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Clause subordination structures in language decline1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Kevin J. Rottet
Kevin J. Rottet
Affiliation:
472 Heide Hall, Dept. of Languages and Literatures, Whitewater, WI 53190, USA
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Abstract

The field of language-death studies has invited a growing number of researchers to explore what happens to the internal structure of a language as it declines. However, little work has been done to date on minority varieties of French in the context of language-death studies. This paper examines some intergenerational changes in subordination (conditionals and subjunctive clauses) in a Cajun French community, exploring the gradual loss of non-indicative moods and the abandonment of finite clauses in subjunctive contexts in favour of innovative non-finite clause types via a continuum of variation.

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Type
Articles
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Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 1998, pp. 63 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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