An English “like no other”?: Language Contact and Change in Quebec

Author(s):  
Shana Poplack ◽  
James A. Walker ◽  
Rebecca Malcolmson

AbstractAlthough the received wisdom is that English in Quebec, as a minority language, has undergone contact-induced language change, little scientific evidence has been brought to bear on this claim. We describe a project designed to assess the impact of a majority language on the structure of the minority language in a situation of long-term contact. The existence and directionality of change is assessed by comparing the behaviour of linguistic phenomena (1) over (apparent) time, (2) according to intensity of contact, and (3) against French as a non-contact benchmark and putative source. We detail the methods employed in selecting a sample and constituting a corpus, and characterize the speakers and aspects of their speech. Finally, we present an analysis of the sociolinguistic situation of the Quebec anglophone community, and offer an empirical measure of the impact of the French lexicon on Quebec English.

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 243-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Richard Tucker

Various facets of the general topic of multilingualism, including language contact, have been dealt with in previous ARAL volumes (e.g., under separate entries in volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, and 15) and as a major substantive focus in volumes 6, 14 and 17. Nonetheless, it does not seem at all surprising that we return to the specific topic of language contact and change in volume 23 given the worldwide incidence of the phenomenon and the attention, and often controversy, which various aspects of language contact, language change or language loss arouses. Thus, I find it interesting that, within the past 12 months, issues related to language contact and derivative implications have surfaced as important factors in public discussions in such disparate settings as the November 2002 elections in several of the states in the United States, the admission of new members to the European Union, and immigration to Australia. Clearly, the topics of language contact and language change are salient and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.


Anthropology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Tavárez

Historical linguistics is a discipline with strong interdisciplinary connections to sociocultural anthropology, ethnohistory, and archaeology. While the study of language change and etymology can be traced back to ancient societies in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Asia, a number of important methodological approaches emerged in the late 18th century, when European scholars who were engaged in colonial administration set the foundations for research in Indo-European languages. Contemporary historical linguistics has maintained a focus on several large-scale questions, such as the origins of the language faculty; the classification and typology of the world’s languages; the time depth of major language changes; ancient writing systems; the impact of linguistic and cultural contacts on language change; the emergence of pidgins and creoles; the influence of colonial expansion and evangelization projects on language change; and the interface among literacy practices, language change, and the social order. This article outlines all of these important inquiries, with a particular stress on the sustained interaction among historical linguistics, anthropology, and ethnohistory. This survey has two focii: the first one is languages of the Americas, and the second one is ethnohistorical and philological methodology. This choice in focus conveys existing historical strengths and showcases our current knowledge about language contact and language change in the Americas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-415
Author(s):  
Anna Verschik

AbstractThe paper focuses on the manifestation of multilingual awareness (MLA) and the impact of Estonian in Russian-language blogs by ethnic Russians. MLA can be defined as “an ability to focus on linguistic form and to switch focus between form and meaning” (Jessner, Ulrike. 2014. On multilingual awareness or why the multilingual learner is a specific language learner. In Miroslaw Pawlak & Larissa Aronin (eds.), Essential topics in applied linguistics and multilingualism. Studies in Honor of David Singleton, 175–184. Wien: Springer.). The purpose is to show that metalinguistic comments form as a subcategory of metalinguistic awareness, i.e., the latter conditions the former but not vice versa. I consider not only explicit examples of metalinguistic comments, such as discussion on differences between Russian of Russia and Russian in Estonia, proficiency in Estonian, sometimes including discussions on fine points of Estonian grammar, but also implicit and more subtle examples, such as visual separation of Estonian stems and Russian inflections, playful switches from Cyrillic to Latin characters and back within a sentence or even a word. All blogs are in the Live Journal environment, a medium which combines features of stand-alone blogs and social networks. The bloggers are reasonably proficient in Estonian and work or study in a predominantly Estonian-language environment. Data comes from fifteen blogs from the period 2008–2012. The bloggers position themselves as autonomous language users and consider blogs as their private virtual space with an individual language policy. This is in accordance with the views of some contact linguists (e.g., Thomason, Sara Grey. 2007. Language contact and deliberate change. Journal of Language Contact 1. 41–62.), who consider change by deliberate decision as one of the mechanisms of contact-induced language change.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 589
Author(s):  
Gabriela Mimoso ◽  
Guiomar Oliveira

Introduction: Gestational diabetes is one of the diseases associated with pregnancy with higher rate of complications. Despite being a transitory condition, short and long term complications related to gestational diabetes have been described. There is scientific evidence to say that good metabolic control decreases perinatal complications. In 2011, new criteria was proposed for its diagnosis, which made possible its diagnosis during the 1st trimester of pregnancy. The aim of this study is to compare neonatal morbidity in two groups of women with gestational diabetes diagnosis before and after the latest Portuguese guidelines for diabetes and pregnancy were published (February 2011).Material and Methods: We included all newborns born in Maternidade Bissaya Barreto whose mother, followed at our maternity between 2008 and 2013, had unifetal pregnancy complicated by diabetes. We used a perinatal database and analysed the impact of the new guidelines in perinatal morbidity over two periods of three years.Results: There were 774 women who met the inclusion criteria. We found that gestational diabetes was diagnosed earlier, insulin therapy was more frequent. Neonatal morbidity was increased, and there were more cases of neonatal hypoglycemia and congenital anomalies, and newborns became smaller for gestational age.Discussion: The increase in neonatal morbidity was associated with early diagnosis and rigorous metabolic control.Conclusion: To analyse national data will be fundamental to understand this unexpected increase in morbidity.


