The concepts of change from above (CFA) and change from below (CFB) have been employed by sociolinguists for decades: but 'above' and 'below' what exactly? Popularised by William Labov, these terms are most frequently used to describe complementary, highly distinct processes of language change. Subsequent interpretations have subtly altered the definitions of these terms, and as a result, CFA and CFB have been used to refer to different things by different people. Often, the resultant phenomena are not as complementary or distinct as they first seem. This article analyses the various interpretations of CFA and CFB with an aim to clarify how the terms have been used, and to propose a new and thorough taxonomical model for linguistic phenomena. Leading scholarly viewpoints are examined (Labov 1972, Crystal 1987, Ferguson 1987, Wolfram and Schilling-Estes 1998, Ellis 1999, Romaine 2003 inter alia), and three bifurcating axes are formed, revealing what 'above' and 'below' variously relate to. The axes of +/-metacommentary, +/-overt prestige and +/-planned will be explained and formed into a three-dimensional model of linguistic phenomena, thus constituting an innovative development in the ongoing debate surrounding CFA and CFB.
This article examines de jure language officialization policies in Andorra and Luxembourg, and addresses how these are discursively reproduced, sustained or challenged by members of resident migrant communities in the two countries. Although the two countries bear similarities in their small size, extensive multilingualism and the pride of place accorded to the ‘small’ languages of Catalan and Luxembourgish respectively, they have adopted different strategies as regards according official status to the languages spoken there. We start by undertaking a close reading of language policy documents and highlight the ways that they are informed by ‘strategic ambiguity’, wherein certain key elements are deliberately left open to interpretation via a range of textual strategies. We then conduct a thematic analysis of individual speaker testimonies to understand how this strategic ambiguity impacts on the ways that speakers negotiate fluid multilingual practices while also having to navigate rigid monolingual regimes. In given contexts, these hierarchies privilege Catalan in Andorra and Luxembourgish in Luxembourg, particularly in relation to the regimentation of migrants' linguistic behaviour. In this way, the paper provides insights into the complex ideological fields in which small languages are situated and demonstrates the ways in which language policy is intertwined with issues of power and dominance.
This article explores the potential role of attitudes as motivating factors in language variation and change. This study represents an important departure from existing scholarship through its consideration of quantitative measures of language attitudes as factors in multivariate analyses of linguistic data. Four morphosyntactic variables in Northern Catalan (an obsolescent variety spoken in France) will be examined in order to determine which factors significantly correlate with use of local or supralocal variants. Linear regression modelling reveals firm correlations for two of the variables, wherein positive evaluations of Catalan varieties on the status dimension (cf. Carranza & Ryan, 1975; Woolard, 1989, inter alia) align with supralocal variant use. We will see that attitudes can be helpful in uncovering motivations for language variation, but that qualitative ideological data are indispensable in the interpretation of findings.
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