Newfoundland and Labrador English

Abstract

This volume constitutes the first comprehensive overview of the variety of Canadian English spoken in Newfoundland and Labrador, long recognized as linguistically distinct within North America. It provides an accessible introduction to the phonetic, grammatical, lexical and discourse features of contemporary Newfoundland English, along with the speech of the province’s continental portion, Labrador. Newfoundland English is shown to be a generally conservative variety, which has preserved a number of features that have undergone attrition elsewhere. Likewise, the region’s close ties with Britain and Ireland (Newfoundland constituted an independent British dominion until its union with Canada in 1949) are shown to be reflected in the many linguistic features it shares with its two chief European founder varieties, southwest British English (West Country English) and southern Irish English. The volume also describes the extensive regional and social variation that characterizes Newfoundland English, and relates this to historical, geographical, demographic and social factors. It outlines how the considerable socioeconomic and cultural change experienced by the region since the mid 20th century is reflected in ongoing linguistic change. Language change is also contextualized relative to insider and outsider attitudes to local speech varieties. In addition, the volume provides illustrative speech samples, in the form of nine texts representing both contemporary and traditional regional varieties of Newfoundland and Labrador. These texts are accompanied by online audio files. It also includes a survey of published work on Newfoundland English from the late 16th century to the present.

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