2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dingxu Shi

Hong Kong written Chinese is the register used in government documents, serious literature and the formal sections of printed media. It is a local variation of Standard Chinese and has many special features in its lexicon, syntax and discourse. These features come from three distinctive sources: English, Cantonese and innovation. The main concern of this paper is which features come from English and how they are adopted. It is shown that Hong Kong written Chinese has a large number of English loan words, both localized and semi-localized ones, and quite a few calque forms from English. Some of its lexical items have undergone semantic shift under the influence of English or Cantonese. The most interesting characteristic of Hong Kong written Chinese is that a number of its words have changed their syntactic behavior due to English influence and a few syntactic structures are apparently adopted from English. This particular form of written Chinese thus provides an excellent case to study the impact of bilingualism and multilingualism on language use and language change induced by language contact.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 115-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Petré

Abstract The present study combines recent interest on the impact of unconventional individual language use on grammar change (Petré and Van de Velde 2014, De Smet 2016) with research on how conventional grammar impacts on language users. To better understand their interplay, I will zoom in on the interaction of unconventional and conventional behaviour of individuals in the developments of [be Ving] and [be going to|go to INF]. Apart from enhancing our understanding of the long-term effects of the urge to be expressive, an important outcome of the analysis will be that it is precisely the way in which the spiral of the conventional leads to the unconventional to the conventional again, which may help explain the phenomenon of unidirectionality in language change.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Olko

Looking at the Spanish impact on Nahuatl both in its full historical trajectory and modern synchronic dimension, I focus on the differentiation between ‘balanced’, long-term language contact and ‘unbalanced’ contact leading to rapid language shift in contemporary indigenous communities. I discuss the connection between accelerated contact-induced language change and language endangerment and shift, highlighting and assessing the mutually interdependent extra- and inter-linguistic variables that influence and shape both processes. Of special importance is the synchronic variation linked to speakers’ proficiency that influences language transmission in the diachronic perspective. On the basis of extensive fieldwork and linguistic documentation I identify several types of Nahuatl speakers as agents of this accelerated language change which leads to individual attrition and shift at the community level. This kind of multidisciplinary approach, taking into account both historical and modern data, can also potentially be useful for other minority languages in the scenario of long-term contact with a dominant language.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 339-347
Author(s):  
D Rodríguez Rey ◽  
MA Sanchez-Lastra ◽  
C Ayán Pérez

Objective: Analyze the scientific evidence on the effects that aquatic physical exercise has on people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Material and method: A systematic review was carried out following the checklist Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols, with the objective of locating the largest number of investigations that aimed to identify the effects of the practice of aquatic physical exercise in people with ERC. A search of the PubMed, PEDro, Scopus and Cochrane databases were carried out until March 2019, using the PEDro, CERT, MINORS and NIH scales to determine the methodological quality of the same. Results: Five investigations were located, two of them were randomized control trials, another two studies comparatives and one was uncontrolled. The mean score and the median obtained after applying PEDro scale were 4 and 4 respectively. All the interventions proposed aerobic exercise programs, being generally of short duration and highly supervised, without any adverse effects arising from their practice. In a large part of the studies, significant effects were observed in physical condition, physiological parameters and quality of life, to a lesser extent. The practice of exercise had no significant impact on either the activity of the disease or the perceived pain in patients. Conclusions: Practice of aquatic exercise is beneficial in people with ERC. More longitudinal studies are needed to assess the impact of aquatic exercises as well as its effect and quality of life in long term.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 638-639
Author(s):  
Marcela Almeida ◽  
Maxwell R Rovner

Abstract The recent changes in policy at the Southern American Border have urged a number of medical entities and social and human rights organizations to become vocal about its possible long-term outcomes in the lives of the affected families. This reaction is supported by robust scientific evidence on the impact of adverse childhood experiences and perceived racial discrimination, among others, on mental and physical health outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S748-S748
Author(s):  
Lyndon Joseph ◽  
Faye Chen

Abstract The NIH Pathways to Prevention Workshop was held on October 30-31, 2018 to present scientific evidence, as well as physician and patient perspectives to better understand the benefits and harms of drug therapies for osteoporosis fracture prevention. Osteoporotic fractures lead to substantial morbidity, mortality, and economic costs. The underlying medical condition, is a skeletal disorder characterized by compromised bone strength predisposing to increased fracture risk. Several medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent osteoporotic fractures have been effective when taken by people who are at high risk of fracture. These include bisphosphonates , denosumab, teriparatide, estrogens, and selective estrogen-receptor modulators. However, rare but serious adverse events, such as atypical femoral fractures and osteonecrosis of the jaw associated with bisphosphonates have raised questions regarding the safety of their use. There is limited evidence on the benefits and harms of long-term osteoporosis drug therapy, including the timing and duration of drug discontinuation or drug holidays. It is not clearly known which patients will benefit or may be harmed from continued drug intervention, who should and should not be put on drug holiday, how to identify such patients and properly treat them, and how to predict their outcomes. Key scientific areas covered by the workshop included: the benefits and risks of osteoporotic drugs with short-term and long-term use and factors that influence outcomes; the impact of drug discontinuation and drug holidays on outcomes; and patient and clinician factors that impact the use of and adherence to osteoporotic drugs.


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