This paper focuses on the micro-analysis of historical data, which allows us to investigate language use across the lifetime of individual speakers. Certain concepts, such as social network analysis or communities of practice, put individual speakers and their social embeddedness and dynamicity at the center of attention. This means that intra-speaker variation can be described and analyzed in quite

This paper explores intra-individual variation as a manifestation of language-internal multilingualism in the Central-Bavarian Austrian context. Based on speech data from children and adults in different contexts, we discuss different methods of measuring and analyzing inter-situational variation along the dialect and standard language spectrum. By contrasting measures of dialectality, on the one hand

The correlation between external factors such as age, gender, ethnic group membership and language variation is one of the stalwarts of sociolinguistic theory. The repertoire of individual members of speaker groups, vis-à-vis community-wide variation, represents a somewhat slippery ground for developing and testing models of variation and change and has been researched with reference to accommodation

In recent studies in second language (L2) development, notably within the focus of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), non-systematic variation has been extensively studied as intra-individual variation, which we will refer to as variability . This paper argues that variability is functional and is needed for development. With examples of four longitudinal case studies we hope to show that variability

The overall theme of this special issue is intra-individual variation, that is, the observable variation within individuals’ behaviour, which plays an important role in the humanities area as well as in the social sciences. While various fields have recognised the complexity and dynamism of human thought and behaviour, intra-individual variation has received less attention in regard to language acquisition

This article explores intra-individual variation and language change across the lifespan of eight speakers from a small Austrian village. Four phonological variables in two settings (informal conversation vs. formal interview) are traced across longitudinal panel data that span 43 years. The analysis reveals an increase of dialect features (retrograde change), even though apparent-time as well as real-time

This paper explores stylistic variation in the use of word-medial and word-final released and glottalled /t/ in London and Edinburgh. Specifically, it investigates the extent to which the social salience of a linguistic feature constrains individual differences in the degree and direction of intra-individual variation. Variation in the social salience of t-glottalling is explored in two linguistic

This is the first longitudinal study to explore the best time and timing for regular versus bilingual language exposure in (pre)primary programs, using multiple measures over time so as to focus on fluctuations, trends and interactions in individual data as well as intra-individual variation over time. We studied children who had received 50/50 bilingual instruction in German and English (so-called

When intra-individual variation in language use is discussed it tends to be seen as not having much significance. The recognizability of the relation of variants to each other is (usually tacitly) acknowledged; intra-individual variation is often attributed to influence across different varieties of the language in question (and, in L2 variation, also across languages); in addition such variation is

Article Frontmatter was published on February 1, 2021 in the journal Linguistics Vanguard (volume 7, issue s2).

Abstract The collocation I feel like has attracted American media attention for reportedly being newly ubiquitous (Baker 2013, Smith 2015, Worthen 2016). While I have proposed that it is becoming an epistemic marker in North American dialects of English (Brook 2011: 65), I have made this prediction of (it) feels like as well. The present study artificially restricts the conventional envelope of variation

Abstract Repetition avoidance, one characteristic of human cognition, affects human behaviour to a great extent. The present study aims to extend the understanding of repetition avoidance to sentence comprehension in Korean, a language typologically different from the major languages that have been investigated for this issue. I measured the degree of acceptability and reaction times for two types

Abstract Linguistic data collection typically involves conducting interviews with participants in close proximity. The safety precautions related to the COVID-19 pandemic brought such data collection to an abrupt halt: Social distancing forced linguistic fieldwork into involuntary hibernation in many parts of the world. Such hardship, however, can inspire innovation. In this contribution, we present

Abstract Iconicity is a resemblance between form and meaning grounded in perceptuo-motor analogy. In speech, iconicity is understood as words “sounding like what they mean.” Studies on English and Spanish use ratings to identify words speakers consider iconic. Perry et al. (2015) show that English onomatopoeia are rated highest, followed by adjectives/verbs > nouns > function words. Our study replicates

Abstract Language is a system of message transmission, which conveys a variety of messages including both lexical messages and social messages. It has been demonstrated that lexical messages are realized with phonetically reduced signals, when they are contextually predictable. For example, a word may be produced with shorter duration, when it is more predictable given a context such as a preceding

Abstract The majority of Greek and Semitic words found in the Latin version of St John’s Gospel express specific biblical terms, closely connected with Jewish and Christian religion and culture, but almost entirely unknown to most of the English population until the evangelisation that took place in the 7th century. The comparison of the Old and Middle English translations of the Latin source text

