This is a “synchronic and diachronic linguistic description and theoretical exploration” of language variation in Europe (1). It includes eighteen selected papers from the 4th International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 4) held at the University of Cyprus from June 17–19, 2007. The volume attempts to present “[a] variety of theoretical frameworks and methodological perspectives as well as a number of linguistic varieties” (1). This well-organized volume is concerned with all levels of language variation and with exemplifying valuable research methodologies in this field.
The book starts with an introduction and overview by the editors. Chapters on phonetic and phonological variation present research on intonational variation in Swiss German dialects in Berne and Valais from a geolinguistic perspective (Adrian Leemann), phonological change in Alemannic dialects in Southwest Germany (Christian Schwarz & Tobias Streck), variation in gemination between the dialects of Cyprus and Kos (Angeliki Malikouti-Drachman), localized phonological convergence in the Balkans (Brian D. Joseph), the relationship between the resilience of the [DO] vowel and salience in the case of some lexical shibboleths in Tyneside English (Charley Rowe), and phonological comparison based on a corpus of 613 local dialects of Dutch (Frans Hinskens & Marc van Oostendorp).
The chapters on morphological and morphosyntactic variation discuss changes in grammatical gender in Flanders dialects (Gunther De Vogelaer), meaning variation within Greek dialects (Gaberell Drachman), morphological reduction and language death in Aromanian (Maria Maglara), syntactic variation and semantic changes in Dutch modal verbs (Griet Coupé), morphosyntactic features of aspectual opposition between Spanish Progressive and Simple Present tenses (Rena Torres Cacoullos), and Estonian-Russian code-switching and mixing, which cause problems for the establishment of the matrix language (Anastassia Zabrodskaja).
In chapters on syntactic variation, Silvia Regina Cavalcante & Maria Eugenia L. Duarte explore the subjects of infinitival clauses in European and Brazilian Portuguese. Yoryia Agouraki discusses the syntactic and semantic structure of Greek. Eva Eppler highlights possible principles and processing factors in the syntax of a German-English mixed code.
The volume also includes chapters on speaker-related factors in language variation. Andreas Papapavlou & Andry Sophocleous deal with “language attitudes and folk perceptions to variation” (179), while Fabienne Baider focuses on the representation of social gender in French political discourse. Chapters on data for language-variation study include one on data diversity in corpora (Hermann Moisl) and a discussion of the reliability of GTRP, the online corpora of 613 local dialects of Dutch (Frans Hinskens & Marc van Oostendorp).
