This article examines the historical evolution of subject-verb concord in New Zealand English. We investigate the usage of the singular form of be with plural NP subjects (existentials and nonexistentials) over the past 150 years. The results demonstrate that the New Zealand English subject-verb concord system has undergone considerable reorganization during this time. Singular concord in nonexistentials occurred in early New Zealand English, but is now largely absent. In existentials, it steadily declined during the late 19th century, and then reversed this trajectory to become a well established feature of modern New Zealand English. Singular concord in New Zealand English existentials is now conditioned by a range of social and linguistic factors, and largely resembles other varieties in this respect.

No abstract

This article discusses some approaches to the conceptualization of isolation in sociolinguistic research. It argues that isolation is a multifaceted phenomenon with geographic, social and attitudinal implications. Based on evidence from geographically isolated speech communities (mostly islands) and socially isolated ones (socalled Sprachinseln) from around the world, it discusses their potential for variation and change studies, both in terms of synchrony (contact phenomena, language obsolescence or revival and intensification, language and identity, etc.) and diachrony, because they provide showcase scenarios to look into and reconstruct mechanisms of contact linguistics (e.g. new-dialect formation), founder effects, colonial lag, etc.

No abstract

This paper examines the development of a distinct contact-based variety on the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean. It outlines the sociohistorical context of the community as well as its linguistic and sociolinguistic implications, speculating on the original input varieties and processes of contact dynamics, new-dialect formation as well as feature selection and retention that occurred since the island was colonised in 1816. It provides a structural profile and discusses selected grammatical variables of this variety, with the aim of investigating feature selection from the relevant donor sources and identifying differential evolution patterns that occurred in this particular setting, even though it is not always possible to keep these two questions apart.

This monograph series presents scholarly work in an increasingly active area of linguistic research. It deals with a worldwide range of language types and presents both descriptive and theoretically orientated accounts of language change through time. Aimed at the general theoretician as well as the historical specialist, the series seeks to be a meeting ground for a wide range of different styles and methods in historical linguistics.

This paper investigates the regional dimension of new-dialect formation and feature maintenance and loss in early 20th century New Zealand English (NZE). Examining the distribution and status of voiceless labiovelar /hw/ fricatives (which results in an articulatory contrast betweenWalesandwhales, orwitchandwhich) in three selected regions of New Zealand (Otago/Southland, Canterbury, and the North Island), we show that the overall distribution of this feature represents population demographics and ancestral effects, and that its loss and maintenance are conditioned by social criteria (total input of /hw/ retaining donor dialects, settlement type) as well as by linguistic factors (preceding environment, word type). Usage of labiovelar fricatives is strongest in areas that had a high contingent of Scottish settlers and lowest in regions that were predominantly settled by English settlers. Moreover, in all three areas women have higher usage of /hw/ than men, which is of relevance for the reputedly high social status of /hw/ usage and gender-based language differentiation.

No abstract