Generations, lifespans, and the zeitgeist

Abstract

Abstract:This paper is equal parts methodological recommendation and an empirical investigation of the time dimensions of linguistic change. It is increasingly common in the sociolinguistic literature for researchers to utilize speech data which was collected over the course of many decades. These kinds of datasets contain three different time dimensions that researchers can utilize to investigate language change: i) the speakers' dates of birth, ii) the speakers' ages at the time of the recording, and iii) the date of the recording. Proper investigation of all three time dimensions is crucial for a theoretical understanding of the dynamics of language change. I recommend utilizing two dimensional tensor product smooths, fit over speakers' date of birth and the year of the recording, to analyze the contribution of these three time dimensions to linguistic changes. I apply this method to five language changes, based on data drawn from the Philadelphia Neighborhood Corpus. I find relatively weak evidence for lifespan effects in these changes, robust generational effects, and in one case, evidence of a zeitgeist effect.

Dialect loss in the Russian North: Modeling change across variables

“…According to a large range of literature (e.g., Bowie & Yaeger-Dror, 2014; Fruehwald, 2017; Labov et al, 2013; Sankoff & Blondeau, 2007), lifespan change can lead to underestimation of the rate of change. However, while lifespan changes can differ strongly across variables and speakers (but see discussion in Labov [2001]), they are generally not seen to be strong enough to undermine the results of apparent time studies.…”

“…Both show that there is a statistically significant change in time (as opposed to the null hypothesis of absence of change), but do not necessarily reflect its dynamics. Problems with the application of linear regression models to change in progress are discussed in Fruehwald (2017), who notes that language change does not have to be linear. He refers to Labov et al’s (2013) study of vowel shift in Philadelphia that shows changes in different directions at different points in the twentieth century.…”

“…The so-called “fixed route hypothesis” stipulates that there is a certain hierarchy by which variables are lost across speakers (Trudgill, 1986:20), as captured in implicational scales (Rickford, 2002); however, the implicational models involved are suitable only for categorical data, not for corpus frequencies as used here. Other studies that used statistically elaborate methods to compare variables are Labov, Rosenfelder, and Fruehwald (2013), who, however, primarily focused on how dynamics of individual variables depend on sex or education level; and Fruehwald (2017), who compared different variables with a view to detect their sensitivity to lifespan and generational change rather than to compare their general characteristics.…”

Variable stem-final fricative voicing in American English plurals: Different pa[ð ~ θ]s of change

“…5.In fact, Fruehwald (2017) addressed this same question using data from five different language changes in the PNC: are the observed age effects the result of age-grading or of generational change? He found generational change to be much more common across the five changes than age-grading is.…”

Phonotactics, prophylaxis, acquisitionism and change: *Rime-xxŋ and ash-tensing in the history of English

“…32 This is also Dresher's (2015, 515) position, for example: "without claiming that all language change originates in acquisition, it appears unavoidable that certain types of changes do." It is notable also thatFruehwald (2017), after a detailed investigation of data for several changes from several decades, finds lifespan change in only a minority of the changes involved: it seems that lifespan change is possible, but is not part of all changes.…”