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Variation and Change in Sark Norman French 1
Author(s) -
Jones Mari C.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
transactions of the philological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-968X
pISSN - 0079-1636
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-968x.2012.01288.x
Subject(s) - variation (astronomy) , lexis , obsolescence , extant taxon , linguistics , phonology , variety (cybernetics) , history , language change , computer science , philosophy , artificial intelligence , geology , paleontology , astrophysics , physics , evolutionary biology , biology
With fewer than twenty remaining speakers, Sark Norman French (Sercquais) is the most vulnerable extant variety of insular Norman. It is therefore essential that the dialect is analysed and documented while native speakers remain. By comparing recent new data with forms recorded in previous decades by two linguistic atlases, this study examines variation and change in the phonology of Sercquais and sketches some areas of interest in the dialect’s lexis. Following Dorian (1994), the study further suggests that not all cases of widespread variation in dying languages should be automatically attributed to the process of obsolescence.