ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys a particularly influential group in the dynamic scenario of language change induced by migratory movements: the ‘settler varieties’. We first define our understanding of the term and discuss some terminological issues involved. Subsequently, we outline the implications of colonial settlers for language spread, language contact, and language change, as well as new forms of settler migration in postcolonial contexts. This is followed by a short survey of the sociolinguistics of relocation-diffusion and migration patterns and an outline of some of the major issues and debates (the emergence of new varieties, dialect contact and koineization, dialect loss) in light of recent theoretical advances (such as Schneider’s 2003, 2007 dynamic model of World Englishes, that hinges fundamentally on the settler strand). We prominently focus on language shift processes, in particular the concept of ethnolinguistic vitality that is crucial in the maintenance/loss of settler varieties.