Abstract This paper offers an overview of current research into the contact between English and Celtic, both in its historical and geographical dimensions. It attempts to classify contact scenarios by their type and the linguistic effects they engender. A number of examples are discussed which illustrate typical contact effects, and generalizations are made about contact-induced language change which

Abstract This article discusses the relation between impersonal constructions and the reflexive use of psych verbs of the admire-type (Levin 1993) copied from Old French to Middle English. The outset of the study is an observation made by van der Gaaf (1904) which was commented on by Fischer (1992) concerning the reflexive use of verbs like remembren (Old French remembrer) in the course of the development

Abstract Historical language contact has generally been approached qualitatively through the examination of different linguistic and extralinguistic factors. By contrast, frequency patterns, although widely acknowledged in other linguistic fields, have not received a great deal of attention in the contact linguistics literature. This paper attempts to bridge this methodological gap through the application

Abstract Profanity has attracted much scholarly attention for the reason that swearing, oaths, and insults “manifest language use in its most highly charged state” (Taavitsainen 1997: 815). This article examines the possible functions of swearing per membra Christi [by Christ’s limbs], starting with a particularly revealing example from a group of late medieval pedagogical dialogues, the Manières de

Abstract This article presents the state of the art of current research on the different types of language contact in early English. The article’s main aim is to show what kinds of phenomena have been investigated until now as possible areas of transfer/borrowing from other languages. We examine the main contact scenarios in Old and Middle English, which involve Latin, Celtic, French and Old Norse

Abstract Argument Structure constructions – abstract, schematic constructions that are considered to encode basic human event construals – have received considerable attention in the constructionist literature. At the same time, languages sometimes also possess what can be considered Marginal Argument constructions that are partly lexically filled and considerably more specialized in meaning, such

Abstract Forced aligners have revolutionized sociophonetics, but while there are several forced aligners available, there are few systematic comparisons of their performance. Here, we consider four major forced aligners used in sociophonetics today: MAUS, FAVE, LaBB-CAT and MFA. Through comparisons with human coders, we find that both aligner and phonological context affect the quality of automated

Abstract This paper considers the relative influence on sociophonetic interpretation of /s/ using “static” and “dynamic” acoustic analysis, where dynamic refers to the use of measures which capture the time-varying nature of segmental acoustics, and static to measures which are taken at a single point, or from an average across the sound (Watson and Harrington 1999, Docherty et al. 2015). Static and

Abstract Sociolinguistic data collection traditionally includes interviews, reading passages, and word lists (Labov 1972). Researchers have increasingly sought out elicitation tasks that have the benefits of tasks based on reading aloud (e.g., studying infrequently occurring variables; controlling for linguistic factors; eliciting the same lexical items across participants) while also eliciting styles

Abstract Forensic speech science is the application of speech analysis methods to forensic recordings; in many jurisdictions this is predominantly the application of sociophonetics. Sociophonetics and forensic speech science have developed as independent research areas with their own aims, methodologies and identities, and the gap between the fields has arguably grown bigger in recent years. Yet, there

Innovation is a buzzword at many levels of society, business and science. We as researchers are constantly urged to focus on the new and the ground-breaking, and onmoving forward to new frontiers, enabling exploration of new knowledge in new combinations and from new perspectives. This as is true of sociophonetics, the study of socially grounded phonetic variation, as it is of any discipline. Technological

Abstract This paper contributes insight into the sources of variability in vowel formant estimation, a major analytic activity in sociophonetics, by reviewing the outcomes of two simulations that manipulated the settings used for linear predictive coding (LPC)-based vowel formant estimation. Simulation 1 explores the range of frequency differences obtained when minor adjustments are made to LPC settings

Abstract Regional varieties of Danish are distinguished mainly by prosodic cues, in particular the tonal stress group pattern. We test the hypothesis that prosody is a strong cue for identifying the regional background of speakers. This hypothesis was studied using an online survey in which listeners were asked to identify the origin of speakers based on examples from four different regional varieties

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the performance and usability of automatic speech processing tools on six different varieties of English spoken in the British Isles. The tools used in the present study were developed for use with Mainstream American English, but we demonstrate that their forced alignment functionality nonetheless performs extremely well on a range of British varieties,

Abstract This study examines the production and perception of corrective focus in South Kyungsang Korean, using phone number strings. It shows that focus prosody varies greatly by tonal pattern (HHL, HLL, LHT, LHL) within phrases. Prosodic focus in High-initial phrases was clearly produced and accurately recognized, compared to that in Low-initial phrases. Additionally, the identification rate of HLL

