In the Arabic-speaking world, sociopolitical upheaval, extended conflict and population displacement have triggered extensive contact between mutually intelligible varieties of the language. Notwithstanding these developments, Arabic sociolinguistic research on dialect contact settings remains limited to certain well-documented areas (e.g., Al-Wer 2020), with markedly less research targeting other locales believed to be highly propitious to convergent change, such as the long-term contact situation in Lebanon involving Lebanese and Palestinian Arabic (Fityan 1981; Hennessey 2011). Furthermore, few studies are embedded in a (comparative) variationist sociolinguistic framework (Owens 2013), and even fewer studies are articulated from a socio-historical perspective incorporating diachronic data sources with which to better understand the process of language change in Arabic (Owens 2013). Much previous research on Arabic dialects is also based on investigations of phonological variation (Al-Wer and de Jong 2018), with correspondingly less attention paid to (morpho-)syntactic variation (Choueiri 2019). The present study aims to address existing lacunae in the research literature by investigating the outcomes of dialect contact in Beirut between Palestinian Arabic (PA), the minority variety, and Lebanese Arabic (LA), the majority variety. Drawing on the framework of comparative variationist sociolinguistics (Poplack and Tagliamonte 2001) as well as research on dialect contact (Britain and Trudgill 2005), this study combines synchronic and diachronic data sources to compare three variables in LA and PA: a phonological variable, involving the word-medial raising of /a:/ to [e:] (e.g., [ka:n] alternating with [ke:n] 'he/it was'); and two morpho-syntactic variables: verbal negation and future temporal reference. The overarching aim of the research is to examine the extent to which PA shows evidence, as gauged from linguistic constraints on variant selection and variant repertoires, of becoming more structurally similar to LA in different linguistic components (Cheshire, Kerswill, and Williams 2005). The synchronic data come from 45 hours of spontaneous speech recorded in Beirut from 39 Palestinian and 27 Lebanese speakers stratified by age, sex, and level of education, generating 7,671 tokens representing the three targeted variables. A further 15,381 tokens of these three variables come from two diachronic datasets. The first is a sub-set of speech recordings from the Palestinian Oral History Archive, an online compendium of interviews with first-generation (older) Palestinians in Lebanon, recorded between the 1990s and early 2000s. The second diachronic dataset is the Lebanese Popular Theatre Corpus (LPTC), based on 34 televised plays dating from the 1960s and performed in colloquial LA. Results reveal that the [e:] variant, a stereotypical feature of LA, but not emblematic of PA spoken in Beirut (Hennessey 2011), is virtually absent from the speech of the older Palestinian generation in the synchronic and diachronic datasets, but it increases significantly in the speech of young (third-generation) Palestinian speakers, who replicate the linguistic conditioning of variant selection in LA. These results bolster the inference of contact-induced change in PA due to the influence of LA. With respect to verbal negation, the findings show that there is convergent change in terms of overall variant rates in this variable system in PA. Evidence suggests that this variable system is undergoing dialect levelling as a result of contact, with socially marked minority variants diminishing over time in the speech of educated Palestinians. The future temporal reference system, however, seems to be less amenable to contact-induced change, despite similarities in surface forms between LA and PA. Results indicate that this variable system is undergoing an internal change in PA independent of contact with LA, which is led by young, educated speakers, in line with what has been observed in PA spoken outside Lebanon (AbuAmsha 2016). Viewed in the aggregate, the results show that even though it is claimed that (morpho-) syntactic variables may be less susceptible to convergent change than phonological variables (Cheshire et al. 2005; Hinskens et al. 2005), we do not find a neat division between phonology and morpho-syntax. Word-medial imala is overtly commented on and explicitly identified by the targeted Palestinian speech community as a marker of Lebanese speech. Its iconic association with Lebanese speech patterns renders it particularly susceptible to long-term dialect accommodation for some Palestinians. Verbal negation is also subject to social evaluation, as gauged from explicit speaker meta-commentary, and socially marked exponents appear vulnerable to attrition over time. By contrast, the expression of the future temporal reference appears less socially indexical than the other variables and is not subject to normative commentary or overt correction. These differences implicate the social salience of the targeted variables as a key factor influencing their susceptibility to convergence. Situating the results in a wider perspective, the findings highlight the utility of the comparative variationist framework in elucidating the process of language change in spoken Arabic, especially in PA as spoken in Beirut, as well as in distinguishing contact-induced change from internally-motivated change. The results of this study indicate that the effects of dialect contact, and critically, the existence of contact-induced change cannot be fully understood without using a multi-faceted comparative approach incorporating horizontal and vertical comparisons. The results converge in demonstrating that an empirically accountable quantitative approach based on actual speech data is capable of transcending the limitations of alternative frameworks of analysis that have been used to investigate change in dialect contact scenarios in the Arabic-speaking world.

