Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects September 10, 2012byronahn.com/teaching/su12-ling1/lectures/Ling1-Lecture10.pt2.pdf · dialect might be a prestige dialect § Prestige dialects are ones

Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects

September 10, 2012

Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects Dialects & Variation

Dialect vs. Language‚ What is the difference between a dialect and a

language?

§ It’s not always clear, but the general rule is mutual

intelligibility

§ People from Los Angeles can generally understandpeople from London, so their ways of speaking aremutually intelligible

‚ And thus, they are speaking different dialects of thesame language

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Dialect vs. Language‚ If only it were that simple...

§ As with many things, politics are involved

‚ Sometimes people (don’t) want to be said to share acommon language

§ Chinese is said to have two major dialects: Cantoneseand Mandarin

‚ But the two are not mutually intelligible in speech

‚ But since they share a government and a writing system,they are traditionally (though perhaps erroneously)called separate dialects, not separate languages

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Dialect vs. ‘Dialect’‚ What are some examples of dialects?

§ You might think of examples of non-standard usage oflanguage that people use in rural areas, inner cities,etc.

§ But this usage of the word ‘dialect’ is not what we’retalking about here

‚ Everyone speaks some dialect

§ Not every dialect is considered “standard”

§ Even people with “non-standard” dialects think thatthink they themselves speak normally, and differencesindicate wrongness on the other person’s part

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Dialect vs. ‘Dialect’‚ “OK, but I’m not like those people. I don’t speak with

an accent.”

§ Yes you do! Everyone does.

§ Dialect/accent ‰ nonstandard way of speaking

‚ There are ‘standard’ ways of speaking, but evenstandard ways of speaking are dialects

§ Standard dialects are just less regionally/culturallymarked

§ So sometimes it is more desirable to use ‘standard’ waysof talking, e.g. the phone operator voice

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Prestige‚ If others don’t think you speak “with an accent”, your

dialect might be a prestige dialect

§ Prestige dialects are ones that are considered desirableand are associated with education and beingsuccessful

§ British Received Pronunciation (RP), MainstreamAmerican, etc

‚ Which dialects have prestige status changes over time– in America, it used to be British RP

§ Clip from Do You Speak American

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Prestige‚ Dialects identify us speakers in many ways, and may

(incorrectly) influence others’ perception of you

‚ Thus prestige/standard dialects are sometimesconsidered more desirable

§ But they are no more logical, and no more necessarilylinked to education, than any other dialect

§ Even so, stereotypes of non-standard dialects arepervasive and hard to avoid

‚ Your dialect’s prestige has many real-worldconsequences

§ Based on how you speak, people may judge you as(un-)educated, (in-)competent, (un-)friendly, etc.

‚ Do these judgments relate to what determines one’sdialect? 7

Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects What Determines Dialects?

American Dialect Regions‚ First and foremost, dialects are often associated with

geographical regions

§ This makes sense – people who live far apart won’thave (much) communication with each other, andwon’t influence the way the other talks

§ In older countries (basically everywhere but the US),regional dialects may involve very small areas, sincepeople tended to not leave a small area

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American Dialect Regions

Clip from American Tongues10


Language and Identity‚ Does geography determine dialect?

§ No, it is not the factor for determining dialects

‚ Dialects also have strong ties with socio-economicstatus, education level, age, race, gender and sexualorientation

§ What do all of these things have in common?

‚ Identity!

‚ In fact, overall identity seems to be the most importantfactor, and can trump any of these other factors –even including geography

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Case Study: Martha’s Vineyard‚ The relationship between identity

and dialect was first discussed inWilliam Labov’s now famous 1963Masters thesis on the speech pat-terns of Martha’s Vineyard

‚ People with the typical Martha’sVineyard accent “centralize” /aI/

and /aU/ closer to [@I] and [@U]

§ “right” [r@It]

§ “now” [n@U]

‚ However, not everyone on MV spoke this way

§ Specifically, those who wanted to leave MV for themainland did not produce the vowels this way

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The Importance of Identity‚ Labov hypothesized that “centralization emerged as a

symbol of social identity”

§ So identity is trumping geographic region, when peopledon’t centralize

‚ For various reasons, this is considered the foundation ofmodern sociolinguistics