Abstract In order to be able to answer a natural language question, a computational system needs three main capabilities. First, the system needs to be able to analyze the question into a structured query, revealing its component parts and how these are combined. Second, it needs to have access to relevant knowledge sources, such as databases, texts or images. Third, it needs to be able to execute

Abstract This article provides an introduction to Nanosyntax – an approach to the syntax/lexicon interaction originating from work by Michal Starke. I present some of the motivation for allowing lexical items to replace whole phrases rather than only terminal elements, present the basic principles taken to govern the lexicalization procedure and show how syncretism patterns are handled in Nanosyntax

Abstract This article discusses certain problems that arise when the basic tenets of Nansyntax are employed in an analysis of syncretism patterns in multidimensional paradigms and presents and evaluate different solutions to these problems. The article is intended as a follow-up to my article an introduction to Nanosyntax.

Abstract This paper examines cross-linguistic influence in morphology among adult monolingual and heritage speakers (Arabic-English and Chinese-English). Participants performed a task requiring them to form past tenses for English nonce words. Arabic-English bilinguals produced significantly more vowel change past tenses than either English monolinguals or Chinese-English bilinguals. We attribute the

Abstract Most nations in mainland Southeast Asia and elsewhere have one national language as a focus of national identity and unity, supported by a language policy which promotes and develops this language. Indigenous and immigrant minority groups within each nation may be marginalized; their languages may become endangered. Some of the official national language policies and ethnic policies of mainland

Abstract Creativity is an important evolutionary adaptation that allows humans to think original thoughts, to find solutions to problems that have never been encountered before and to fundamentally change the way we live. One particular domain of human cognition that has received considerable attention is linguistic creativity. The present paper discusses how the leading cognitive linguistic theory

Abstract Noun phrase word order varies cross-linguistically, however, two distributional asymmetries have attracted substantial attention. First, the most common orders place adjectives closest to the noun, then numerals, then demonstratives (e.g., N-Adj-Num-Dem). Second, exceptions to this are restricted to post-nominal position (e.g., N-Dem-Num-Adj, but not, for instance, Adj-Num-Dem-N). These observations

Abstract Studies of variation in continuous speech converge towards the conclusion that in everyday speech, words are often produced with reduced variants: some segments are shortened or completely absent. We describe an initiative to automatically exploit spoken corpora, in order to better understand linguistic behavior in spontaneous speech. This study focuses on the reduction of the postposed definite

Abstract Indicative conditionals are known to have the semantic property of nonveridicality, that is, they do not entail the truth of the antecedent. In this paper, I argue that the nonveridicality property of indicative conditionals is elastic in that it can be affected by the choice of conditional connectives and negative polarity items. Two experiments are reported, one on German and the other on

Abstract The concept of conditionality is central to human thought and action. Conditionals are thus a widely studied topic in cognitive science. The present paper introduces the main topics addressed in this special issue and aims to provide a non-exhaustive overview of the recent research on grammatical aspects of conditionals (i.e. morphosyntax, semantics and pragmatics) and conditional reasoning

Abstract In this short paper I give a description of salient structural and semantic properties of adnominal conditional clauses in German, drawn from online corpora (cf. Lasersohn 1996 for the English counterpart). Facts from prosody tentatively indicate, and from Binding, DP-internal distribution and extraposition more distinctively suggest, the paper’s main conclusion: Syntactically, adnominal conditionals

Abstract In recent years, a number of arguments have been put forward stating that regular conditional clauses preceding their matrix clause are derived by means of movement: They are base-generated low in the tree and then moved to the high clause-initial position. Using data from English and German, I show in this short paper that these arguments carry over straightforwardly to less canonical conditional

Abstract This paper discusses word order effects in German adverbial clauses: often, the matrix clause can exhibit either V2 or V3 word order. I argue that adverbial clauses with V3 word order have an obligatory ‘biscuit’ interpretation and receive a speech act modifying interpretation, as has previously only been argued for ‘biscuit conditionals’. I show that this phenomenon holds more generally.

