8 Nov 2024
Testing a Sociolinguistic Model for its Predictive Power: An Empirical Approach to Schneider’s Dynamic Model
Schneider’s (2003, 2007) Dynamic Model (DM) offers a sociolinguistic approach to World Englishes according to which varieties evolve through five stages (I-V) that correlate with linguistic features. It can thus be tested using empirical data. I present acceptability judgments from 192 speakers of six English varieties (stages III-V) that prove the DM’s predictive power.