‚ Work in this vein continues

§ Bane, Graff and Sonderegger (2010) aim to show similareffects of identity/community by studying the waypeople talk on Big Brother

§ A community of individuals begins to sound more likeone another at a very low level (amount of betweenthe release of a stop and vocal fold vibrations) over ashort period of time

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How can dialects differ?‚ This isn’t a sociology (or even a sociolinguistics) lecture

§ So, sadly, we won’t talk more about the complicatedways in which identity is defined and expressed withone’s dialect

‚ Instead, we now turn to how one dialect can vary fromanother

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Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects Lexical Variation

Regional Words‚ One of the most straightforward ways that dialects

may vary from one another is with regards to whichwords are used

§ Clip from American Tongues

‚ So, do you say...

§ ...firefly or lightning bug?

§ ...copy or photocopy or xerox?

§ ...cell phone or mobile?

§ ...hoagie or sub or grinder or po’ boy or hero?

§ ...tennis shoes or sneakers?

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Regional Words‚ ...soda or pop or coke?

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Regional Words‚ Some words lack exact equivalents in other dialects

§ Plumb (Appalachia)

“I’m plumb tired right now.”

§ Reckon (Various, including the South and Britain)

“I reckon he’ll be back ‘round 5:00.”

§ Wicked (New England)

“She’s wicked smart, that girl.”

‚ Words may be used in different grammaticalenvironments, depending on the dialect

§ Them (Various, including the South)

“Them boys are too noisy.”

§ What (Various, including Southern England)

“That’s the fellow what hit me.”

§ The [freeway number] (Southern California)

"I’m going to take the 101 to go home.” 18

Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects Morphological Variation

Non-standard Morphological Patterns‚ Just as entire words can be used differently,

morphology can differ too

§ Sometimes morphological rules are applied differently,sometimes the actual morphemes are different

‚ Plural Marking

§ In some dialects, the singular is used for a pluralweight/measure noun

‚ "Ten hundred pound of nails”

‚ ”Four foot through the stump”

§ It’s not the case that in these dialects they don’t haveplural marking

‚ Check out “nails”

§ Plural marking difers in very specific structural ways

‚ They just use the morphological rule in a different way!

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Non-standard Morphological Patterns‚ Verb Agreement

§ In Newfoundland English, it is common for the verbalinflection ‘–s’ to be used for all persons, not just 3rdperson singular:

‚ {I/you/he/she/it/we/they} fall-s down often.

§ In African American Vernacular English (AAVE), it iscommon for the verb to appear uninflected for allpersons, including 3rd person singular

‚ {I/you/he/she/it/we/they} fall-Ødown often.

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Non-standard Morphological Patterns‚ Negative Contractions

§ In Standard American English:

‚ is + not = isn’t

‚ are + not = aren’t

‚ am + not = ???

§ In Southern American English and AAVE:

‚ is + not = ain’t

‚ are + not = ain’t

‚ am + not = ain’t

§ Note: “ain’t” has actually been in use for over 300 years,and was originally the standard contraction of “amnot”

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Non-standard Morphological Patterns‚ Past and Past Participle

§ In Standard American English past participles can bemarked irregularly, with –en, or with –ed:

‚ “He will have gone by then.”

‚ “Mosquitoes have bitten me all over.”

‚ “It had cooked very quickly.”

§ In many dialects of English, past participles have beentaken over by the past forms:

‚ “He will have went by then.”

‚ “Mosquitoes have bit me all over.”

‚ “It had cooked very quickly.”

§ Conversely, in other dialects of English, the past formshave been taken over by the past participle forms:

‚ “I done it yesterday.”

‚ “I seen it first!”

