CONVERGING FEATURES IN THE ENGLISHES OF NORTH AMERICA

Authors

  • J K. Chambers

Keywords:

Sociolinguistics, language change, standardization, Canadian English

Abstract

Among many changes in progress in the Englishes of North America, several have the unusual property of leveling variants in what were heretofore standard varieties. For instance, certain variants in Northern U. S. English are being supplanted to variants .favoured in Canadian English, and vice-versa. In this paper, I describe three specific changes of this kind: the spread qf Canadian Raising to the United States, and the standardization of two irregular past tense forms. dove for dived and snuck for sneaked. The progress of the changes illustrates the way in which standard dialects are converging to form a supernational standard.

Author Biography

J K. Chambers

Department of Linguistics University of Toronto Canada

Issue

Section

Artículos