ABSTRACT

This volume brings together research on panel studies with the aim of providing a coherent empirical and theoretical knowledge-base for examining the impact of maturation and lifespan-specific effects on linguistic malleability in the post-adolescent speaker. Building on the work of Wagner and Buchstaller (2018), the present collection offers a critical examination of the theoretical implications of panel research across a range of geographic regions and time periods. The volume seeks to offer a way forward in the debates circling about the phenomenon of later-life language change, drawing on contributions from a variety of linguistic disciplines to examine critical topics such as the effect of linguistic architecture, the roles of mobility and identity construction, and the impact of frequency effects. Taken together, this edited collection both informs and pushes forward key questions on the nature of lifespan change, making this key reading for students and researchers in cognitive linguistics, historical linguistics, dialectology, and variationist sociolinguistics.

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

Panel Research: Theoretical and Methodological Implications

part I|83 pages

Revelations from Past Trend and Panel Studies

chapter 1|39 pages

The Beginnings of Panel Research

Individual Language Variation, Change, and Stability in Eskilstuna

chapter 3|21 pages

Stylistic Variation in Panel Studies of Language Change

Challenge and Opportunity

part II|39 pages

Insights in the Analysis of Intra-Speaker (In)Stability

chapter 5|19 pages

Accent Reversion in Older Adults

Evidence from the Queen’s Christmas Broadcasts

part III|43 pages

A Glimpse of the Past

chapter 6|23 pages

Exploiting Convention

Lifespan Change and Generational Incrementation in the Development of Cleft Constructions 1

part IV|82 pages

New Methodological Approaches for Lifespan Studies

part V|16 pages

Future Directions for Panel Research