Re: [tied] Re: Onion (was: Goats)

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 29830
Date: 2004-01-20

20-01-04 03:45, Peter P wrote:

> I did want to stray a little OT and ask if English is generally
> diverging due to geographical separation or is it remerging due to
> improved mass communication.

Both. It's a dynamic equilibrium between divergence and convergence, not
a one-way street.

> I guess it's a matter of degrees and
> sectors.

Certainly.

> Are there any studies that suggest that improved
> communication is offsetting the natural tendancy to diverge with
> geography.

The existence of a more-or-less common literary standard also helps to
keep English together. What's interesting is than new regional
divergence keeps reemerging despite the apparent levelling-out of old
traditional dialects. This has been well studied in the case of US English.

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NationalMap.html
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/Atlas_chapters/Ch11/Ch11.html

Piotr