Dr. Emma Moore (University of Sheffield, UK)
This paper will attempt to unravel the history of dialect contact on a group of islands known as the Isles of Scilly (pronounced [sɪli:]). These islands are situated twenty‐eight miles west off the southern tip of the English mainland. They present an intriguing case study for researchers interested in dialect contact. Records suggest that the islands were effectively repopulated in the sixteenth century, when they were leased by the Cornish peer, Sir Francis Goldolphin. Links to elite social groups (following their leasing from the crown) and on-going (mostly Cornish) migration into the islands, suggests a complex history of dialect contact. This paper will attempt to untangle this history by comparing data from Scillonian speakers born at the turn of the twentieth century with contemporaneous data from the varieties claimed to have influenced the dialect on the islands: Cornish English and RP.
