I should, however, like to discuss the question of the norm by considering three axes. These are the temporal, the areal and the societal axes.
(1) The temporal axis. Language is permanently changing, which perhaps helps explain why each generation complains that the following generation no longer speaks the language properly. However, change can have dif- ferent consequences for different languages. English has, for example, relatively recently gained the words streaker and punk and is in the process of losing the pronouns thee and thou. These changes will, however, have little effect on the English language community. English, as result of these changes, is in no way endangered. It is a different case, however, for a linguistic minority, where changes may be interpreted as symptoms of language decline. Haugen (1980) has coined the concept of the cycle of language shift whereby a monolingual community gradually introduces L2, the dominant language. For a period of time there is a lot of interference in L2 from LI. After a while there comes a diglossic situation. Following this the interference stems from the dominant language L2 and is found in the minority language Ll. Finally monolingualism is reintroduced following the extinction of L 1.
- In the declining East Sutherland Scots Gaelic dialect showing interference from the dominant L2 English, Dorian (1977, p. 23)