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The trajectory of changing rhoticity in Bristol English: A consultative paper (2022)
Working Paper
Coates, R., Blaxter, T., Beeching, K., Murphy, J., & Robinson, E. The trajectory of changing rhoticity in Bristol English: A consultative paper

This consultative paper by Blaxter, Beeching, Coates, Murphy and Robinson presents data on rhoticity in Bristol English. Through an investigation into the speech of 30 Bristol speakers the study demonstrates that this traditional feature is declining... Read More about The trajectory of changing rhoticity in Bristol English: A consultative paper.

Fetlar (2019)
Journal Article
Coates, R. (2019). Fetlar. Journal of Scottish Name Studies, 13, 37-54

This article rehearses the history of attempts to account for the name of the island of Fetlar in Shetland. It is concluded that explaining it as pre-Celtic is beset with philological difficulties, and that it is probably, after all, Scandinavian, th... Read More about Fetlar.

Your City's Place-Names: Cambridge (2019)
Book
Coates, R. (2019). Your City's Place-Names: Cambridge. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society

The fourth in a new series of books from the English Place-Name Society focusing on English cities rather than counties. Interpretations published earlier (1943) by P. H. Reaney have been extensively reassessed and critiqued, and new material added.

Each p[ɚ]son does it th[ɛː] way: Rhoticity variation and the community grammar (2019)
Journal Article
Blaxter, T., Beeching, K., Coates, R., Murphy, J., & Robinson, E. (2019). Each p[ɚ]son does it th[ɛː] way: Rhoticity variation and the community grammar. Language Variation and Change, 31(1), 91-117. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394519000048

This paper examines individual differences in constraints on linguistic variation in light of Labov’s (2007) proposal that adult change (diffusion) disrupts systems of constraints and Tamminga, MacKenzie, and Embick’s (2016) typology of constraints.... Read More about Each p[ɚ]son does it th[ɛː] way: Rhoticity variation and the community grammar.

Meaningfulness in literary naming within the framework of The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP) (2018)
Journal Article
Coates, R. (2018). Meaningfulness in literary naming within the framework of The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP)

This paper develops ideas originally floated in the Journal of Literary Onomastics 4 (2015) particularly concerning the genesis of “meaningful” or “cratylic” names for characters, so-called “sprechende/redende Namen”. I argue that literary naming fal... Read More about Meaningfulness in literary naming within the framework of The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP).

Steps towards characterizing Bristolian (2018)
Book Chapter
Coates, R. (2018). Steps towards characterizing Bristolian. In L. Wright (Ed.), Southern English Varieties Then and Now, (188-226). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter

Two lost place-names in the west Midlands: Gaia in Lichfield and The Gay in Shrewsbury (2018)
Journal Article
Coates, R. (2018). Two lost place-names in the west Midlands: Gaia in Lichfield and The Gay in Shrewsbury

The purpose of this article is to note the existence of two, or probably three, related unexplained names, to present possible further examples of the element involved, and to review how far it is possible to explain them.

The meaning of names: A response in defence of The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP) addressed to Van Langendonck, Anderson, Colman and McClure (2017)
Journal Article
Coates, R. (2017). The meaning of names: A response in defence of The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP) addressed to Van Langendonck, Anderson, Colman and McClure. https://doi.org/10.34158/ONOMA.52/2017/1

In a number of interrelated articles, I have presented some ideas about the nature of proper names, and specifically about their meaning. A central concept of these papers has been subjected to criticism, I believe inappropriately, by several scholar... Read More about The meaning of names: A response in defence of The Pragmatic Theory of Properhood (TPTP) addressed to Van Langendonck, Anderson, Colman and McClure.

Welsh Lloegr 'England' (2017)
Journal Article
Coates, R. (2017). Welsh Lloegr 'England'. Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 74, 41-45

A new etymology is proposed for this controversial name, suggesting a Germanic origin.

Capel Soar-y-mynydd, Ceredigion (2017)
Working Paper
Coates, R. Capel Soar-y-mynydd, Ceredigion

A history, description, bibliography, set of texts and photo-gallery of a chapel in Mid-Wales.

Popular books on English place-names — a serious issue in onomastics (2017)
Journal Article
Coates, R. (2017). Popular books on English place-names — a serious issue in onomastics. Voprosy Onomastiki, 14(2), 143-158. https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2017.14.2.016

© 2017, Ural University Press. All rights reserved. This article reflects on a recent spate of books on English place-names produced by a nonprofessional writer, showing in considerable detail, for five counties, in what ways these books are deficien... Read More about Popular books on English place-names — a serious issue in onomastics.