Dialect change among Ameland dialect speakers and the island mentality

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Dialect change among Ameland dialect speakers and
the island mentality

• Mathilde M. Jansen, Meertens Instituut.
• Mathilde.Jansen_at_meertens.knaw.nl

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Introduction The Research Area Ameland
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IntroductionThe Research Area Ameland

• One of the five Waddensea islands in The
  Netherlands
• Population 3.564 inhabitants
• Tourists per year ca. 500.000

• Mixed dialect both Dutch and Frisian elements
• Eastern variety Buren and Nes
• Western variety Ballum and Hollum

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IntroductionOrigin of the Ameland Dialect

• Contact history
• Politics original Frisian island ruled by
  officials from the province of Holland
• Trading contacts with people from Holland

• Isolated community
• Geographical borders
• Independent developments in the dialect as well
  as maintenance of internal variation

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IntroductionThe Identity of the Speaker of the
Ameland Dialect

• A lot of people from Frisia think that because
  Ameland is part of their province inhabitants of
  the island understand the Frisian language as
  well. My girlfriend is Frisian so I can
  understand it. But there are a lot of Ameland
  people who dont. Still, Frisian people try to
  speak Frisian on the island. But most of the time
  they get an answer in Ameland dialect. (23-year
  old dialect speaker)

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IntroductionThe Identity of the Speaker of the
Ameland Dialect

• They i.e. people from outside of Frisia think
  we speak Frisian. That is their first reaction.
  It sounds northern and thats why they think its
  Frisian. Then my reaction is If I spoke Frisian,
  you wouldnt be able to understand me. But when I
  speak in Ameland dialect you do understand me.
  (52-year old dialect speaker)

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Theoretical partDefinitions

• Dialect levelling the process of the reduction
  of both intrasystemic and intersystemic variation
• Linguistic convergence a process of languages or
  language varieties becoming more similar to one
  another
• Linguistic divergence change in which languages
  or language varieties become more dissimilar

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Theoretical partDefinitions

• Vertical convergence/divergence dynamics in
  dialect-standard language dimension
• Horizontal convergence/divergence dynamics in
  dialect-dialect dimension

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Theoretical partResearch questions

• How is the process of dialect levelling (the
  reduction of variation) taking place on the
  island of Ameland?
• What dialect features are more resistent to
  dialect loss and which ones are less?
• How do social factors as age, gender, identity,
  attitude and network influence the dialect
  competence of the individual dialect speaker?

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Theoretical partThe current situation
convergence

• Horizontal convergence
• Between western and eastern variety
• Between Ameland and Frisian mainland varieties

• Vertical convergence
• Towards the Dutch standard language
• Towards the Frisian standard language

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Theoretical partThe current situation divergence

• Horizontal divergence
• Between western and eastern variety
• Between Amelands and Frisian varieties (tourists)

• Vertical divergence
• Towards the Dutch standard language
• Towards the Frisian standard language

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Theoretical partLinguistic variables

• A variables typical for the village
• B variables typical for the island
• C variables typical for the region

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Theoretical partThe current situation
convergence

• Horizontal convergence
• Between western and eastern variety
• A-variables disappear
• Between Amelands and other Frisian varieties
• B-variables disappear

• Vertical convergence
• Towards the Dutch standard language
• C-variables disappear
• Towards the Frisian standard language
• B-variables disappear

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Theoretical partThe current situation
(psychological) divergence

• Horizontal divergence
• Between western and eastern variety
• Maintenance of A-variables
• Between Amelands and Frisian varieties (tourists)
• Maintenance of B-variables

• Vertical divergence
• Towards the Dutch standard language
• Maintenance of C-variables
• Towards the Frisian standard language
• Maintenance of B-variables

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Theoretical partGeneral hypotheses

• I In general, language features that are more
  wide-spread in geographical space are more
  resistent to change than less wide-spread
  features.
• Ia We therefore expect the eastern and western
  varieties to converge, although attitudinal
  factors may retard this process

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Theoretical partGeneral hypotheses

• Ib We therefore expect that the regional dialect
  features are more resistent to dialect loss than
  the typical dialect features. However, the
  geographical as well as the psychological borders
  that separate the island of Ameland from the
  mainland may well disturb this usual procedure.

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Theoretical partHypotheses

• Identity will be a determinant (extralinguistic)
  factor in the levelling process
• Attitude will be a determinant (extralinguistic)
  factor in the levelling process
• Network wil be a determinant (extralinguistic)
  factor in the levelling process

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Linguistic variablesSelection

• Grammatical component phonology /
  morphology
• Geographical spread
  village / island / region typical
• Frequency
• Productivity

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A-variables
village typical
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B-variables
island typical
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C-variables
region typical
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MethodologySubjects

• 60 informants, stratified by age, gender and
  geographical origin (all of the informants, as
  well as one of their parents, are born and raised
  in the village they represent).

