Book Review for Critical Inquiry in Language Studies

Dialect Change: Convergence and Divergence in European Languages
P. Auer, F. Hinskens and P. Kerswill (eds.)
Cambridge
Cambridge University Press
2005
Pp. xv + 415
ISBN 0-521-80687-9

Reviewed by Chad, Howe, Department of Romance Languages, University of Georgia
Chad Howe
University of Georgia

chowe@uga.edu

The collection of works compiled in the volume Dialect Change: Convergence and Divergence in European Languages is recent evidence of the successful collaboration made possible through funds from the European Science Foundation for the study of the languages of Europe. Its editors, Peter Auer, Frans Hinskens, and Paul Kerswill, offer a unified vision of current trends in the study of European dialects, compiling contributions from a range of different theoretical and methodological perspectives. The resulting mix of these perspectives is a coherent and thorough treatise on the current state of dialect research.

In setting the tone for the volume in the introductory chapter, Auer, Hinskens, and Kerswill refrain from typical monolithic definitions of concepts such as "dialect", "convergence", and "divergence" and instead describe a variety of different approaches to the study of language change/use. Indeed, even the sparse use of the term "dialectology" seems to suggest the editors’ insistence on a fluid and dynamic conception of language varieties. Confronting what they see as the "atomism of traditional dialect geography" (p. 5), Auer, Hinskens, and Kerswill lay out their program for the volume, focusing on two broad categories of dialect change – dialect convergence (dc) and dialect divergence (dd)–that serve to delimit the thematic scope of the volume. For Auer, Hinskens, and Kerswill, processes of linguistic change are "multicausality phenomena"(p. 47), and this perspective is echoed throughout the book.

The volume is divided into two overarching perspectives, namely internal and external factors in language change. Crucially, Auer, Hinskens, and Kers will make it clear that the dualistic nature of the discussion is not an endorsement of the primacy of either perspective (i.e. internal vs. external factors of linguistic change). Part 1 ("Convergence, Divergence and Linguistic Structure") opens with the paper by Jeffrey L. Kallen who provides an overview of theoretical approaches to phonological change. Kallen takes the case of historical trends in /t/ lenition as a means of laying out his claim that phonological principles provide only discrete benchmarks in the process of language change. After a careful discussion of /t/ lenition in Ireland couched in various linear and non-linear models of phonological analysis, Kallen concludes that no one phonological principle can account for the variation demonstrated in the data and appeals to the "social embedding of variation" (p. 80) as a necessary mechanism in dc and dd.

Gaetano Berruto discusses contact between Italian as a national language and dialects of Italian and how the interaction between these sets of code has been characterized, or miss-characterized, as code-switching or code-mixing in line with the Matrix Language Frame Model proposed by Myers-Scotton (1993). Despite some issues with terminological clarity, Berruto’s model of language change provides some useful insight into explaining how processes of code alternation, mixing, and borrowing relate to the process of hybrization, eventually giving rise to the types of linguistic convergence and divergence attested in Italian and the Italoromance dialects. Next, Leonie Cornips and Karen Corrigan address an important teleological divide in linguistics–i.e. the ’generative’ vs. ’variationist’ programs. In their study of the middle construction in Limburg Dutch (e.g. Disse stool zit zich lekker ’One sits comfortably in this chair’, p. 114, example 10b), Cornips and Corrigan employ both "sociolinguistic" and "parametric" approaches to explain variation and the emergence of a new structure, namely a reflexive. They conclude by arguing that an appeal to parameters, in the formal sense, allows for a more explicit delimitation of the range (or "space") of variation than is typically provided in variationist studies. Completing this section is the paper by Jenny Cheshire, Paul Kerswill, and Ann Williams who investigate parallels between different components of linguistic structure &ndash ;i.e. "phonology, grammar and discourse" (p. 135) – using data from a research project on dialect leveling and change in three towns in England. The authors discuss specific variables and note several similar patterns among the phonological (e.g. initial /h/ retention) and morphosyntactic (e.g. nonstandard was) variables specifically with respect to the effects of social class and gender. In contrast, their analysis of discourse and syntactic features suggests that variation in these aspects of grammar is qualitatively different from that noted with the phonological and morphosyntactic variables.

Part 2 of the volume ("Macrosociolinguistic Motivations of Convergence and Divergence") begins with Inge Lise Pedersen’s analysis of language standardization in Scandinavia. Through a descriptive overview of various sociopolitical and historical issues influencing language use, Pedersen proposes that despite a perceived linguistic homogeneity in the region, the distinctions between Danish and Swedish, on the one hand, and Norwegian on the other suggest divergent trends in language standardization. This author reiterates the volume’s theme of calling for a multi-causal approach to dc and dd by appealing to notions ranging from political and social ideologies to changing population demographics. Next, Paul Kerswill and Peter Trudgill offer a novel perspective on emergence of new dialects, focusing on the strategies of first language learners as a locus for dc and dd. A comparative analysis of phonetic variables from corpora of English from New Zealand and England leads the authors to observe that patterns in linguistic change are strongly correlated to "the degree of social interaction which is possible between children (at the micro-level) and across the new community as a whole (on a wider level)" (p. 207).

