Creolists and variationists often conceptualize variation in multilectal speech communities as a continuum of linearly ordered linguistic features. Using the variationist comparative method, we analyze variation in past tense marking in a creole speech community (Bequia, St Vincent and the Grenadines), comparing across groups of speakers (communities and age-groups) in terms of frequencies of past-marking, language-internal constraints on past-marking and the ranking of factors within those constraints. Based on these multiple lines of evidence, the analysis shows that placing groups on a continuum is not straightforward, in line with local language ideologies. We argue that linear models of variation may reify relationships between varieties in terms of differences that are not sustained across different levels of analysis. We also show that the relationships between lects even in quite small communities are subject to change across generations.
We use the methods of variationist sociolinguistics to explore the acquisition of variable deletion of the final stop in /-Cd/ and /-Ct/ clusters in English. Our speakers are Polish teenagers who migrated to Edinburgh (UK). We compare the frequency of (t,d) deletion in Edinburgh- and Polish-born teens, and compare the constraints on variable (t,d) deletion. We find evidence that the Poles’ acquisition of (t,d) deletion is shaped by phonetic universals. We also consider the impact of L1 transfer – specifically final stop devoicing in Polish – on the acquisition of English (t,d) deletion and find that largely (t,d) deletion is acquired independently of Polish devoicing. The exception may be learners who have been learning English for a very short time, or who are less confident in their target language skills.
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