ABSTRACT
This chapter describes two disparate speech communities, analyzing individual and community linguistic change across the urban–rural divide. Not surprisingly, greater standardization is found in the large urban center of Stuttgart (a loose, multiplex community with “weak ties”), and less dialect loss is observed in the semirural environs of Schwäbisch Gmünd (a dense, close-knit community with “strong ties”). Social network analyses demonstrate how “open” communities embrace and promote linguistic innovation, while “closed” communities are more likely to ignore and resist change. The processes of supraregionalization are prevailing, and the smaller, outlying communities are converging toward the larger, more powerful urban center, albeit at different rates. Following the well-established wave model of linguistic change, this chapter shows how the dialect of the semirural town is evolving and converging toward the progressive and prestigious urban center.