This thesis is a comparative sociolinguistic study which describes and compares language choice among people with Hungarian background in Sweden and Finland and studies their views on the importance of the Hungarian language and Hungarian cultural heritage for identity. The future prospects of language maintenance and language shift and differences between the Swedish-Hungarians and the Finnish-Hungarians are discussed. A survey was completed among 50 Swedish-Hungarian informants and 38 Finnish-Hungarian informants during 2006. The survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews with 15 informants during 2007. The majority language, either Swedish or Finnish, is much more active in the second-generation Hungarians’ lives than Hungarian is. Hungarian is mostly used in the domain of family relations. The language choices made today are dependent on the informant’s situation during childhood, particularly the parents’ usage of the language and the ability to learn and use Hungarian, chiefly gained through contact with the parents’ mother country and other Hungarian speakers. For some informants, having Hungarian roots forms the sole foundation for belonging, while for others it is this heritage combined with the culture, the ability to use the language or specific character traits. The Hungarian background is most often seen as a treasure offering diversity in life. Finnish-Hungarians are generally more positive about their Hungarian background, have better competence in the language and a greater awareness of the culture than Swedish-Hungarians. The Hungarian language plays a central though often symbolic role. The most important conditions for minority language preservation are language competence together with the desire and opportunity to use it; whereof the largest deficit among second-generation Hungarians is knowledge of the Hungarian language. Only one-fourth of the informants have all of the conditions necessary to be able to maintain the language, which means that Hungarian is an endangered minority language in Sweden and Finland.

This thesis is a comparative sociolinguistic study which describes and compares language choice among people with Hungarian background in Sweden and Finland and studies their views on the importance of the Hungarian language and Hungarian cultural heritage for identity. The future prospects of language maintenance and language shift and differences between the Swedish-Hungarians and the Finnish-Hungarians are discussed. A survey was completed among 50 Swedish-Hungarian informants and 38 Finnish-Hungarian informants during 2006. The survey was supplemented by in-depth interviews with 15 informants during 2007. The majority language, either Swedish or Finnish, is much more active in the second-generation Hungarians’ lives than Hungarian is. Hungarian is mostly used in the domain of family relations. The language choices made today are dependent on the informant’s situation during childhood, particularly the parents’ usage of the language and the ability to learn and use Hungarian, chiefly gained through contact with the parents’ mother country and other Hungarian speakers. For some informants, having Hungarian roots forms the sole foundation for belonging, while for others it is this heritage combined with the culture, the ability to use the language or specific character traits. The Hungarian background is most often seen as a treasure offering diversity in life. Finnish-Hungarians are generally more positive about their Hungarian background, have better competence in the language and a greater awareness of the culture than Swedish-Hungarians. The Hungarian language plays a central though often symbolic role. The most important conditions for minority language preservation are language competence together with the desire and opportunity to use it; whereof the largest deficit among second-generation Hungarians is knowledge of the Hungarian language. Only one-fourth of the informants have all of the conditions necessary to be able to maintain the language, which means that Hungarian is an endangered minority language in Sweden and Finland.

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.