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Convergent explanation and alternative regularization patterns: Were/weren't leveling in a vernacular English variety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Natalie Schilling-Estes  and
Walt Wolfram
Natalie Schilling-Estes
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University
Walt Wolfram
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University
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Abstract

Although the process of analogical leveling seems relatively straightforward and its directionality readily predictable, the existence of cross-dialectal leveling alternatives suggests that the processes that actuate and embed analogical leveling can actually be quite complex. Using the case of a vernacular variety spoken on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, we demonstrate how linguistic-systemic principles such as remorphologization, psycholinguistic principles of perceptual saliency, and sociolinguistic processes of symbolic identity converge to account for the development and maintenance of leveling to weren't (I/you/(s)he/we/ you/they weren't here) in this post-insular island community.

Type
Research Article
Information
Language Variation and Change , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , October 1994 , pp. 273 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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