Ethnicity and Language Change: English in (London)Derry, Northern Ireland

265 Pages·2001·1.128 MB·

by  Kevin McCafferty

ETHNICITY AND LANGUAGE CHANGE
IMPACT: STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY
IMPACT publishes monographs, collective volumes, and text books on topics in
sociolinguistics and language pedagogy. The scope of the series is broad, with
special emphasis on areas such as language planning and language policies;
language conflict and language death; language standards and language change;
dialectology; diglossia; discourse studies; language and social identity (gender,
ethnicity, class, ideology); and history and methods of sociolinguistics
GENERAL EDITOR
Annick De Houwer (University of Antwerp)
ADVISORY BOARD
Ulrich Ammon (Gerhard Mercator University, Duisburg)
Laurie Bauer (Victoria University of Wellington)
Paul Drew (University of York)
Anna Escobar (University of Illinois at Carbondale)
Guus Extra (Katholieke Universiteit Brabant)
Margarita Hidalgo (San Diego State University)
Richard A. Hudson (University College London)
William Labov (University of Pennsylvania)
Elizabeth Lanza (University of Oslo)
Joseph Lo Bianco (The Australian National University)
Peter Nelde (Katholieke Universiteit Brussels)
Dennis Preston (Michigan State University)
Jeanine Treffers-Daller (University of West England, Bristol)
Vic Webb (University of Pretoria)
Volume 7
Kevin McCafferty
Ethnicity and Language Change
English in (London)Derry, Northern Ireland
ETHNICITY AND
LANGUAGE CHANGE
English in (London)Derry, Northern Ireland
KEVIN McCAFFERTY
University of Tromsø
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM / PHILADELPHIA
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8 American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCafferty, Kevin.
Ethnicity and language change: English in (London)Derry, Northern Ireland / Kevin
McCafferty.
p. cm. -- (Impact : Studies in Language and Society, ISSN 1385-7908 ; v. 7)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
1. English language--Dialects--Northern Ireland--Londonderry. 2. English language--
Variation--Northern Ireland--Londonderry. 3. Londonderry (Northern Ireland)--Social con-
ditions. 4. Londonderry (Northern Ireland)--Ethnic relations. 5. Ethnic groups--Northern
Ireland--Londonderry. 6. Ethnicity--Northern Ireland--Londonderry. 7. Londonderry
(Northern Ireland)--Languages. I. Title. II. Impact (Series: Amsterdam, Netherlands); v. 7.
PE2589.L66M38 2000
427’.941621--dc21 00-064203
ISBN 90 272 1838 2 (Eur.) / 1 58811 002 8 (US) (alk. paper) CIP
© 2001 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. • P.O.Box 75577 • 1070 AN Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
For Anniken

Contents
Maps xi
Tables xiii
Figures xv
Abbreviations xvii
Acknowledgements xix
1. Introduction: a question of ethnicity 1
Principles and practices 1
Outline of the book 4
2. Fieldwork and methods 7
Directions 7
Participant observation and interviews 7
Tapes and informants 19
Social factors and analysis 24
Ethnicity 24
Sex 25
Age 26
Social class 26
Social network 27
A comparative study 29
The gravity model 29
Varbrul analysis 31
Data extraction . . . 31
3. Sociolinguistics in Northern Ireland 35
Ignore it … deny it … talk about something else … 35
An alternative Ulster 37
East to west: ethnic divergence in Belfast I 39
Related Belfast-area studies 47
Maclaran: ethnic divergence in Belfast II 48
Owens: ethnic divergence in Belfast III 50
viii ETHNICITY AND LANGUAGE CHANGE
Pitts: ethnicity in Lurgan 51
Other sociolinguistic work 54
Sociolinguistic Ulster c. 1984 54
Douglas-Cowie: ethnicity and language in Articlave? 55
Kingsmore: problems with ethnicity in Coleraine 57
Todd vs Millar: the great eighties ethnicity debate 59
Ethnic divergence in Armagh and political speech 61
Conclusion 63
4. Northern Ireland ethnicity 67
Ethnicity sociolinguistic vs ethnicity cultural 67
Social boundaries 70
Folk models, or principles and practices 76
Boundaries and crossings 79
Scene-setting 79
Ethnic maps: residential and activity segregation 82
Denying differences, establishing principles 104
Sectarianism: avoidance and active denial 104
‘Some of my best friends …’: four case studies 106
Open sectarianism 119
Denial in fiction and politics 123
Principles and practices 125
5. Phonological variation and change in LDE 131
(London)Derry English: an overview 131
A quick description of LDE 132
Changes in LDE 136
Variable (or) 137
Variable (εr) 139
Variable (e) 144
Variable (ð) 149
Variable ((cid:2)) 157
The progress of changes in LDE 166
(or) in LDE: a recent merger 166
(εr) in LDE: another emergent merger 171
(e) in LDE: a change apace 176
(ð) in LDE: the meaning of mothers, bro’ers, and ollers 184
((cid:2)) in LDE: p[(cid:3)]lling together, p[(cid:2)]shin’ apart? 195
CONTENTS ix
Findings summarised 200
6. Conclusion: ethnicity and change in LDE 209
Ethnicity in previous sociolinguistics 210
Findings social 210
Findings sociolinguistic 212
Cultural language study 214
Appendix: Transcription conventions and glossary 217
References 221
Index 241