PASTBEIN TRISTAN DA CUNHA: THE RISE AND FALL OF CATEGORICALITY IN LANGUAGE CHANGE

Abstract

�This article examines linguistic regularization in a contact scenario that involves several transplanted varieties of English. It documents the extent and directionality of past be leveling in the colonial setting of the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean. The aim is to show that a combination of language-external factors—such as new-colony formation, extreme geographic isolation, reduced in-migration after an initial founding period, dense social networks, and limited contact with a prestigious standard variety—may have an accelerating effect on linguistic regularization. I suggest that the special sociolinguistic scenario that gave rise to Tristan da Cunha English (TdCE) resulted in rapid homogenization of language-inherent changes and led to unprecedented regularization of past tense be with was as a pivot form. Increasing geographical mobility and off-island education, on the other hand, result in a significant increase of standard were forms.