A standard observation concerning basic constituent order in Old English (OE) is that the position of finite verbs varies by clause type. In root clauses, the finite verb tends to occur toward the beginning of the clause, and we frequently find Verb Second (V2) order. In contrast, in subordinate clauses, finite verbs generally occur toward the end of the clause, and these clauses are frequently verb-final. We challenge the traditional assumption that verb-final orders and, hence, the occurrence of the finite verb in a head-final structural position are rare in OE root clauses. We present new data demonstrating that the frequency of head-final structure in OE root clauses is much higher than previously acknowledged. We then explore some of the implications of this finding for the general structural analysis of OE.

Sui clan exogamy can serve as a laboratory for investigation of dialect contact and immigration. The Sui people, an indigenous minority of southwest China, have marriage customs requiring that a wife and husband have different clan origins, and the wife permanently immigrates to the husband's village at the time of marriage. Due to subtle interclan dialect variation, a married woman may have different dialect features than her husband and other local villagers. This study presents an acoustic analysis of such clan-level variation in lexical tone, a sociotonetic analysis. Results show that the immigrant women maintain the tone variants of their home clan dialects to a high degree despite spending a decade or more in the husband's village, thus illustrating a case where linguistic identity is maintained in the face of close, long-term contact.

This study contributes to innovation and diffusion models by examining phonetic changes in London English. It evaluates Sapir's notion of “drift,” which involves “natural,” unconscious change, in relation to these changes. Investigating parallel developments in two related varieties of English enables drift to be tested in terms of the effect of extralinguistic factors. The diphthongs of price, mouth, face, and goat in both London and New Zealand English are characterized by “Diphthong Shift,” a process that continued unabated in New Zealand. A new, large data set of London speech shows Diphthong Shift reversal, providing counterevidence for drift. We discuss Diphthong Shift and its “reversal” in relation to innovation, diffusion, leveling, and supralocalization, arguing that sociolinguistic factors and dialect contact override natural Diphthong Shift. Studying dialect change in a metropolis, with its large and linguistically innovative minority ethnic population, is of the utmost importance in understanding the dynamics of change.

The results of a study of the variation between the palatal and alveolarpronunciation of the coronal sonorants /l/ and /n/ in a rural Greek communityare presented. The study integrates the methodologies of both large surveys andethnographic studies and shows that there is change in progress as youngerspeakers adopt the alveolar pronunciation through contact with urban varieties.The results of the statistical analysis indicate that the variation isdetermined by factors such as gender, education, attitude toward the localcommunity, and awareness of the variation. The responses given in the interviewsreveal that the palatal pronunciation is stigmatized as vlachika, a term that connotes rural rather than urban,uneducated rather than educated, and naive rather than sophisticated attributes.This information coupled with a closer look at the behavior of particularindividuals helps elucidate aspects of the pattern of variation that at firstappear to be counterintuitive.

In a radical reorganization of its sound system, Charleston has lost most of the distinctive features of the traditional dialect, including monophthongal and ingliding /ey/ (face) and /ow/ (goat). The traditionally back nucleus of /ow/ is now further to the front in Charleston than it is in most other dialects of American English. The fronting is led by the highest-status social group and appears not to conform to the generalization of the curvilinear principle, whereby an intermediately located social group leads linguistic change from below. It is argued that the fronting is not internally motivated, but rather it is being introduced into the dialect as a systematic borrowing. It is a change from above and as such does not bear on the curvilinear principle.