Publications

Publication details [#49183]

Kerswill, Paul, Susan Fox and Eivind Torgersen. 2008. Reversing “drift”: Innovation and diffusion in the London diphthong system. Language Variation and Change 20 (3) : 451–493.

Publication type

Article in journal

Publication language

English

Keywords

dialect1 | innovation | language change | urban community

Language as a subject

English, British

Place, Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Journal WWW

journals.cambridge.org/

Annotation

This paper discusses Diphthong Shift in London English and its “reversal”, offering counterevidence for "drift" (or unconscious change cfr. Sapir), in relation to diffusion, supralocalization, leveling and innovation, arguing that sociolinguistic factors and dialect contact counteract natural Diphthong Shift.