This thesis focuses on the historical development of dialectal variation in the Gaelic languages with special reference to Irish. As a point of departure, competing scholarly theories concerning the historical relationships between Goidelic dialects are laid out. Next, these theories are tested using dialectometric methods of linguistic analysis. Dialectometry clearly suggests the Irish of Ulster is the most linguistically distinctive of Irish dialects. This perspective on the modern dialects is utilised in subsequent chapters to clarify our understanding of the history of Gaelic dialectal variation, especially during the Old Irish period (AD 600–900). Theoretical and methodological frameworks that have been used in the study of the historical dialectology of Gaelic are next outlined. It is argued that these frameworks may not be the most appropriate for investigating dialectal variation during the Old Irish period. For the first time, principles from historical sociolinguistics are here applied in investigating the language of the Old Irish period. In particular, the social and institutional structures which supported the stability of Old Irish as a text language during the 8th and 9th centuries are scrutinised from this perspective. The role of the ecclesiastical and political centre of Armagh as the principal and central actor in the relevant network structures is highlighted. Focus then shifts to the processes through which ‘standard’ languages emerge, with special reference to Old Irish. The evidence of a small number of texts upon which modern understandings of Old Irish was based is assessed; it is argued that these texts most likely emerged from monasteries in the northeast of Ireland and the southwest of Scotland. Secondly, the processes through which the standard of the Old Irish period is likely to have come about are investigated. It is concluded that the standard language of the period arose primarily through the agency of monastic schools in the northeast of Ireland, particularly Armagh and Bangor. It is argued that this fact, and the subsequent prominence of Armagh as a stable and supremely prestigious centre of learning throughout the period, offers a sociolinguistically robust explanation for the apparent lack of dialectal variation in the language. Finally, the socio-political situation of the Old Irish period is discussed. Models of new-dialect formation are applied to historical evidence, and combined with later linguistic evidence, in an attempt to enunciate dialectal divisions which may have existed during the period.

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of vowel quality in South African English (SAE) using the following data: firstly, the existing impressionistic literature on SAE and other relevant accents of English, the former of which is subject to a critical review; secondly, acoustic data from a similar range of accents, including new SAE data, collected and instrumentally analyzed specifically for the purposes of this research. These various data are used to position, on both a descriptive and theoretical level, the SAE vowel system. In addition, and in the service of providing a careful reconstruction of the linguistic history of this variety, it offers a three-stage koin´eization model which helps, in many respects, to illuminate the respective roles played by endogenous and exogenous factors in SAE’s development. More generally, the analysis is focussed on rendering explicit the extent to which the synchronic status and diachronic development of SAE more generally, and SAE vowel quality more particularly, provides support for a number of descriptive and theoretical frameworks, including those provided in Labov (1994), Torgersen and Kerswill (2004), Trudgill (2004) and Schneider (2003; 2007). With respect to these frameworks, and based on the results of the analysis, it proposes an extension to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model, shows Trudgill’s (2004) model of new-dialect formation to be inadequate in accounting for some of the SAE data, provides evidence that SAE is a possibly imminent but ‘conservative’ member of Torgersen and Kerswill’s (2004) SECS-Shift and uses SAE data to question the applicability of the SECS-Shift to FOOT-Fronting. Furthermore, this thesis provides evidence that SAE has undergone an indexicallydriven arrestment of the Diphthong and Southern Shifts and a subsequent and related diffusion of GenSAE values at the expense of BrSAE ones. Similarly, it shows that SAE’s possible participation in the SECS-Shift constitutes an effective chain-shift reversal ‘from above’. It stresses that, in order to understand such phenomena, recourse needs to be made to a theory of indexicality that takes into account the unique sociohistorical development of SAE and its speakers. Lastly, the adoption of the three-stage koin´eization model mentioned above highlights the merits of considering both endogenous and exogenous factors in the historical reconstruction of new-dialect formation and, for research into SAE in particular, strengthens the case for further investigation into the possible effects of 19th-century Afrikaans/Dutch, Yiddish and north-of-English dialects on the formation of modern SAE. