LINGUIST List 15.2289

Wed Aug 11 2004

Books: Sociolinguistics: Trudgill

Editor for this issue: Neil Salmond <neillinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. jared.wright, New-Dialect Formation: Trudgill

Title: New-Dialect Formation
Subtitle: The Inevitability of Colonial Englishes
			
Publication Year: 2004
			
Publisher:	Oxford University Press 
		http://www.oup.com/us,
		http://www.oup.co.uk
			
Book URL: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/?view=usa&ci=0195220439

Author: Peter Trudgill, University of Fribourg

Hardback: ISBN: 0195220439, Pages: 192, Price: U.S. $: 49.95


Abstract:
			
Distinguished sociolinguist Peter Trudgill here presents a
controversial new theory about dialect contact and the formation of
new colonial dialects. He examines the genesis of Latin American
Spanish, Canadian French, and North American English and in particular
concentrates on Australian, New Zealand, and South African
English. These varieties developed during the nineteenth century along
with the immigration of settlers from Britain and Ireland.

The novelty of Trudgill's theory is that these new varieties of
English were predictable and deterministic according to certain
demographic and linguistic principles, and that all these varieties of
colonial Englishes are similar to each other because they were formed
out of similar mixtures according to the same principles. Trudgill
argues no role in colonial dialect development and that the work of
dialect formation was carried out by children over a period of two
generations.

Trudgill's work represents an exciting new approach to the study of
language contact and dialects in its emphasis on the notion of
predictability and the important role of children.


Lingfield(s):	Anthropological Linguistics 
		Language Acquisition 
		Sociolinguistics 	

Written In: English (Language Code: English)

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	 http://linguistlist.org/get-book.html?BookID=10650