Cognition in sound change: the mate/meat paradox from the listener 's perspective

Authors

  • Javier E. Díaz Vera

Keywords:

linguistic change, mate/meat, Belfast vernacular, sound advancement

Abstract

This paper intends to explore a wide series of questions related to linguistic change from a cognitive point of view. This cognitive approach, propugnated a.o. by Kroch (1989) and Labov (1995), has its basis on Social Psychology, and focuses on the different attitudes of the listener during the process of language decoding. In this case, and taking as our starring point the pronunciation of mare and meat items in the Bevasr vernacular, 1 offer a cognitive interpretation of contemporary and historical data with the following results: the advancement of the sounds in conflict is directly related to the leve1 of misunderstanding they imply in the interaction between speakers and 10 the different strategies developed by the listeners of the next generation in order to avoid such misunderstandings.

Published

02-07-2021

Issue

Section

Artículos