Individual entrenchment vs. community-wide conventionalization of contact features in L2 Basque speakers’ individual styles

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines individual variation of contact features in the speech patterns of four L2 Basque speakers. The individual styles are examined through the concepts of individual entrenchment and community-wide conventionalization to bridge the gap between linguistic variation and change at the individual and social levels. All the informants speak Spanish as their L1. They have acquired Basque in classroom contexts, and they belong to the same macrosociolinguistic categories. Yet their patterns of using the language contact between standard Basque, vernacular Basque dialects and Spanish as a resource in creating individual speech styles differ considerably, reflecting their language attitudes and their personal experience. Nevertheless, there are conventionalized patterns that emerge out of this diversity: All speakers use the standard Basque as the base language, and none of them adopts of vernacular variety as a whole. The Spanish resources seem to be used mainly for pragmatic and stylistic functions, whereas the features of vernacular Basque that the speakers have adopted as part of their individual styles are high frequency elements of core grammar.