This thesis presents a corpus-based study of innovation in the lexis of multi-ethnic youth groups in the banlieues of Paris and Marseille. It presents the rationale behind the construction of a new corpus of youth speech in French, and analyses the contribution of various sources and processes of innovation (borrowing, affixation, verlanisation, blending, rebracketing, composition, conversion, revitalisation, metaphor and metonymy) to the lexis of this speaker group. The linguistic impact of innovative material on French is studied by an examination of successful and problematic cases of morphosyntactic integration of the innovative lexical material into the discourse, and it is suggested that spoken French is highly accommodating of innovation in the lexis on the whole. However, certain deviations from standard French morphosyntax are found to relate to use of non-standard lexical material, and it is argued that these problems of integration may be socially salient, used to mark the speaker’s affiliation to particular identities, most significantly an affiliation with the multi-ethnic youth peer group. Furthermore, the thesis examines, by quantitative as well as qualitative means, the connections between speakers’ social backgrounds (their current regions of residence, their family’s history of migration, their use of languages other than French, their national identity, their sex and their social network ties) and their use of lexical material produced by means of the various processes of innovation. This sociolinguistic study finds that a number of correlations do exist, but that the patterns are somewhat nuanced.

This thesis is a sociolinguistic investigation into aspects of non-phonological variation in a group of preadolescents recorded in outer east London. Focusing on the analysis of selected grammatical variables, it aims to explore the nature and development of linguistic variation in an age group which has not figured prominently in the foundational sociolinguistic literature. The study is embedded within a variationist framework, and examines how the distribution of vernacular variables selected from different levels of the grammar can provide important insights into the maturing sociolinguistic competence of preadolescent speakers. The distribution of specific grammatical variables is correlated with the broad social dimensions of age and gender in order to examine the social and linguistic constraints which operate on aspects of variation in this age group. Furthermore, the findings which emerge from this study are contextualized in relation to patterns of variation used by older speakers, and are more broadly situated with regard to related patterns of variation in other dialects of English. Another primary aim of the study is to contribute to empirical characterisations of grammatical variation in southeastern England, an area in which there has been little systematic quantitative investigation of non-phonological variation. Given that London has been identified in the sociolinguistic literature as the site of considerable dialect levelling and a major locus of linguistic innovation, the study explores preadolescents' active participation in some of the burgeoning linguistic changes that are affecting not only southeasten dialects, but also other contemporary varieties of English.

Bilingualism has been shown to influence a variety of cognitive functions, most notably lexical processing and cognitive control. These effects are both detrimental and advantageous. On the one hand, it has been proposed that bilinguals experience delayed lexical access compared to monolinguals, both in the less-proficient language and in the native language, due to the relatively reduced frequency of use. On the other hand, the constant need to juggle and control two languages enhances cognitive control abilities in bilinguals, such that they outperform monolinguals on tasks of executive processing and conflict resolution. This dissertation explores these cognitive changes associated with bilingualism, primarily through the use of a Stroop task. As it combines lexical processing with cognitive control, the Stroop task is a unique paradigm in which to investigate these abilities in bilinguals. Using behavioural measures, electroencephalography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging, the experiments presented here seek to deepen our understanding of lexical processing and cognitive control in bilingualism, in order to better understand how the now-common use of multiple languages affects the functional brain.

This thesis considers the role of language and literacy in supporting the exploration of bilingual identities. Two groups of bilingual girls participated in the study when they were aged between 11 and 13. One group are British-Asian girls, located within an English inner-city; the other group live in North West Wales. Like many bilinguals, the girls in this study experience the daily interaction of different – and sometimes dissonant – realities. These are represented both by their languages and by the varying cultural practices and values of their communities, many of which can be seen reflected in different literacy practices. Early in the study, quantitative analysis of the reading practices of the research participants and their peers in both communities suggested significant differences in the amount and nature of the engagement with text that occurred in English and in minority languages. A series of interviews with the two groups of girls over the next two years allowed further insight into a range of complex factors that affected their engagement with their languages and literacies. The study offers a consideration of these interconnected factors. It is argued that the interaction between languages and literacies experienced by these young bilinguals supports their ongoing negotiation of identities. The girls are shown to actively utilise the repertoire of cultural resources they experience as part of this process, using their languages and literacies as a space where they explore and demonstrate their bilingual identities.

