[lingtalks] William Labov to speak at USC

[Karma Dolma]

           USC Linguistics Department Colloquium Series presents:

 

    William Labov

     University of Pennsylvania

 

 

  

Reconciling the family tree 

and wave models of linguistic change

 

   Friday, March 24, 2006 11:00 am - 12:30 pm  SGM 101 

 

 

Abstract

 

This presentation will attempt to reconcile the family tree and wave models
of linguistic change in a more general theory of language transmission and
diffusion. Linguistic change within a community produces regular patterns of
incrementation characteristic of the family tree model, while diffusion
across communities shows a weakening and loss of structural features. It is
proposed that this is the result of differences between the language
learning abilities of children and adults. Evidence will be drawn from the
recently published Atlas of North American English. One case involves the
diffusion of the NYC system for tensing short-a to four other communities.
In each case, the basic phonetic pattern is copied but grammatical and
structural constraints are missing.  The diffusion of the Northern Cities
Chain Shift from Chicago to Saint Louis shows a transfer of a number of
individual sound changes, but the structural connections of the shift are
missing.

 

www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/linguistics

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