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Thesis submitted to University of Sydney

This article is from PLoS ONE , volume 9 . Abstract This paper presents results from a corpus-based study investigating lexical variation in BSL. An earlier study investigating variation in BSL numeral signs found that younger signers were using a decreasing variety of regionally distinct variants, suggesting that levelling may be taking place. Here, we report findings from a larger investigation looking at regional lexical variants for colours, countries, numbers and UK placenames elicited as part of the BSL Corpus Project. Age, school location and language background were significant predictors of lexical variation, with younger signers using a more levelled variety. This change appears to be happening faster in particular sub-groups of the deaf community (e.g., signers from hearing families). Also, we find that for the names of some UK cities, signers from outside the region use a different sign than those who live in the region.

The dialect one speaks gives clues about the region from which he or she comes, but it can also tell us much more. Dialects can serve as a marker of speakers' group affiliations and can even help identify social changes taking place within a region. Rural dialects emerged from the isolation of rural countryside, but as more and more people move into these areas, the dialects that have been spoken there may become endangered. Is this happening in Vermont? In this talk, we discuss how the Vermont dialect is changing, and which speakers are leading the change. We also explore which dialect features are more resistant to change and why this might be. Julie Roberts, University of Vermont, with the help of students like Rebecca Amblo, has been interviewing Vermonters for the past four years--collecting samples of their speech as well as their views of Vermont and the changes the state has experienced. These interviews form the basis of this project on dialect change in Vermont upon which this research-in-progress seminar draws.

The dialect one speaks gives clues about the region from which he or she comes, but it can also tell us much more. Dialects can serve as a marker of speakers' group affiliations and can even help identify social changes taking place within a region. Rural dialects emerged from the isolation of rural countryside, but as more and more people move into these areas, the dialects that have been spoken there may become endangered. Is this happening in Vermont? In this talk, we discuss how the Vermont dialect is changing, and which speakers are leading the change. We also explore which dialect features are more resistant to change and why this might be. Julie Roberts, University of Vermont, with the help of students like Rebecca Amblo, has been interviewing Vermonters for the past four years--collecting samples of their speech as well as their views of Vermont and the changes the state has experienced. These interviews form the basis of this project on dialect change in Vermont upon which this research-in-progress seminar draws.

By the time of his death in 1740, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI, had done everything possible to secure the succession to the throne of his daughter, Maria Theresa, but practically nothing to train her how to rule. Nevertheless, Maria Theresa managed by common sense, charm, and expert advice to negotiate a forty-year reign marked by secret diplomacy, shifting alliances, relentless warfare, and ruthless realpolitik. This short biography by the Oxford historian, James Franck Bright, describes her first thirty years on the throne.

2Story of the Atlantic Cable

By Sir Charles Bright

The electric telegraph, together with the railway-train and the steamship, constituted the three most conspicuous features of late 19th century civilization. Indeed, it may be truly said that the harnessing electricity to the service of man for human communication has effected a change in political, commercial, and social relations, even more complete than that wrought by steam locomotion. This is the story of how the electric telegraph cable was laid across the floor of the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland. - Summary by modified from the introduction