Chapter 6
Language acquisition across the lifespan and the emergence of new
varieties
This chapter examines the role of acquisitional
processes in the emergence of new language varieties, exploring the
question in two ways. We first consider how different age groups and
generations contribute to the emergence of new multi-ethnolects in
Europe and in comparable contemporary contact situations. Age of
exposure and the social context of acquisition are both shown to
alter the course of a given variety. We then look at cases of
post-colonial dialect emergence, which we exemplify with cases
stemming from British colonialism. These examples are used to show
that theories of second language acquisition can account for the
development of specific grammatical features over generations, and
indeed that those theories can in turn be evaluated by such
examples. Overall, these cases show that new varieties are key
contexts to understand the role of language acquisition in
historical sociolinguistics.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Acquisition across life stages, social meaning, and emergent
varieties
- 2.1The role of acquisition in childhood
- 2.2The role of acquisition in adolescence
- 2.3The role of acquisition in adulthood
- 3.Age of acquisition and generational community change
- 4.Theories of language acquisition and new dialect
formation
- 5.Language acquisition and the emergence of new varieties: Challenges and opportunities
- 6.Conclusion
-
Notes
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References