A tipping point in dialect obsolescence? Change across the generations in Lerwick, Shetland1

Bibliographic Data

ID3641489
AuthorsJennifer Smith (0000-0001-6825-7118, University of Aberdeen), Mercedes Durham (0000-0002-9819-0687, University of Aberdeen)
Year2011
Volume15
Issue2
Pages197-225
Publication date2011-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Sociolinguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-6441 • E-ISSN: 1467-9841
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9841.2011.00479.x
OpenAlexW1902096495
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited43

The dialect spoken in the Shetland Islands is one of the most distinctive in the British Isles. However, there are claims that this variety is rapidly disappearing, with local forms replaced by more standard variants in the younger generations. In this paper we test these claims through a quantitative analysis of variable forms across three generations of speakers from the main town of Lerwick. We target six variables: two lexical, two morphosyntactic and two phonetic/phonological. Our results show that there is decline in use of the local forms across all six variables. Closer analysis of individual use reveals that the older age cohort form a linguistically homogeneous group. In contrast, the younger speakers form a heterogeneous group: half of the younger speakers have high rates of the local forms, while the other half uses the standard variants near-categorically. We suggest that these results may pinpoint the locus of rapid obsolescence in this traditionally relic dialect area

Biology · Geography · Homogeneous · Linguistics · Obsolescence · Shetland · Sociology · Statistics · Variety (cybernetics · Demography · History · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies

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