Dialect contact and dialect transition : Point Roberts, U.S.A.
Date
1988
Authors
Mann, Marjorie F.
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Abstract
Traditional areal dialectology studies divide dialect areas into one of three types: relic, focal, and transition areas. While the first two types of dialect area have been extensively studied and have a well-developed theoretical base, tranĀsition areas have been studied only rarely. This has changed in the past ten years with some preliminary studies by Peter Trudgill in Great Britain, but the lack of study techniques and of a theoretical base remains.
The present work centers on the Canada-United States border transition area, more specifically on the Point Roberts community at the far-Western part of the border, and attempts to develop a theoretical base for dialect transition areas. Many of the study techniques used in the Point Roberts study are borrowed from areal dialectology (e.g. the use of one informant per cell) and sociolinguistics (e.g. the calculation of the frequency of occurrence for an individual informant), but some of the study techniques are original and have been developed specifically for dialect transition areas (e.g. the calculation of the transition path).
Three independent variables traditionally used in linguistic studies to account for the distribution of linguistic variables (i.e. age, sex, and education) are used in
the Point Roberts study while the variable of socio-economic status (SES) is disĀcarded because of the nature of the Point Roberts community. In addition, the years of residence variable is introduced specifically to the. study of transition areas in order to identify patterns of linguistic change.
The results of the Po int Roberts study show that the Canadian informants are retaining their Canadian speech in such features as Canadian Raising and failing to acquire American speech features that occur in the Puget Sound (e.g. the use of the flat adverb). Conversely, among the American informants, the number of Canadian speech features and the infrequency of occurrence increases as the years of residence increases (e.g. Canadian Raising) while the occurrence of American speech features (e .g. use of the flat adverb) decreases.