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Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects Phonological Variation

Phonological Differences‚ Just as with morphology, phonological systems can

vary across dialects by having different rules, or byhaving different phonemes

§ Also: there are different classes of rules that describethe differences between dialects

‚ Different Phones

§ In Californian English, the /u/ and /o/ phonemes arepronounced more towards the front of the mouth, withless rounding of the lips

§ So /u/ is close to [1] and /o/ is close to [9]1 u

9 o

‚ Clip from Do You Speak American 25


Chain Shifts‚ The changing of one vowel sound can lead to the

change in another vowel sound

§ Think of it this way: if /a/ is now pronounced close to[æ], the /æ/ phoneme might want to change too sothat each vowel has some breathing room

‚ This will start a “chain” reaction

§ Northern Cities Shifta Ñ æ ’pot’ /pat/ Ñ [pæt]

æ Ñ e@ ’snack’ /snæk/ Ñ [sne@k]

I Ñ E ’hit’ /hIt/ Ñ [hEt]

E Ñ 2 ’egg’ /Eg/ Ñ [2g]

2 Ñ O ’busses’ /b2s@z/ Ñ [bOs@z]

O Ñ a ’talk’ /tOk/ Ñ [tak]

‚ Clip from Do You Speak American26


Mergers‚ On the other hand, sometimes one sound will become

like another, and the sound system just ‘deals with it’

§ /û/ and and /w/ have merged in most dialects (except,for example, in the South)

‚ ‘which’ /ûIÙ/, ‘witch’ /wIÙ/ “ [wIÙ] in most dialects

§ “Family Guy”, 12/17/2006

‚ /e/ & /E/ & /æ/ are merged when they precede /r/

§ In many many places, except e.g. NYC

‚ ’Mary’ /meri/ Ñ [meri]

‚ ’merry’ /mEri/ Ñ [meri]

‚ ’marry’ /mæri/ Ñ [meri]

§ Some dialects distinguish ‘Mary’ and ‘merry’ on theone hand, and ‘marry’ on the other

§ Elizabeth Taylor, Sept 200727


Mergers‚ /a/ & /O/ are merged

§ In many many places, including California

‚ ’Don’ /dan/ Ñ [dan]

‚ ’Dawn’ /dOn/ Ñ [dan]

§ In other places where /a/ & /O/ are merged, they havemerged towards the [O] vowel (e.g. Canada)

‚ ’Don’ /dan/ Ñ [dOn]

‚ ’Dawn’ /dOn/ Ñ [dOn]

§ In both kinds of merged dialects, [a] and [O] can beused interchangeably

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Mergers‚ Merger of /a/ & /O/

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Additional Rules‚ In most varieties of American English, there are

additional rules to change /æ/ to [e@] when it comesbefore an /n/ or /m/

§ But not in every dialect, notably NYC

‚ ‘hand’ /hænd/ Ñ [he@nd]

‚ ‘ham’ /hæm/ Ñ [he@m]

§ What would these additional rules be?

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Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects Syntactic Variation

Syntactic Differences‚ Just as with morphology and phonology, dialects can

have different with regards to rules and units

§ Syntactic rules can vary, or

§ Different syntactic category labels may be used for(what seem to be) the same words

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Syntactic Differences‚ Same Word, Different Syntactic Categories

§ The verb ‘be’ in Standard English is always consideredan auxiliary by the syntax

§ This is why ‘be’ always moves to the front of thesentence in yes/no questions

‚ Is John here?

‚ * Does John be here?

§ On the other hand, ‘have’ is always an auxiliary in BritishEnglish, but only sometimes in American

‚ BrEng: Have you seen her?, Have you any tea?

‚ AmEng: Have you seen her?, Do you have any tea?

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Syntactic Differences‚ Different Participles in the Same Syntactic Context

§ In Standard English, the verbs ‘need’ and ‘want’ canbe followed by verbs in the present participle form:

‚ The patches need sewing.

‚ The baby wants picking up.

§ In some dialects (namely Western PA), they can befollowed by verbs in the passive participle form:

‚ The patches need sewn.

‚ The baby wants picked up.

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Syntactic Differences‚ Negative Words in Positive Contexts

§ In Standard English, words like ‘anymore’ need to be ina negative context:

‚ Tools are not cheap anymore.« Tools are not cheap nowadays.

§ There are many people (notably people from WesternPA down to MO) who do not have this requirement,and can say:

‚ Tools are cheap anymore.« Tools are cheap nowadays.

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Syntactic Differences‚ Double Modals

§ In Standard English, only one modal auxiliary (like ‘can’,‘must’, ‘might’, ‘should’, etc) can appear per clause:

‚ John should go.