Abstract It is a common intuition that the antecedent of an indicative conditional should have something to do with its consequent, that they should be somehow connected. In fact, many conditionals sound unacceptable precisely because they seem to suggest a connection which is not there. Although the majority of semantic theories of conditionals treat this phenomenon as something pragmatic, for instance

Abstract The relationship between community-wide change and patterns of variation and change within the individual is one of the cornerstones of variationist theorising. But while sociolinguistic theory makes clear and testable predictions regarding the use of stable vernacular features across the life-span of the individual, we lack real-time evidence on the age-graded nature of stable variability

Abstract The study asked whether there are age-related differences in the Implicit Causality values (IC-values) of transitive verbs in younger and older adults. The results are expected to support either linguistic accounts or world-knowledge accounts of the origin of Implicit Causality. Using the traditional sentence-completion task (John VERBs Mary, because …) 124 verbs were investigated in a group

Abstract We used self-paced reading to examine whether stereotypical associations of verbs with women or men as prototypical agents (e.g. the craftsman knits a sweater) are activated during sentence processing in dementia patients and healthy older adults. Effects of stereotypical knowledge on language processing have frequently been observed in young adults, but little is known about age-related changes

Abstract Recent studies documenting the real-time details of human interactions have revealed the way in which artefacts in the immediate physical surround facilitate the display and demonstration of knowledge. The museum setting in which physically present objects prompt and support visitor displays of knowledge is particularly well-suited for individuals managing symptoms related to memory loss as

Abstract This paper examines the use of self-repairs in ascribing old-age categorisations to self and others in casual interactions among friends. Membership categorisation analysis and conversation analysis are employed to analyse self-recorded, everyday conversations of a group of older Greek Cypriot women with a long interactional history. The interactional organisation of old-age labels, and specifically

Abstract The BIT, BING, BET, BAT, BAN, BOOK, and BUT vowels of ten Utah English speakers (born 1883–1928) were analyzed over the course of several decades of their adult lives. Most speakers participated in the Western Vowel System by lowering BIT and BET, retracting BAT, and raising BAN, with some fronting BOOK and BUT. Speakers generally did not exhibit monotonic change across the years from expected

Abstract The article identifies and describes conversational practices used by persons with dementia and their interlocutors to account for the former’s lack of knowledge in cases where information about their personal experiences is made relevant and expectable at a specific point in a conversation. First, they may seek to normalize the lack of knowledge by claiming that it would be difficult for

Abstract This paper reviews theoretical and methodological advances and issues in lifespan research and discusses how the issues at stake are addressed in an ongoing research project. Summarizing the state of the art, we conclude that next to nothing is known about lifespan changes affecting syntactic or grammaticalizing constructions that goes beyond exploratory or anecdotal evidence. The Mind-Bending

Abstract In addition to memory loss, progressive deterioration of speech and language skills is among the main symptoms at the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as well as in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Detailed interview analyses demonstrated early symptoms years before the onset of AD/MCI. Automatic speech processing could be a promising approach to identifying underlying mechanisms in larger

Abstract The research presented in this paper is based on audio-recordings from a Japanese care facility. I focus on interactional tempo differences between residents and staff. The analysis concentrates on two interrelated phenomena that can be taken as indications of hurriedness on the part of the care workers: overlaps and turn repetitions. Presenting examples for each of the two, I also show that

Abstract In older Japanese women’s conversational interactions associated with psychologically challenging conditions such as experiences of illness and a husband’s death, there are segments told from a quotidian (or ordinary) perspective, i.e. a perspective that is affectively incongruous with the situation. With this quotidian (re)framing of their “painful” experiences, the participants collaboratively

Abstract Our introduction to the special collection gives an overview of the research projects which were originally presented at the third CLARe network conference. We group the research under four cross-sectional topics that unite the different contributions: the data used in the research, the theoretical frameworks, the languages and varieties which are represented and the situational contexts which

Abstract This article analyses how caregivers use affective touch as a resource to facilitate interaction. Through touch, caregivers construct positive socio-emotional relationships with their residents. The analysis of micro-level interaction is based on an interactional sociolinguistic framework, and reveals how caregivers display affection and intimacy while assisting the residents in everyday situations

Abstract In the fifty years since Robert Butler coined the term, ageism remains one of the most widely-experienced forms of discrimination in Europe. Some forms of ageism seem overt and easy-to-identify; in many cases, though, it is invisible and deeply rooted in everyday life. This applies, too, to ageism-in-interaction, which, as I argue in this paper, can be very subtle, deeply embedded in a web

Abstract In a study of word shortening of HAVE and contraction of BE, it is found that both high transitional probability and high average context probability (low informativity) result in reduction. Previous studies have found this effect for content words and this study extend the findings to function words. Average context probability is by construction type, showing that words are shorter in constructions