologically diverse, it is becoming less linguistically and culturally diverse as well. Biologists estimate annual loss of species at 1,000 times or more greater than historic rates, and linguists predict that 50–90% of the world’s languages will disappear by the end of this century. Prior studies indicate similarities in the geographic arrangement of biological and linguistic diversity, although conclusions have often been constrained by use of data with limited spatial precision. Here we use greatly improved datasets to explore the co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity in regions containing many of the Earth’s remaining species: biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversity wilderness areas. Results indicate that these regions often contain considerable linguistic diversity, accounting for 70% of all languages on Earth. Moreover, the languages involved are frequently unique (endemic) to particular regions, with many facing extinction. Likely reasons for co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity are complex and appear to vary among localities, although strong geographic concordance between biological and linguistic diversity in many areas argues for some form of functional connection. Languages in high biodiversity regions also often co-occur with one or more specific conservation priorities, here defined as endangered species and protected areas, marking particular localities important for maintaining both forms of diversity. The results reported in this article provide a starting point for focused research exploring the relationship between biological and linguistic–cultural diversity, and for developing integrated strategies designed to conserve species and languages in regions rich in both.

Socio-historical linguistics : its status and methodology

Preface 1. Methodology and aims 2. Methods for a sociolinguistic study of historical syntax 3. The history of the relative clause/markers in English with special reference to Middle Scots 4. The linguistic variable 5. The extralinguistic variables: methods for the reconstruction of language in its social context 6. Analysis of the data by two sociolinguistic techniques: cross-product analysis and implicational scaling 7. Variable rule analysis of the data 8. The bearing of sociolinguistic data on linguistic hypotheses 9. On the epistemological status of sociolinguistic theory Bibliography Index.

Pidgin and creole languages

This book defines and describes the linguistic features of these languages and considers the dynamic developments that bring them into being and lead to changes in their structure.

Language, Education, and Development: Urban and Rural Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea

Historical development of Tok Pisin language, education and development - from pre-colonial days to post-colonial society methods lexical expansion, borrowing and change phonological expansion in a developing Pidgin/Creole morphological variation and change syntactic change Tok Pisin i go we? (where is Tok Pisin going?).

The status of variable rules in sociolinguistic theory 1

INTRODUCTION In a recent paper, Botha (1976) suggests that the analysis of linguistic argumentation is a ‘non-normal’ thing for linguists to do. ‘Normally’, he maintains, ‘linguists are oriented towards uncovering the nature of human language, and not the nature of linguistic science.’ Botha (1976: 3) even goes so far as to claim that the analysis of a form of argumentation is not a sort of linguistic analysis; it is instead a form of philosophical analysis. Some philosophers would probably disagree here with Botha and say that philosophical analysis is a sort of linguistic analysis. I am thinking here of Wittgenstein, for example, and the so-called philosophers of language who accept the view that the business of philosophy is to deal with the question of how words mean what they mean, etc., rather than to offer a comprehensive theory of the universe. It is difficult to draw a line of demarcation between a discipline proper and the study of the methodological underpinnings of that discipline, which I am not sure is essential anyway. My point is that a certain amount of self-criticism and awareness of the status of theoretical concepts and arguments can do linguists no harm.

Evaluative reactions to Panjabi/English code‐switching

In this paper we report the results of a pilot study which was designed to elicit experimentally evaluative reactions to Panjabi/English code‐switching. The experimental procedure was adapted from the ‘matched guise’ technique developed by Lambert et al. (1960). The difference here is that the speech samples which we asked subjects to rate represented not different languages or varieties/accents of the same language, but varieties which draw on two languages, Panjabi and English, to differing degrees. Our results are in line with those of similar experiments done on evaluative reactions to speech. That is, the same speaker is evaluated in different ways depending on how he speaks. The different types of code‐switched discourse were found to be related to external dimensions such as perceived fluency in English and Panjabi, intelligibility and expressivity.

Stylistic Variation and Evaluative Reactions To Speech: Problems in the Investigation of Linguistic Attitudes in Scotland

This paper describes some of the difficulties involved in conducting language evaluation tests in Edinburgh and reports some results of a pilot study. Samples of speech were obtained from six different speakers, each one reading a text and speaking casually. These were presented to 10 subjects using Lamberts matched-guise technique. Subjects were asked to evaluate the speakers in terms of paired characteristics on a semantic differential scale. As in other evaluation experiments, the responses to linguistic behavior appeared to be mediated through the reaction to social groups. In this case, two dimensions of evaluation were highly salient: perceived identity of the speaker and the way in which the speech style of the speaker was evaluated in two different contexts.

Tok Pisin texts - from the beginning to the present

Tok Pisin is one of the most important languages of Melanesia and is used in a wide range of public and private functions in Papua New Guinea. The language has featured prominently in Pidgin and Creole linguistics and has featured in a number of debates in theoretical linguistics. With their extensive fieldwork experience and vast knowledge of the archives relating to Papua New Guinea, Peter Muhlhausler, Thomas E. Dutton and Suzanne Romaine compiled this Tok Pisin text collection. It brings together representative samples of the largest Pidgin language of the Pacific area. These texts represent about 150 years of development of this language and will be an invaluable resource for researchers, language policy makers and individuals interested in the history of Papua New Guinea.