In the diverse linguistic landscape of England, it is not uncommon for social workers to work with families who possess varying degrees of English language proficiency. Within such families children may speak multiple languages, and have greater English language proficiency than their parents. The study involved two areas of inquiry. The first part of the inquiry included semi-structured interviews with child and family social workers (n=9), to explore their experiences of interpreter–mediated encounters, including the use of children as interpreters. The second part focused on child language brokering (CLB), this refers to young people who translate and interpret for adults who do not share a mutual language. This part of the research took place at a youth centre and involved semi-structured interviews with young people (n=9) to explore their experiences of language brokering for various adults in multiple settings. The research draws on social constructionist theorising to describe and analyse the participants’ experiences of interpreting. Child interpreters were found to be used by social workers as an informal interpreting resource, to compensate for inadequate linguistic provision. The research presents four challenges in social work practice: i) providing adequate interpreting provision for service users with limited English language proficiency; ii) working effectively with interpreters; iii) working with families in which children speak more English than their parents; and iv) protecting children from the perceived harm of interpreting. The findings from the young people illuminate CLB as one activity that enables persons with limited English language proficiency to access services in the community. CLB therefore presents a diverse conceptualisation of interpreting, childhood and intergenerational relations between children and adults. The findings from both datasets illuminate different aspects of interpreting encounters; social workers as recipients of interpreting provision and young people as providers of interpreting. These dual perspectives illuminate a taken-for-granted area of social work practice and social life.

How have the Scots, Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx and Bretons built and maintained their Celtic identities over the last three centuries? The Celtic revivals which Scotland, Ireland, Brittany and Wales started experiencing in the eighteenth century were not confined to these regions. They were supported by London and Paris, where expatriate Celts had settled. A comparison of the revivals demonstrates that the search for a distinct national voice encouraged the Welsh and Bretons, and subsequently the Scots, Irish, Manx and Cornish, to form a pan-Celtic union consolidated by three major Celtic congresses. Since the revivals, the Celtic regions have come closer together thanks to the ongoing influence of the Celtic languages, whose revitalisation has enabled the Celtic cultures to overcome attacks meant to eradicate them. Once regarded as backward and inadequate for economic prosperity, the Celtic tongues have adapted to modernity through the passage to writing and print, and through their extension to new fields. As a bridge between past and present, they form the memory of modern Celticism, annually reawakened during a festival like Pan Celtic. Comparatively, Galicia has fused memory and imagination together because this region no longer speaks any Celtic language. The Celticity Galicia began imagining in the mid-nineteenth century has given birth to Galician nationalism, embodied within an autonomous community. Similarly, the six Celtic regions have invented a Celtic ethnicity for themselves, since there is no continuity between the ancient and the modern Celts. The latter's ethnogenesis has developed into nationalisms that strengthen their distinctiveness from their dominant neighbours. Nationalism has exported Celticism beyond the geographical boundaries of the Celtic regions. The construction of Celtic Scottishness, a case study, results from a partnership between Scotland, the initiator of tartans, clan gatherings and Scottish Gaelic, and North America, which has made these aspects internationally popular. Diasporic versions of Scottish Celtic culture have been introduced into the homeland, so that original and diasporic Celtic Scottishness have blended together. The diaspora Celts give Celtic identities new forms of expression.

The present thesis provides an analysis of language policy and language contact in present-day Barcelona. On the one hand, the effectiveness of the implementation of Catalan-medium education in Catalonia will be critically evaluated. On the other hand, Catalan-Castilian bilinguals' awareness of non-normative instances of language contact will be assessed. This thesis brings these two strands together, in order to paint an accurate picture of the current Catalan sociolinguistic situation. The 1983 Llei de Normalització Lingüística had numerous consequences, including the introduction of Catalan as the chief medium of education in Catalonia. Such legislation had many aims, not least to 'ensure Catalan language competence'. But to what extent has this been successful? Furthermore, the varieties of Catalan and Castilian in Barcelona are characterised by centuries of language contact, which has resulted in the incursion of numerous, non-normative linguistic items and constructions in both languages. To what extent are speakers aware of such non-normative language? Moreover, how do these questions concerning language policy and language contact bear upon one another? This thesis is therefore looking at the consequences of language policy and of language contact. With the aid of an innovative, three-dimensional model of sociolinguistic phenomena, it will be shown that these are maximally differentiated, yet clearly related. These will be termed top-down phenomena and bottom-up phenomena respectively. This is to be tested using a unique fieldwork experiment whereby fifty bilingual Catalan-Castilian Barcelonians of two different generations (one educated in Catalan, the other in Castilian, due to different linguistic policies) are asked to identify instances of non-normative language contact in two prepared texts. This work will allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the effectiveness of Catalan medium education, as well as offering insight into the nature of how we examine issues of language policy and language contact.