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of vowel quality in South African English (SAE) using the following data: firstly, the existing impressionistic literature on SAE and other relevant accents of English, the former of which is subject to a critical review; secondly, acoustic data from a similar range of accents, including new SAE data, collected and instrumentally analyzed specifically for the purposes of this research. These various data are used to position, on both a descriptive and theoretical level, the SAE vowel system. In addition, and in the service of providing a careful reconstruction of the linguistic history of this variety, it offers a three-stage koin´eization model which helps, in many respects, to illuminate the respective roles played by endogenous and exogenous factors in SAE’s development. More generally, the analysis is focussed on rendering explicit the extent to which the synchronic status and diachronic development of SAE more generally, and SAE vowel quality more particularly, provides support for a number of descriptive and theoretical frameworks, including those provided in Labov (1994), Torgersen and Kerswill (2004), Trudgill (2004) and Schneider (2003; 2007). With respect to these frameworks, and based on the results of the analysis, it proposes an extension to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model, shows Trudgill’s (2004) model of new-dialect formation to be inadequate in accounting for some of the SAE data, provides evidence that SAE is a possibly imminent but ‘conservative’ member of Torgersen and Kerswill’s (2004) SECS-Shift and uses SAE data to question the applicability of the SECS-Shift to FOOT-Fronting. Furthermore, this thesis provides evidence that SAE has undergone an indexicallydriven arrestment of the Diphthong and Southern Shifts and a subsequent and related diffusion of GenSAE values at the expense of BrSAE ones. Similarly, it shows that SAE’s possible participation in the SECS-Shift constitutes an effective chain-shift reversal ‘from above’. It stresses that, in order to understand such phenomena, recourse needs to be made to a theory of indexicality that takes into account the unique sociohistorical development of SAE and its speakers. Lastly, the adoption of the three-stage koin´eization model mentioned above highlights the merits of considering both endogenous and exogenous factors in the historical reconstruction of new-dialect formation and, for research into SAE in particular, strengthens the case for further investigation into the possible effects of 19th-century Afrikaans/Dutch, Yiddish and north-of-English dialects on the formation of modern SAE. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This study describes the diachronic development of modality in South African English (henceforth SAfE) from the early 19th century up to its contemporary state (1820s to 1990s) in the registers of letters, news, fiction/narrative and non-fiction, on the basis of the theoretical framework of socio historical linguistics and the empirical approach of corpus linguistics. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are conducted for modal and quasi-modal verbs, by means of the newly compiled historical corpus of SAfE and ICE-SA (with the addition of Afrikaans corpora for comparison). The study explores general frequency changes, register-internal changes and macro- and micro semantic changes, with the focus of the main semantic analysis more strongly on the obligation and necessity cluster1. A set of parameters is compiled for analysing the strength of obligation in the modals must and should, and the quasi-modal HAVE to, and is applied in the micro semantic analyses. The findings are compared with the trends for modality in other native English’s, such as American, British and Australian English (cf. e.g. Mair & Leech, 2006; Collins, 2009a; Leech, 2011), in an attempt to present a complete and comprehensive description of SAfE modality, as opposed to the traditional approach of focusing on peculiar features. It is reported that the trends of modality in SAfE correspond to those of other native varieties in some cases, but do not correspond in others. The modals of SAfE for example have declined more and the quasi-modals have increased less over the 20th century than in other native varieties of English. One particular case, in which SAfE is reported to be unique among other varieties, is the quantitative and qualitative trends for must, which has some implications for the manifestation of the democratisation process. Must in SAfE has not declined significantly over the 20th century (as it has in other native varieties) and has become less face threatening, since uses with a median (weaker) degree of force are just as frequent as those with a higher degree of force by the 1990s (unlike in other native varieties, where must has become restricted to high-degree obligative contexts). Based on socio historical, as well as linguistic evidence (on both quantitative and qualitative levels), language contact with Afrikaans is posited as the main influence for the increased use of must in contexts that are not face threatening. Extrapolating from the semantic findings, some new insights are offered regarding the phase in which SAfE finds itself within Schneider’s (2003) model of the evolution of New English’s, and some support is offered for Bekker’s (2012:143) argument that “SAfE is ...the youngest of the colonial varieties of English”, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. Ultimately, this thesis offers a piece in the larger puzzle that is SAfE, both in terms of linguistic (textual) and socio historical (contextual) aspects. / PhD (English), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

