Reading Working Papers in Linguistics 4 (2000) - The University of ...

J. MARSHALL
6. Research Question and Hypothesis
The research question is as follows:
The linguistic conservatism of the Huntly area has been due to many reasons, such
as historico-political and geographical factors, and national pride. Now that these
are becoming less influential, and change is accelerating, which social factors are
primarily involved in language change and maintenance?
The hypothesis is:
Young female speakers will lead linguistic change. People with dense, multiplex
social networks, and low degrees of mental urbanisation will lag.
6.1 The Research Design
The relatively rapid language change currently in progress in the Huntly
farming community makes it ideal for a study of language change.
Sociolinguistic theories have been developed to account for language change
and maintenance, many in urban speech communities. Pedersen’s (1991) and
Lippi-Green’s (1989) studies of rural communities have not yielded the same
results as, for example, Milroy’s (1980) study of Belfast speech. The Doric
study was conceived as a test of the various social factors involved in
language change and maintenance. The question is, is an individual’s degree
of integration into social networks a reliable predictor of language
maintenance, especially in rural speech communities? Are attitudes to the
local variety reliable? Is national pride, especially in a country like Scotland,
an important factor in this question? Does Pedersen’s adapted form of
Højrup’s (1983) concept of Life Modes, where she focuses more on the
mental urbanisation of the individual, throw more light on the problem of
accounting for resistance to change?
6.2. Sampling
The Doric spoken in the valley between the towns of Insch and Huntly in the
county of Aberdeenshire in Scotland has been focused on, in an attempt to
answer the research question. This is in the middle of what Hendry (1997)
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