A new series of the IAS Invited Lectures at WA is starting on Wednesday 15 November at 1.15 p.m. This time the (online) talks will focus on the theme Sociolinguistic Aspects of Historical Orthography. You will find more information at IAS Invited Lecture Series website [external link]. The lectures are open to everyone.
The first lecture will be given by Prof. Gijsbert Rutten (Leiden University) who will speak about “Transmission and diffusion in the history of spelling”.
Abstract
Labov (2007) introduced transmission and diffusion as the two main mechanisms in sound change. In this talk, Prof. Rutten will explore to what extent these concepts can be applied to orthographical changes in the history of European languages such as Dutch. He will argue that the approach needs to be complemented by a contact- and community-based perspective in the line of Milroy (2007). Taking examples from a variety of languages, he will discuss cases of transmission and diffusion in different types of communities. He will then focus on Dutch, and argue that the pattern of supralocalization (through diffusion) followed by standardization (in which transmission is important) needs to be extended to include the supra-national layer of pluricentricity.
About the speaker
Gijsbert Rutten is Professor by special appointment of Historial Sociolinguistics of Dutch at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. His research focuses on variation and change in Dutch, language contact, language policy, norms and ideologies. His current research project, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), concerns the Dutch–French contact situation (1500–1900) with a focus on language choice, shift and contact-induced change. Recent publications include Language Planning as Nation Building. Ideology, policy and implementation in the Netherlands, 1750-1850 (Amsterdam, 2019: Benjamins), and a special issue of Language Policy co-edited with Rik Vosters: Revisiting Haugen: Historical-sociolinguistic perspectives on standardization (2020). He is one of the editors of the Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics (De Gruyter).