The Gascon Énonciatif System: Past, Present, and Future a Study of Language Contact, Change, Endangerment, and Maintenance
The Gascon Énonciatif System: Past, Present, and Future A study of language contact, change, endangerment, and maintenance by Nicole Elise Marcus A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Gary Holland, Chair Professor Leanne Hinton Professor Johanna Nichols Fall 2010 The Gascon Énonciatif System: Past, Present, and Future A study of language contact, change, endangerment, and maintenance © 2010 by Nicole Elise Marcus Abstract The Gascon Énonciatif System: Past, Present, and Future A study of language contact, change, endangerment, and maintenance by Nicole Elise Marcus Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics University of California, Berkeley Professor Gary Holland, Chair The énonciatif system is a defining linguistic feature of Gascon, an endangered Romance language spoken primarily in southwestern France, separating it not only from its neighboring Occitan languages, but from the entire Romance language family. This study examines this preverbal particle system from a diachronic and synchronic perspective to shed light on issues of language contact, change, endangerment, and maintenance. The diachronic source of this system has important implications regarding its current and future status. My research indicates that this system is an ancient feature of the language, deriving from contact between the original inhabitants of Gascony, who spoke Basque or an ancestral form of the language, and the Romans who conquered the region in 56 B.C. Since this system initially arose via language contact and Gascon is a minority language threatened by French, can language contact also be the same mechanism to cause its demise? To answer this question, I conducted fieldwork in the Gascon region during 2008-2009 to examine how this system is currently used and taught.
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