§ Some people in the South can have more than onemodal in a clause:

‚ John might should go.« Maybe John should go.

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Syntactic Differences‚ “Double Negative”

§ In Standard English, using a so-called “doublenegative” is ungrammatical (or maybe has theopposite meaning):

‚ I don’t like anybody. ‰ I don’t like nobody.

§ For many dialects (Southern American, Cockney, AAVE,etc), this is the only possibility, and it is called negativeconcord

‚ I don’t like nobody.

§ Note: this may have the opposite meaning for somespeakers, but this doesn’t make their dialect more likemathematical logic. Many languages use negativeconcord.

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Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects A case study

AAVE‚ African American Vernacular English (AAVE) has been

given many names (Black English, Ebonics, etc)

§ Its roots are in the trade pidgins used along the Africancoast, which then had contact with each other and(Southern) English

§ It carries a strong stigma in many contexts

§ At the same time, its non-use can also carry a stigma, inother contexts

§ Movie Clip

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Lexical Differences‚ AAVE has long influenced SAE by being the source of

many words that have been incorporated intomainstream popular culture

§ “cool”, “chill out”, “soul”, “dis”, “crib”, “street”

‚ Some words/expressions that are in AAVE but not SAE(especially that of older SAE speakers) include:

§ “shorty” [SOti], “in a minute”, “ ’s ass”

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Morphological Differences‚ Different rule: the possessive rule doesn’t seem to exist

for some forms of AAVE

§ They momma sister (=Their momma’s sister)

‚ Different morphemes: not only does AAVE use differentmorphemes, it makes more distinctions than SAE.(Fickett 1972)

§ Immediate: Imma let you finish

§ Post-Immediate: Imma gonna let you finish

§ Indefinite Future: I gonna let you finish

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Phonological Differences‚ /I/ & /i/ have merged, esp. before /l/

§ ‘feel’ /fil/ Ñ [fIl]

§ ‘fill’ /fIl/ Ñ [fIl]

‚ /@l/ may sound a lot like /o/

§ e.g. Beyonce:I could have another you by tomorrow

Don’t you ever for a second get to thinkin’You’re irreplaceable?

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Phonological Differences‚ Additional rules: cluster reduction

§ Clusters are often reduced when both consonants aremade in the same place

‚ ‘number’ /n2mb@r/ Ñ [n2m@r]

‚ ‘must’ /m2st/ Ñ [m2s]

‚ ‘enter’ /Ent@r/ Ñ [En@r]

§ Other clusters are often reduced when at the end ofthe word

‚ ‘left’ /lEft/ Ñ [lEf]

‚ (again like Beyonce)

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Syntactic Differences‚ The copula (the verb ‘to be’) is often unused

§ (like Russian, Arabic, Japanese)

‚ SAE: She is fast.

‚ AAVE: She fast.

§ BUT copulas must sometimes be used even in AAVE

‚ AAVE: * She tall, and he too.

‚ The question inversion rule isn’t always used

§ (for certain types of questions)

‚ AAVE: What your name is?

‚ AAVE has an additional syntactic rule

§ You can (sometimes) move a negative auxiliary to thefront of the sentence

‚ SAE: Nobody is gonna disrespect you.

‚ AAVE: Ain’t nobody gonna disrespect you. 44

Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects Today

Dialects‚ Everyone speaks a dialect

§ Standard dialects often have prestige

§ But no dialect is more ‘logical’ or ‘complete’ than anyother

‚ Sociological factors generally determine dialect

§ But the most important factor in determining dialect ispersonal identity

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Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects Today

Dialects‚ Dialects can vary by:

§ using different words, or by using words from thestandard dialect in a non-standard way

§ using different phones, or by using differentphonological rules

§ using different morphemes, or by using differentmorphological rules

§ using different syntactic category labels for words, or byusing different syntactic rules

‚ In short, dialects can vary in all the ways languagescan vary!

§ Curiously, there seems to be a lack of variation acrossdialects in terms of semantic rules – similarly can be saidof languages

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Documents

Lecture 10 part 2: Dialects September 10, 2012byronahn.com/teaching/su12-ling1/lectures/Ling1-Lecture10.pt2.pdf · dialect might be a prestige dialect § Prestige dialects are ones