A preliminary survey of the regional English of Saskatchewan based on a study of some archival documents

Abstract

The purpose of my research is to compile a list of words and expressions from a study of the Pioneer Folklore Questionnaire. Based on these findings I intend to demonstrate that a regional variety of English may exist in this province whose affiliations extend to other regional varieties of North American English. To establish this point, I have tried to evaluate Canadian English itself within the context of North American English. In hypothesising the existence of a regional variety of English in this province, I have applied the continuum model to the analysis of this problem. This model serves as the theoretical premise for my work. The first chapter considers the concept of the dialect continuum and other related issues such as heteronomy and autonomy, showing how these may apply to a specific variety. The second chapter describes the archival documents on which this work is based. It also gives an account of the methodology used; the linguistic analysis and description of the findings that follow are intended to suggest what their dialectal significance might be. The final chapter consists mainly of the findings incorporated into a Word List and an Appendix, respectively. This chapter has an introductory section which further describes the archival documents used, and provides information on the informants themselves. This introduction also describes the criterion of selection of the items in the Word List.