Language change in a multinational Anglophone community and building a model for social network analysis

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370494
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: The University of Kitakyushu
• Principal Investigator: Hirano Keiko 北九州市立大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (60341286)
• Research Collaborator: BRITAIN David University of Bern
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 多国籍アングロフォンコミュニティ / 言語変化 / 社会的ネットワーク

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This real-time study investigated social network related dialect contact and linguistic accommodation in the use of verbs expressing obligation and possession in a multinational Anglophone community in Japan. A statistical analysis revealed that these speakers demonstrated both convergence and divergence after a year in Japan depending on their national group and their social networks. The present study demonstrated the mechanisms of this linguistic change in the community and the importance of social network in accounting for the consequences of dialect contact and linguistic accommodation.

Free Research Field

社会言語学