Lecture: Transmission, incrementation, and the progression of change; Workshop in Sociolinguistics
| Date | Friday, 13th April 2012 |
| Location | Nadelberg 8, Cave, Department of English, University of Basel |
veranstalter: CA), “Alexandra DArcy (U Victoria”
ansprechpartner: Nicole Hoehn
email: Nicole.Hoehn@unibas.ch
web: http://web.uvic.ca/ling/faculty/adarcy.htm
institution: HPSL
language: Englisch
location institution: Basel
date_raw: 13.04.2012
date_sort: 13.04.2012, 00:00:00
date_parsed: 13.04.2012, 00:00:00
Transmission, incrementation, and the progression of change: It’s all about the peak (lecture: 10:30-11:45)
Linguistic change of any kind presupposes linguistic variation, since no change occurs instantaneously (i.e. abruptly). In this talk I explore the consequences of this from the perspective of the community. The discussion hinges on the transmission of a unidirectional change across successive generations, and the continuous advancement of that change by subsequent generations. I argue that language is inherently heterogeneous and that linguistic and social factors are closely interrelated in the development of a change. The focus here is the role of men and women in the progression of change, and the evidence comes from a range of ongoing morphosyntactic and discourse-pragmatic changes. Although I apply the logistic model adopted by Labov (2001), in contrast to his original formulation I suggest that the differences in the participation of men and women are primarily quantitative rather than qualitative, an argument buttressed by the stubborn and recurrent nature of the (adolescent) peak in apparent time.
After the lecture, PhD students and advanced MA students have the opportunity to present and discuss their sociolinguistics projects with Dr. Alexandra D’Arcy. If you wish to contribute, please send your proposal to Nicole Höhn by April 1st. All other interested PhD students, students and staff members are welcome to participate in the workshop, please register by April 5 with Nicole Höhn.
The deadline for registering for a project presentation is April 1, 2012. Please fill out the attached questionnaire and send it to Nicole.Hoehn@unibas.ch (i.e. no abstract needed).
All other interested PhD students, students and staff members are welcome to participate in the workshop, please register by April 5 with Nicole Höhn.