The (socio-)linguistic cycle of Definite Article Reduction

Dialect speakers in the North of England use vowel-less forms of the definite article (the) which are unattested in English varieties elsewhere and have been termed Definite Article Reduction (DAR). Previous research on DAR has provided detailed phonological descriptions, but less insight has been gained into other aspects of DAR like its emergence and the northern pattern of occurrence. I demonstrate that a more complete understanding of DAR (including the forms DAR takes) may be obtained if we combine evidence from dialect geography and pragmatic, diachronic and sociolinguistic studies. Contrary to common assumption (as reflected in the naming), I argue that cumulative findings suggest that DAR might not have derived from the definite article. Rather, I suspect that the definite article and DAR each derived from separate forms of the Old English simple demonstrative paradigm (se/seo and ]pcet, respectively). I propose this happened in an internal development in northern England, where definite markers first emerged. While DAR may have been competing with the, reduced forms do not seem to be disappearing but rather to take on social meaning. I assume that linguistic cycles potentially extend into sociolinguistics cycles and that competition between forms with loss of linguistic function is a condition for this.