Abstract
The book concludes by considering the challenges posed to sociolinguistic theory by findings for French liaison (Sect. 9.1). The possible status of liaison as a ‘hyper-style’ variable, in which variability of the style dimension exceeds that of the social dimension, is discussed in Sect. 9.2, and a new liaison style typology to replace that of Delattre as set out in Chap. 2 is presented in Sect. 9.3. The future of liaison as a variable phenomenon in a changed media landscape is considered in Sect. 9.4.
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Notes
- 1.
For Meinschaeffer et al. (2015: 372) in particular, this was a surprising but statistically significant finding, though it remains unclear precisely what ‘statistically significant’ might actually mean in this context.
- 2.
Bell (1984: 198 fn):
we cannot a priori assume ad lib speech and reading are on the same dimension. At least in some communities, they appear to be two different types of speech behaviour.
- 3.
Cf. Armstrong (2001: 195), commenting on a higher than expected incidence of variable liaison from one of his Dieuze informants, SM:
This tantalising glimpse into the communicative competence of an individual emphasises that variable liaison is part of a supralectal overlay whose mastery seems quite highly dependent on individual competence.
Less advantaged speakers, of course, may not acquire this ‘supralectal overlay’ at all, or may feel uncomfortable using variable liaison forms, in the manner of Labiche’s Caboussat (see Sect. 1.3).
- 4.
A stylistic clash of this kind is provided by Battye et al. (2000: 307), who cite Alain Schifrès (Le Nouvel Observateur, 23–29.1.1990: 76): ‘La grammaire fut inventée pour servir l’humanité en général et faire chier les mômes en France’.
- 5.
TWIT: ‘Three-Word Inspirational Treatise’, by which a candidate, movement or party attempts to sum up its values or philosophy, e.g. ‘Yes we can!’, ‘Britain deserves better’, or more recently ‘Take Back Control’ and ‘Get Brexit Done’. At the time of writing there was no accepted French translation for this Anglo-Saxon political marketing concept, but the power of a three- (or four-) word slogan has not been lost on candidates for high office in the francophone world: cf. ‘La France Présidente’; ‘Au nom du peuple !’ ‘Place au peuple’, ‘La France forte’.
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Hornsby, D. (2020). An Inverted Sociolinguistic Phenomenon?. In: Norm and Ideology in Spoken French. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49300-4_9
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