Article published in:
The Evolution of Englishes: The Dynamic Model and beyond
Edited by Sarah Buschfeld, Thomas Hoffmann, Magnus Huber and Alexander Kautzsch
[Varieties of English Around the World G49] 2014
► pp. 231–248

On cafeterias and new dialects

The role of primary transmitters

This chapter argues that we need to differentiate potential founding populations in high-contact scenarios and classify different types of transmitters. Based on evidence from South Atlantic English, the claim is that, during the formative years of new dialects, some members of the community are more crucial than others, simply because they are more likely to transmit features to young children given their social role in the community. The impact of so-called primary transmitters may help explain why some dialects are extraordinarily influential in contact scenarios, despite the fact that its speakers represent a minority. This calls for a revision of current theories of new-dialect formation and for a more socially-informed view of koinéization processes.
Keywords: cafeteria principle, dialect contact, founder principle, koinéization, South Atlantic English
Published online: 12 September 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g49.13sch
References
Bickerton, D.
1981 Roots of Language. Ann Arbor MI: Karoma Press.Google Scholar
1983 Creole languages. Scientific American 249(1): 59–69. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1984 The language bioprogram hypothesis. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 7(2): 173–188. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Brander, J.
1940 Tristan da Cunha 1506 ‒ 1902. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Britain, D.
2002 Diffusion, levelling, simplification and reallocation in past tense BE in the English Fens. Journal of Sociolinguistics 6(1): 16–43. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2005 Innovation diffusion, ‘Estuary English’ and local dialect differentiation: The survival of Fenland Englishes. Linguistics 43(5): 995–1022. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009 One foot in the grave? Dialect death, dialect contact and dialect birth in England. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196–197: 121–155.Google Scholar
Britain, D. & Sudbury, A.
2010 Falkland Islands English. In D. Schreier et al. (eds), 209–223.
Cassidy, F.G.
1974 Review of Arne Zettersten’s “The English of Tristan da Cunha”. Language 50(1): 175‒177. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, J.K.
2004 Dynamic typology and vernacular universals. In Dialectology Meets Typology, B. Kortmann (ed.), 127–145. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
2008 Sociolinguistic Theory, 3rd edn. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Cheshire, J., Kerswill, P., Fox, S. & Torgersen, E.
2011 Contact, the feature pool and the speech community: The emergence of Multicultural London English. Journal of Sociolinguistics 15(2): 151–196. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, A.
1945 I Went to Tristan. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Dillard, J.L.
1970 Principles in the history of American English: Paradox, virginity, cafeteria. Florida FL Reporter 7: 32–33.Google Scholar
Earle, A.
1966 Narrative of a Residence on the Island of Tristan D’Acunha in the South Atlantic Ocean (1st edn 1832) Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Eckert, P.
2000 Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. The Linguistic Construction of Identity at Belten High. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Evans, D.
1994 Schooling in the South Atlantic Islands 1661–1992. Oswestry: Anthony Nelson.Google Scholar
Gordon, E., Campbell, L., Hay, J., Maclagan, M., Sudbury, A. & Trudgill, P.
2004 New Zealand English: Its Origins and Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gosse, P.
1938 St. Helena 1502‒1938. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
Hickey, R.
2003 How do dialects get the features they have? On the process of new dialect formation. In Motives for Language Change, R. Hickey (ed.), 213–239. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hickey, R.
(ed.) 2010 Handbook of Language Contact. Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kerswill, P.
2002 Koineization and accommodation. In A Handbook of Language Variation and Change, J.K. Chambers, P. Trudgill & N. Schilling-Estes (eds), 669–702. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
2003 Dialect levelling and geographical diffusion in British English. In Social Dialectology: In Honour of Peter Trudgill [Impact: Studies in Language and Society 16], D. Britain & J. Cheshire (eds), 223–243. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2010 Contact and new varieties. In R. Hickey (ed.), 230–251.
Kerswill, P. & Williams, A.
2000 Creating a new town koiné: Children and language change in Milton Keynes. Language in Society 29(1): 65–115. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2002 Dialect recognition and speech community focusing in new and old towns in England: The effects of dialect levelling, demography and social networks. In A Handbook of Perceptual Dialectology, Vol. 2, D. Long & D. Preston (eds), 178–207. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Kortmann, B. & Lunkenheimer, K.
(eds) 2013 The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English [eWAVE]. <http://​www​.ewave​-atlas​.org> (09 September 2013).Google Scholar
Melliss, J.C.
1875 St. Helena: A Physical, Historical, and Topographical Description of the Island, Including its Geology, Fauna, Flora, and Meteorology. London: Reeve and Co.Google Scholar
Mufwene, S.S.
1996 The founder principle in creole genesis. Diachronica 13(1): 83–134. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2001 The Ecology of Language Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Munch, P.A.
1945 Sociology of Tristan da Cunha. Oslo: Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi.Google Scholar
Schneider, E.W.
2007 Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schreier, D.
2002 Past be in Tristan da Cunha: The rise and fall of categoricality in language change. American Speech 77(1): 70–99. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2003 Isolation and Language Change: Sociohistorical and Contemporary Evidence from Tristan da Cunha English. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
2005 Consonant Change in English Worldwide: Synchrony Meets Diachrony [Palgrave Studies in Language History and Language Change 3]. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2008 St Helenian English: Origins, Evolution and Variation [Varieties of English Around the World G37]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2010 St Helenian English. In D. Schreier et al. (eds), 224–244.
Schreier, D. & Trudgill, P.
2006 The segmental phonology of 19th century Tristan da Cunha English: Convergence and local innovation. English Language and Linguistics 10(1): 119–41. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schreier, D. & Lavarello-Schreier, K.
2011 Tristan da Cunha and the Tristanians. London: Battlebridge.Google Scholar
Schreier, D., Trudgill, P., Schneider, E.W. & Williams, J.P.
(eds) 2010 The Lesser-Known Varieties of English: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, J.
1985 Koines and koineisation. Language in Society 14(3): 357–378. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1987 Language Contact in a Plantation Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sudbury, A.
2000 Dialect Contact and Koinéisation in the Falkland Islands: Development of a Southern Hemisphere Variety. PhD dissertation, University of Essex.Google Scholar
Thomason, S.G. & Kaufman, T.
1988 Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics. Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Thomason, S.G.
2010 Contact explanations in linguistics. In R. Hickey (ed.), 31–47.
Trudgill, P.
1986 Dialects in Contact. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
2004 New Dialect Formation: The Inevitability of Colonial Englishes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
2008 Colonial dialect contact in the history of European languages: On the irrelevance of identity to new-dialect formation. Language in Society 37(1): 241–254.Google Scholar
Trudgill, P., Gordon, E., Lewis, G. & Maclagan, M.
2000 Determinism in new-dialect formation and the genesis of New Zealand English. Journal of Linguistics 36(2): 299–318. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zettersten, A.
1969 The English of Tristan da Cunha [Lund Studies in English 37]. Lund: Gleerup.Google Scholar