SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This work aims to describe the phonology, morphology and syntax of the dialect of South Zeal in Devonshire, largely from a taped corpus. It aims to be structural in approach, but points of interest have not been omitted simply because they may seem largely anecdotal in nature. It is mainly contrastive, developing most those points which differ from S(tandard) E(nglish), No attempt has been made at either a lexical or a semantic analysis. The first two chapters deal with the segmental and suprasegmental phonology respectively. The presence of retroflex and the consequent absence of unconditioned centring diphthongs is the most marked segmental feature, whereas the occurrence of pause in informal speech forms the most interesting section of Chapter 3. The personal pronouns, apart from /aj, mi:/, show an opposition of stressed: unstressed, while the demonstratives show a three-term series in the singular /oi:z, oat, oi-ki:/, and also a 'joint system' with the personal pronouns, whereby /it/ and /?m/ are always unstressed, and /oat/ and /oej/ are always stressed. With the prepositional phrase, interest is centred on relationships of place, the 'to:at' opposition being lost and replaced by a series 'up:down, out;in, over', relating to direction or position, normally vis-a-vis Zeal. In Chapter 8, we find that the verb 'be' has a double paradigm, usually /m/ unstressed and /bi:/ stressed. The verb in general does not show any passive-continuous forms of the 'being killed' type. After a discussion of the uses of certain modals, and of the use of 'of' after an '-ing' (/-In/) form, it is suggested that only three categories of 'phrasal verb' are necessary for English, one of which, the prepositional verb, is very rare in the dialect. The thesis concludes with an analysis of the restricted possibilities of subordination found in the dialect, and of the three-term system of relatives, 'what', 'that' and zero.