Phonetic change in Newfoundland English

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Newfoundland English has long been considered autonomous within the North American context. Sociolinguistic studies conducted over the past three decades, however, typically suggest cross‐generational change in phonetic feature use, motivated by greater alignment with mainland Canadian English norms. The present study uses data spanning the past thirty years to investigate some half‐dozen apparent‐time changes in Newfoundland English. It analyses the social and stylistic stratificational patterns associated with declining regional phonetic feature use in this minority dialect context (particularly the speech of the capital, St. John's), along with those displayed by recent vowel innovations which appear to have been imported from mainland Canadian English. Results indicate many similarities in the general trajectory of change: cross‐generational differences are frequently mediated by gender, social status and speech style. While outcomes may suggest increased adoption of standard Canadian English features on the part of socially and geographically mobile groups, particularly in formal styles, this review finds little evidence of a general trend towards mainland Canadian heteronomy. Rather, regional feature decline, as well as feature adoption, must be contextualized within a broader temporal and demographic framework.