This study describes the diachronic development of modality in South African English (henceforth SAfE) from the early 19th century up to its contemporary state (1820s to 1990s) in the registers of letters, news, fiction/narrative and non-fiction, on the basis of the theoretical framework of socio historical linguistics and the empirical approach of corpus linguistics. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are conducted for modal and quasi-modal verbs, by means of the newly compiled historical corpus of SAfE and ICE-SA (with the addition of Afrikaans corpora for comparison). The study explores general frequency changes, register-internal changes and macro- and micro semantic changes, with the focus of the main semantic analysis more strongly on the obligation and necessity cluster1. A set of parameters is compiled for analysing the strength of obligation in the modals must and should, and the quasi-modal HAVE to, and is applied in the micro semantic analyses. The findings are compared with the trends for modality in other native English’s, such as American, British and Australian English (cf. e.g. Mair & Leech, 2006; Collins, 2009a; Leech, 2011), in an attempt to present a complete and comprehensive description of SAfE modality, as opposed to the traditional approach of focusing on peculiar features. It is reported that the trends of modality in SAfE correspond to those of other native varieties in some cases, but do not correspond in others. The modals of SAfE for example have declined more and the quasi-modals have increased less over the 20th century than in other native varieties of English. One particular case, in which SAfE is reported to be unique among other varieties, is the quantitative and qualitative trends for must, which has some implications for the manifestation of the democratisation process. Must in SAfE has not declined significantly over the 20th century (as it has in other native varieties) and has become less face threatening, since uses with a median (weaker) degree of force are just as frequent as those with a higher degree of force by the 1990s (unlike in other native varieties, where must has become restricted to high-degree obligative contexts). Based on socio historical, as well as linguistic evidence (on both quantitative and qualitative levels), language contact with Afrikaans is posited as the main influence for the increased use of must in contexts that are not face threatening. Extrapolating from the semantic findings, some new insights are offered regarding the phase in which SAfE finds itself within Schneider’s (2003) model of the evolution of New English’s, and some support is offered for Bekker’s (2012:143) argument that “SAfE is ...the youngest of the colonial varieties of English”, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. Ultimately, this thesis offers a piece in the larger puzzle that is SAfE, both in terms of linguistic (textual) and socio historical (contextual) aspects. / PhD (English), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Cette thèse a été financée par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada (numéro de référence 767-2010-1310) / Dans le cadre de la théorie de l’accommodation communicative, ce travail consiste à évaluer, avec la méthodologie de la sociolinguistique comparative, dans quelle mesure les immigrants hispanophones des Andes boliviennes qui se sont établis à San Pedro de Atacama (Chili) accommodent leur langage aux hispanophones de ce pays. Pour ce faire, quatre traits grammaticaux caractéristiques de l’espagnol andin ont été choisis pour être analysés : l’usage du double possessif (e. g., He ido a su casa de mi marido), l’utilisation des adverbes de lieu comme particule finale de la préposition en (e. g., Entonces he vivido en allá así como diez años), la préférence du passé composé sur le passé simple pour exprimer des actions qui ont été accomplies dans le passé (e. g., El año pasado he ido a visitar a mi madre) et l’usage exclusif de formes verbales standard pour exprimer la deuxième personne du singulier (e. g., Tú puedes estar comiendo tu hamburguesa). Les résultats obtenus après avoir analysé statistiquement la variation dans les données empiriques qui ont été recueillies au moyen d’entrevues révèlent que, tandis que ces immigrants conservent l’usage du double possessif et l’utilisation des adverbes de lieu comme particule finale de la préposition en de manière pratiquement inchangée par rapport à un groupe de contrôle de Boliviens non-immigrants (c’est ce que l’on entend par « divergence »), ils substituent graduellement la préférence du passé composé sur le passé simple pour exprimer des actions qui ont été accomplies dans le passé par une prédilection du passé simple sur le passé composé (e. g., Esta mañana fui a la playa) et intègrent progressivement l’alternance entre les formes verbales standard et les formes verbales vernaculaires du voseo pour exprimer la deuxième personne du singulier (e. g., Cuando tú flotái… y no te sumerges hacia adentro), à l’instar de ce qui se fait dans l’espagnol parlé au Chili (c’est ce que l’on entend par « convergence »). En d’autres termes, on peut affirmer qu’ils incorporent de nouvelles ressources linguistiques dans leur langage, en même temps qu’ils en conservent d’autres sans modifications significatives. On remarque donc que le contact dialectal provoqué par l’immigration bolivienne au Chili a des conséquences linguistiques indéniables qui font ressortir le dynamisme de la langue. En effet, le fait que ces immigrants adoptent de nouvelles ressources linguistiques tandis qu’ils en gardent d’autres sans changements notables met en évidence que les processus de convergence et divergence dialectales ne sont pas exclusifs, mais plutôt inclusifs, c’est-à-dire qu’ils peuvent avoir lieu simultanément au sein de la même communauté linguistique. Enfin, le fait que ces immigrants parlent désormais un dialecte qui n’est équivalent ni au dialecte d’origine ni au dialecte du lieu d’accueil