The Use of Historical Demography for Historical Sociolinguistics: the Case of Dunkirk

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

    Abstract

    This chapter combines historical demographic and linguistic research to come to an understanding of language shift in seventeenth-century Northern France. The article details the Francophone immigration to the town of Dunkirk around and after its annexation to France in 1662, focusing in particular on the integration of migrants into the local community through intermarriage. The author then reports on a quantitative dialectological study of the French of Dunkirk in comparison to other French varieties. This study shows similarities in particular with varieties from the migrants' places of origin, lending credence to the suggestion that Francophone migration played an important role in the language shift. Moreover, this research signals the importance of an integrated social and linguistic perspective in the writ­ ing of language histories.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationLanguage and History, Linguistics and Historiography
    EditorsNils Langer, Steffen Davies, Wim Vandenbussche
    Place of PublicationOxford etc.
    PublisherP.I.E. - Peter Lang
    Pages323-340
    ISBN (Print)978-3-0343-0761-1
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Publication series

    NameStudies in historical linguistics
    PublisherLang
    Volume9
    ISSN (Print)1661-4704

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