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Further report on the sociolinguistic survey of multilingual communities: survey of Cayo District, British Honduras1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

R. B. Le Page
Affiliation:
Department of Language, University of York
Pauline Christie
Affiliation:
Department of Language, University of York
Baudouin Jurdant
Affiliation:
Department of Language, University of York
A. J. Weekes
Affiliation:
Department of Language, University of York
Andrée Tabouret-Keller
Affiliation:
Department of Language, University of York

Abstract

The sociolinguistic survey of Cayo District, British Honduras is here further reported upon (cf. LinS i. 155–72 (1972)). We are concerned with acquisition of language habits in a situation in which the child' verbal behaviour reflects its search for identity and social role. For 280 children, the incidence of five linguistic features in from three to five sections of an interview has been calculated. The linguistic profiles of the children were examined by a computer-programmed cluster analysis. In addition, each child' family and each child were interviewed at home, providing socio-economic data. Analysis is incomplete but does suggest an analogue to the child' acts of identity. The paper illustrates a methodological approach that may be useful in other social situations. (Sociolinguistic identity, multilingualism, creole languages, sociolinguistic survey, cluster analysis, British Honduras.)

Type
Articles: Problems of choice in language change
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

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