The discourse of commercial aviation flight attendants has historically received no sociolinguistic attention. To address this gap, this thesis explores how flight attendants use language in workplace-related contexts to construct their professional identity and community. I draw on interactional sociolinguistics (Goffman 1981; Schiffrin 1994; Tannen 1993) and sociological research (Van Maanen and Barley 1984; Williams 1986; Marschall 2002) to address how flight attendants use language to orient to occupationally related knowledge and practices which contribute to the discursive construction of community. Data come from two sources: 1) A corpus of 150 textual incident reports submitted by flight attendants to a US government agency which include summaries and proposed causes of the incidents in flight attendants’ own words. 2) A corpus of 105 unique discussion threads containing 4,043 posts to a website hosting several discussion forums aimed primarily at flight attendants. The forums are not affiliated with either government bodies or airline employers and are a virtual space for flight attendants to discuss aspects of their job away from occupational demands. Following Bucholtz and Hall (2004), I show how identity is contextually related and situationally constructed, and emerges from discursive orientations to professional practice, indexicality, ideology, and performance. Moreover, there are certain intersubjective relationships embedded in the discourse which emerge from and add detail to the situational identity constructed through flight attendant discourse. Indexical stances and ideologies which are grounded in institutional training frame and are heightened in the discursive performances of the reports and forum posts. These ideologies motivate and enhance the existing institutional, physical, and sociocultural divisions between flight attendants and pilots, which may have consequences for intercrew cohesion in emergency situations.

The central argument of this thesis is that the contradictions between modernisation and restoring a national identity, drawn from the Arab-Islamic culture, have generated tensions in the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia). The thesis concentrates on the particular problems posed 4y language and language policies in these contemporary circumstances. Chapter One provides an overview of the major concerns of the thesis, with a special stress on cultural and language questions. The main argument of Chapter Two is that Western theories of development are based on the assumption of the universality of the Western model, and undervalue the social and cultural elements of developing nations, including the Maghreb. Chapter Three extends the analysis to the role of language and nationalism in the process of nation building and analyses, with special reference to Algeria, the contradictions between development policies drawn from the West, and language policies stressing an Arab-Islamic identity. This chapter deals particularly with the problems of having Arabic as the national language and French as the operational language. Chapter Four examines comparatively the interrelationship between language policies and the social and educational contexts of the Maghreb. The arguments of the chapter are: that language policies have been influenced more by ideological than practical considerations; that contradictions at the political level are reflected in the social and educational contexts; that these contradictions are affecting the educational system adversely. Chapter Five draws the themes of the thesis together, and reassesses contemporary difficulties over language policies in the context of modernisation problems. The chapter makes proposals for new language policies in a complex linguistic, cultural and economic, situation, with some concluding comments on the specific case of Algeria.

This study investigates sociolinguistic variation in the traditional dialect of Sūf, a Hōrāni town in northern Jordan. Two variables are examined: (k): depalatalization of /k/; and (l): develarization of /l/, according to internal linguistic constrains and two external social factors: namely age and sex. Conditioned palatlalization of /k/ and the presence of a dark allophone of /l/ are two of the most salient phonological features of the dialects of Hōrān in general. The present study provides a quantitative analysis within the framework of Variationist Theory, using the multiple logistic regression program Rbrul. Palatalization of /k/ is treated at two levels and thus involves two variables: 1. Phonological variable (k); the pool of data for this variable includes tokens of /k/ in the stem of the word. 2. Morphophonemic variable (–ik); the pool of data includes tokens of /k/ in the feminine suffix -ik. Analysis of the data shows that the rate of palatalization in the stem is relatively low (11%), and the palatalized variant [ʧ] may be disappearing, constrained by preceding and following linguistic environments, age and gender. By contrast, the palatalized variant in the suffix shows a relatively high rate of maintenance (70%), and variation in its use in the suffix is constrained by the social variables only. With respect to (l), the study found that dark /l/ is used only in (12%), and Rbrul analysis returned preceding and following linguistic environments, and gender as constraining factors. Overall, the results show that women are more conservative with respect to the usage of both of these traditional features, thus indicating that women preserve the local way of speech more consistently. The thesis adopts a method of interpretation of the results that focuses on local issues, including the social structure of the community, space, the local mode of production and gender roles.