permet d’avancer qu’ils parlent une sorte de dialecte nouveau. / Within the framework of the communication accommodation theory, the present study evaluates the extent to which Spanish-speaking migrants from the Bolivian Andes to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) accommodate their speech to Chilean Spanish, using a comparative sociolinguistics methodology. Four distinctive grammatical features of Andean Spanish were selected for the analysis: the use of the double possessive adjectives (e.g. He ido a su casa de mi marido), the use of adverbs of place as adjuncts of the Spanish preposition en (e.g. Entonces he vivido en allá así como diez años), the preference for the present perfect over the simple past to express the perfective aspect (e.g. El año pasado he ido a visitar a mi madre), and the exclusive use of standard verbal forms to express the second person singular (e.g. Tú puedes estar comiendo tu hamburguesa). Results were obtained from a statistical analysis of variation in the empirical data, which were collected through interviews, and compared with a non-migrant Bolivian control group. The data reveal that, while these migrants maintain a practically unaltered use of both the double possessive adjectives and the adverbs of place as adjuncts of the Spanish preposition en (this is understood as “divergence”), they gradually develop a preference for the present perfect over the simple past to express the perfective aspect by a predilection for the simple past over the present perfect (e.g. Esta mañana fui a la playa), and they progressively adopt an alternation between standard forms and vernacular ones (i.e. voseo) to express the second person singular (e.g. Cuando tu flotái… y no te sumerges hacia adentro), as occurs in Chilean Spanish (this is understood as “convergence”). In other words, the migrants have incorporated new linguistic resources into their speech, while they have simultaneously maintained others without any significant change. The dialect contact situation caused by migrants from the Bolivian Andes to Chile, therefore, has undeniable linguistic consequences, which bring out the dynamic character of the language. Indeed, the fact that these migrants integrate new linguistic resources into their speech while simultaneously maintaining others without serious changes highlights that the processes of dialectal convergence and divergence are not exclusive, but rather inclusive. That is, they can occur simultaneously within the same linguistic community. In conclusion, the fact that these migrants henceforth speak a dialect that is equivalent neither to their original dialect nor to the host dialect supports the claim that they speak a kind of new dialect. / Dentro del marco de la teoría de la acomodación en la comunicación, este trabajo consiste en evaluar en qué medida los inmigrantes hispanohablantes de los Andes bolivianos establecidos en San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) acomodan su habla a la de los hispanohablantes de este país, recurriendo a la metodología de la sociolingüística comparativa. Para ello, se seleccionaron para análisis cuatro marcas gramaticales del español de los Andes: el uso del posesivo doblado (e. g., He ido a su casa de mi marido), la utilización de los adverbios demostrativos de lugar como términos de la preposición en (e. g., Entonces he vivido en allá así como diez años), la preferencia del pretérito perfecto sobre el pretérito indefinido para expresar el aspecto perfectivo (e. g., El año pasado he ido a visitar a mi madre) y el uso exclusivo de las formas verbales del tuteo para referir a la segunda persona del singular (e. g., Tú puedes estar comiendo tu hamburguesa). Los resultados, que se obtuvieron después de haber analizado estadísticamente la variación en los datos empíricos que se recogieron mediante entrevistas, revelan que mientras que estos inmigrantes mantienen el uso del posesivo doblado y la utilización de los adverbios demostrativos de lugar como términos de la preposición en sin cambios aparentes con respecto a un grupo de control constituido por bolivianos que no han emigrado de la zona andina (esto es lo que se entiende por “divergencia”), sustituyen gradualmente la preferencia por el pretérito perfecto frente al indefinido para expresar el aspecto perfectivo por una predilección del pretérito indefinido sobre el perfecto (e. g., Esta mañana fui a la playa), e integran progresivamente la alternancia entre las formas verbales tuteantes y las formas verbales del voseo para referir a la segunda persona del singular (e. g., Cuando tú flotái… y no te sumerges hacia adentro), a la manera de lo que se hace en el español chileno (esto es lo que se entiende por “convergencia”). En otras palabras, se puede afirmar que estos inmigrantes incorporan nuevos recursos lingüísticos en su habla al mismo tiempo que mantienen otros sin modificaciones significativas. Así, pues, se puede considerar que el contacto dialectal provocado por la inmigración boliviana en Chile tiene consecuencias lingüísticas innegables que resaltan el dinamismo de la lengua. Efectivamente, el hecho de que estos inmigrantes adopten nuevos recursos lingüísticos mientras que mantienen otros sin cambios notables pone de manifiesto que los procesos de convergencia y divergencia dialectales no son exclusivos, sino que son más bien inclusivos, es decir, pueden acaecer simultáneamente en el seno de una misma comunidad lingüística. Por último, el hecho de que estos inmigrantes hablen ahora un dialecto que no es equivalente ni al dialecto original ni al dialecto del lugar de acogida permite postular que utilizan una suerte de dialecto nuevo.