Peter Rosenberg’s analysis of German language ’islands’ in different parts of the world, including the former Soviet Union, Poland and Hungary, and Latin America, offers additional perspective on the notion of convergence discussed throughout the volume, specifically as it relates to the processes of dialect contact, language contact, and language change. Thus, Rosenberg describes the example of a Mennonite community in Russia and argues that shifts in linguistic and cultural norms are instrumental in setting the stage for subsequent language change. Understanding the role of political borders in the processes of dc and dd is the focus of the paper by Curt Woolhiser, who offers a case study of Belarusian dialects located along the contemporary Polish-Belarusian border. Through both qualitative and quantitative measures, Woolhiser demonstrates a greater degree of structural innovation on the Belarusian side of the Polish-Belarusian border than on Polish one and attributes this finding to the "distinct sociolinguistic hierarches and their associated linguistic idealogies" (p. 262) which coincide in large part with the geopolitical frontier. Next, John Taeldeman’s treatment of spatial diffusion in dialect change appeals to two notions from social geography–i.e. contagious diffusion (i.e. spread via communities) and hierarchical diffusion (i.e. spread from urban to rural)–in order to preface his analysis of the dichotomy between urban and rural dialects and how this distinction influences the propagation of linguistic change. Taeldeman contends that formal models of spatial diffusion, such as the gravity models used by social dialectologists, do not easily accommodate social and psychological factors that, according to his own studies of Dutch-speaking Belgium, can display any number of effects with respect to the spread of urban-centered language change.

In the section on microlinguistic perspectives, Tore Kristiansen and Jens Normann Jørgensen follow the "subjective" approach to understanding trends in dc and dd, focusing on speakers’ beliefs and attitudes with respect to language trends. Using data collected in Næstved (Denmark), Kristiansen and Jørgensen observe a tendency for convergence of the speech of young people towards the Cophenhagen norm and argue for a broader recognition in studies of language variation and change that "the complexity of language-mediated identity construction calls for the use of many and different methods" (p. 301). In his assessment of social network analysis in the study of language variation, Juan Andrés Villena-Ponsoda draws a contrast between the application of networks as (i) either an indicator of language variation or a means of gathering speech and speaker data (i.e. the "Strong Hypothesis"); or (ii) a method for interpreting specific individual contributions to variation in cases where a standard, quantitative social network analysis is not sufficiently explanatory (i.e. the "Weak Hypothesis"). He supports this claim with speech and network data from Málaga, Spain and concludes that while a more integrated analysis of a speaker’s multiple social affiliations is the most effective way of explaining variation in language it must further be supported by a mechanism that allows researchers to integrate interpretational techniques to explain nuances of speaker behavior. In the final paper, Peter Auer and Frans Hinskens propose a model for integrating the insights of accommodation theory (Giles, Coupland, & Coupland, 1991) into the study of language change. After a thorough discussion of various sample cases, Auer and Hinskens argue that "the driving force of language change is interpersonal accommodation (convergence)" (p. 356) and propose a three-phrase model of linguistic transmission that is based on the interplay between alternation in linguistic structure and communicative interaction.

The sum total of the works presented in this volume represents a consistent and accurate account of the state of our understanding of relevant issues in dialect change. Its dominant theme is that of treating the analysis of language change as a multi-disciplinary effort that, by nature, requires the integration of different theoretical and methodological perspectives. Though the overall detractions are few, there are some omissions that warrant further comment. Given the emergence over the last 20 years of interest in the "grammaticalization" family of approaches to language change (see Hopper & Traugott, 1993), it is perhaps surprising that more attention was not focused on determining how (and indeed if) this line of inquiry can be integrated into discussions of structural and sociolinguistic issues in dialect change. Similarly, Bybee and Hopper’s work on the role of frequency in language use and evolution (2001, among others) also deserves a place in this conversation since many of the papers included in this volume appeal to quantitative evidence to describe the emergence of new structures.

These issues aside, Auer, Hinskens, and Kerswill have assembled a resource that will most certainly become part of the repertoire of materials used by instructors and researchers in the area of dialectology and sociolinguistics. With the growing interest in finding a unified theory of language use and language variation (see e.g. Kretzschmar 2009), this volume is a welcome addition to our evolving understanding of the social, cultural, and psychological matrices that shape human communication.

References:

Bybee, J., and Hopper, P. (Eds.). (2001). Frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Giles, H., Coupland, N., & Coupland, J. (1991). Accommodation theory. Communication, context, and consequences. In H. Giles, N. Coupland, and J. Coupland (Eds.), Contexts of Accommodation (pp. 1-68). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hopper, P., & Traugott, E. C. (1993). Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kretzchmar, William A., Jr. (2009). The Linguistics of Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Myers-Scotton, C. (1993). Duelling Languages. Grammatical Structure in Codeswritching. Oxford: Clarendon Press.