Variation among tokens of enumeration in Montreal French are studied to explain how the constitutive processes interact in terms of Slobin's (1977) charges to language: be clear, processible in real time, quick and easy, and expressive. The contributions of six structural factors or processes to the fulfillment of these charges are examined.…

Uses data from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border to test a model regarding the way language changes diffuse over space. Two cases are examined: the non-diffusion of phonetic features from Detroit to Windsor and the gradual infiltration into Canadian English of American foreign (a) pronunciations. (Author/VWL)

Reports results of an instrumental acoustic examination of the vowel systems of ten Jamaican Creole (or Basilect-) dominant and nine Jamaican English (or Acrolect-) dominant speakers, and links phonetic features with sociolinguistic factors. Nature and relative role of vowel quantity and quality differences in phonemic contrast are considered.…

Focuses on vocalization of /l/ in nine Australian and New Zealand cities. Discusses an instrument designed to include all relevant phonological environments; demonstrates the strategic potential of moving from a unilocality to a multilocality sociolinguistics; conceptualizes a variationist isogloss; and proposes a conception of geography that…

A study of utterances marked by exemplification particles ("par exemple, disons") in Montreal oral French attempted to describe constraints governing choice of discourse variant. Variables examined include position of particle in the utterance, extendibility and reality of the example, order of constituent elements in argumentation, and…

Studies palatization gestures in the production of /t/ and /d/ in standard Belgium French through the use of electropalatography. The articulatory results are compared with an acoustic study of the affricated realization of these consonants when followed by /i/, /y/, /j/, and /h/ in Quebec French. (Author/VWL)

Provides acoustic evidence that in the last 50 years New Zealand English (NZE) has undergone a substantial vowel shift. Two sets of data are studied: the Otago corpus, recorded in 1995, and the Mobile Unit Corpus, recorded in 1948. (Author/VWL)

Points out that the use of discourse markers by speakers of Anglophone Montreal French shows great variation in individual repertoires and frequency of use. Argues that mastery of the appropriate use of discourse markers reveals the speakers' integration into the local speech community. (28 references) (Author/CK)

Discusses dialectal differences in the aggregate. Employs a dialectometric technique that provides an additive measure of pronunciation difference: The (aggregate) pronunciation difference. Sampled Dutch towns and villages, where the variation ranges between 56% and 81%, lending credence to the dialect continuum view. (Author/VWL)

Combinational characterization and statistical and computational techniques for generalizing rule analysis to the inference of rule order are applied to the problems of the reduction of the syllable-final consonants s, n, and r in Caribbean Spanish. Results show that aspiration and deletion can be seen as intrinsically ordered in both s and r…

A study of concord phenomena in Rio de Janeiro spoken Portuguese found that, in the serial context, the linguistic system is so highly constrained that external, and even internal, influences are blocked. Authors conclude that strong constraints should be identified and further studies undertaken to understand the interplay of the diverse forces…

Addresses Labov's claim that sound changes that are not stigmatized are led especially by young women who are the "movers and shakers" in the community, people with energy and enterprise. Investigated the claim by comparing the pronunciation of non-stigmatized front vowels with that of stigmatized diphthongs in New Zealand English.…

Aims to contribute new data on verbal "-s" by systematically examining its behavior in Devon English (DE), a variety spoken in Southwest England, and a broader historical and cross-dialectal perspective for understanding the origin and function of verbal "-s" in nonstandard varieties of English in North America. (Author/VWL)

Investigates variable deletion of short vowels in word-final unstressed syllables in Latvian spoken in Riga. Affected vowels were almost always inflectional endings and results indicated that internal phonological and prosodic factors (especially distance from main word stress) were the strongest constraints on vowel deletion, along with the…

Offers an optimality theoretic account for the phonological process of across-word regressive assimilation (AWRA) in Picard, a Gallo-Romance dialect spoken in the Picardie region in Northern France and Southern Belgium. Focuses on the varieties spoken in the Vimeu region of France. Examines one particular topic in the analysis of AWRA: the…