Keywords
Baby Boomer–Gen X linguistic shift, dialect peak and cliff patterns, generational change in U.S. English
Abstract
A growing amount of research on North American English varieties shows that many sociolinguistic variables peaked among the Baby Boomer Generation (born approximately 1946–64). By “peak,” we mean that a linguistic phenomenon in one community has reached its point of greatest intensity and is maximally divergent from realizations of that same variable in most other North American communities. Similarly, we also find studies that describe a “cliff” beginning among Generation X (born approximately 1965–82) such that after generations of relative stability, local dialect features are lost. Nesbitt (2021, 359) observes that “the Baby Boomer–Gen X transition appears to be a pivotal transition throughout the country [and] appears to be of great importance to North American English dialects in general.”
In this volume, we present studies that illuminate the nature of these changes. The eight studies contained here discuss changes in phonological, grammatical, and lexical variation among White Americans, Black Americans, Irish Catholics, and Yats from communities in New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and California. More examples can be found in other phenomena, communities, and regions, and we lament that we could not include them all here. However, this volume represents the first themed discussion of such phenomena, and we look forward to further discussion around these topics.
Original Publication Citation
Joseph A. Stanley, Margaret E. L. Renwick, & Monica Nesbitt. “An Introduction to Language Change at the Intersections of Movement, Economy, and Orientation.” In Joseph A. Stanley, Margaret E. L. Renwick, & Monica Nesbitt (eds). Movement, Economy, Orientation: 20th Century Shifts in North American Language (Publications of the American Dialect Society 109), 1–36. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. DOI: 10.1215/00031283-11587907
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Stanley, Joseph A.; Renwick, Margaret E. L.; and Nesbitt, Monica, "Language Change at the Intersections of Movement, Economy, and Orientation" (2024). Faculty Publications. 7956.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/7956
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2024
Publisher
American Dialect Society
Language
English
College
Humanities
Department
Linguistics
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