ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates one explanation: some outgoing variants are actually preserved as a result of their rarity. Once a variant becomes infrequent in ordinary discourse, any use becomes marked, and this markedness makes the variant useful as a resource for stylistic and/or identity work. The chapter illustrates this possibility with four instances of morphosyntactic change in Canadian contexts: three brief descriptions drawn from previous studies of Canadian French (CF) by researchers at the University of Ottawa's Sociolinguistics Laboratory and a longer discussion of our current research findings on Newfoundland English (NE). It also reminds readers that the surveys reflect claimed usage rather than actual rates of use, which allows to address some extent questions of speaker intent and awareness. It also includes smaller cities such as Corner Brook. Similar social re-imaginings for the four features are described in this chapter.