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MethodologyQuestionnaires

• Linguistic Questionnaire
• Dialect competence (elicitation tasks)
• Sociolinguistic Questionnaire
• Can-do scales
• Identity
• Attitude
• Dialect use
• Social network

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MethodologyLinguistic questionnaire

• Tasks
• translation (words and sentences)
• completion (words and sentences)
• contrast (words)
• diminutive forms
• plural forms
• judgement

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MethodologySpontaneous data

• From each cell, two or three informants (out of
  five) were taken together to have a conversation
  on any topic for about an hour. These
  conversations were being tape-recorded.
• In total 12 conversations have been taped.

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TIME variable

• Correlation between Dutch variant and factor
  age (r0.34, plt0.05)
• Eastern variant is used more often in the Eastern
  part whereas the Western variant is used more
  often in the Western part of the island.
• (t(38)7.3, plt0.001) (t(38)4.9, plt0.001)

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OLD variable

• The Eastern and Western variant are strictly
  divided, however, acoustic analysis is necessary
  to distinguish both variants.
• The new variants seems to be used more frequently
  in the Eastern part of the island, however, no
  significant difference.

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HOUSE variable

• The Dutch variant is used most frequently in west
  (t(38)4.3, plt0.001)
• The Older variant 1 is used most frequently in
  east (t(28.2)5, plt0.001)
• The Older variant 2 is used most frequently in
  west (t(38)4.8, plt0.001)
• The island variant is used most frequently in
  east (t(38)2.6, plt0.05)
• The new variant is used most frequently in east
  (t(24.4)2.1, plt0.05)

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GOAT variable

• The hypercorrect form is used most frequently by
  the younger generation (t(32.5)2.2, plt0.05). It
  is also used most frequently in west (t(38)3.4,
  plt0.01)
• The island variant is used most frequently in
  east (t(38)3.3, plt0.01). This can be explained
  by the existence of this variant in the Eastern
  variety in words as TIME.

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HEART variable
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HAND variable

• The Dutch variant is used most frequently in east
  (t(38)4.5, plt0.001)
• The d/t deletion long vowel is used most
  frequently in west (t(38)3, plt0.01), as is d/t
  deletion without vowel lengthening (t(38)5.1,
  plt0.001)
• The long vowel variant is used most frequently by
  the younger generation (t(38)2.7, plt0.05)

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ConclusionsA-variables

• Island variants dominate above village typical
  variants.
• When no such island variant exists a new variant
  appears.

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ConclusionsB-variables

• Island variant is dominant
• There is a tendency to adapt to the Dutch
  standard which results in intermediate forms
• In the case of GOAT the island variant is
  probably reinterpreted as an eastern variant
  (similar to TIME variant) and that is why it
  disappears

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ConclusionsC-variables

• Dutch variants are used in the same amount as the
  regional variants
• Intermediate forms develop as well
• It is not the case that c-variables, which are
  more wide-spread, are less prone to dialect loss.

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Overall conclusions

• Village typical variants are still frequently
  used by this generation, however, island variants
  seem to replace them.
• In cases where no such island variant exists, a
  new one is created.
• The new variants seem to be intermediate forms,
  that is compromises between the dialect and the
  Dutch standard language.

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Attitude
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Attitude
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Identity
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Identity
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Dialect change

• When focusing on the newer variants, it is
  obvious that most of the innovators are living in
  the Eastern part of the island. There is a
  significant difference in this respect between
  east and west (t(38)2.1, plt0.05). This is what
  we would have expected since the Eastern part of
  the island has a more open network structure.
  What is remarkable is that most innovators are
  men. However, it concerns local variants in stead
  of supra-local variants.

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Dialect change

• Innovators marginal members of the group with
  weak links to more than one group
• Early adopters central members of the group
• (Milroy 1992)

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Dialect change

• List of innovators/early adopters
• 1. Thomas YME hotel manager in Nes
• 2. Tiemen OME retired man in Nes - former captain
  - member of dialectal committee -
• Foppe OME farmer in Nes
• 3. Catherina YFW cafetaria manager in Hollum

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Network analysis
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Summary

• Convergence between the eastern and western
  variety becomes visible by the disappearance of
  village typical variants and the dominance of
  island variants.
• The importance of the island identity is shown by
  the development of newer variants for variables
  that did not have an island variant till now.
• Innovators and early adopters are mainly men
  since it concerns local variants.