 Derek Denis

Derek Denis is a linguist studying language change and variation, particularly Canadian English. His University of Toronto Mississauga profile describes using archival oral-history recordings to investigate earlier Ontario English and studying how Toronto's multilingual communities contribute to emerging speech patterns.^[ref]

The recordings make the comparison empirical: observed pronunciations and usages can be related to speakers and historical settings rather than inferred solely from spelling. His work in sociolinguistics asks how innovations arise and spread. A listed study of Toronto vowels connects that question to measurable sound patterns. He is a coauthor of Essentials of Linguistics (2nd edition) by Catherine Anderson and others.