Dialogue on Sound Change between William Labov and William S-Y. Wang ed. by Shengli Feng and Virginia Yip (review)

Abstract

This is a review of the book on a dialogue on sound change between William Labov and William S-Y. Wang at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in May 2012. First Labov’s and Wang’s Presentations are surveyed. Then the regular sound changes Labov discusses are examined, and Neogrammarian regularity and lexical diffusion in sound change are synthesized. The 2-dimensional lexical diffusion model, depending on the relative ratios of W(ord)-diffusion and S(peaker)-diffusion, synthesizes lexical diffusion and Neogrammarian regularity. It assumes that in Neogrammarian regularity W-diffusion proceeds so fast that it is difficult to observe it within each individual, but the change can be observed while it is in progress across generations. The empirical evidence of the rapid W-diffusion is also given.