Sociolinguistics Languages, Dialects, and Varieties Class notes

Today Language variation Deciding what is a language and what is a dialect Talking about what makes a dialect Talking about regional dialects Talking about linguistic variables Accents

Sociolinguistic variation What is sociolinguistic variation? The study of the way language varies and changes: Social factors (such as a speaker's gender, ethnicity, age, degree of integration into their community, etc) and Linguistic structures (such as sounds, grammatical forms, intonation features, words, etc).

linguistic variation What do we mean by variety? Variety is when people who speak the same language speak it differently. Hudson (1996, p. 22) defines a variety of language as a set of linguistic items with similar distribution, a definition that allows us to say that all of the following are varieties: Canadian English, London English, the English of football commentaries, and so on.

No two speakers of a language speak exactly the same way - Between group variation = intergroup variation No individual speaker speaks the same way all the time - Within-speaker variation = intraspeaker variation

Language and Dialect What is a dialect? A dialect should be: A way of speaking a language that is used only in a particular area or by a particular group and characterized by systemic features, such as phonology, lexicon, or grammar, that distinguishes it from other varieties of the same language.

A version of a language spoken in a particular geographical area or by a particular group of people. The English spoken in Newcastle is different from that spoken by natives of North Cornwall. Not only do speakers in these two areas have a different accent, they also use a number of different words. Different dialects also use slightly different grammar, too. For example, in Devon some people say They do have in preference to They have Such regional expressions are not wrong, they simply differ from standard English. They are sometimes described as non-standard. Oxford Dictionary

Cockney Rhyming Slang What is cockney rhyming slang? Where is it spoken? Cockney Rhyming slang is a coded language invented in the nineteenth century by Cockneys so they could speak in front of the police without being understood. It uses a phrase that rhymes with a word, instead of the word itself thus stairs becomes apples and pears, phone becomes dog and bone' and word becomes dicky bird. It can become confusing when sometimes the rhyming part of the word is dropped: thus daisies are boots (from daisy roots).

Cockney Game Would you Adam and Eve it? Adam and Eve Believe I'm going to have my barnet cut. Barnet Fair Hair I had a butchers at it through the window. Butcher's Hook Look Use your crust, lad. Crust of Bread Head Where's my weasel? Weasel and Stoat Coat Hand over the bees. Bees and Honey Money Get up those apples to bed! Apples and Pears Stairs What beautiful minces. Mince Pies Eyes

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/regional-voices/lexical-variation/

Long narrow sandwich

Soft drink

Pronoun: You

Problems with defining language and dialect How do the different varieties of English spoken in Jamaica relate to other varieties of English in Canada? Would two English speakers from these diverse places understand one another? Set of criteria proposed by the linguist R. T Bell: Standardization: A language that has been standardized. Vitality: Whether a language is alive or dead. Historicity: A language that has a long historical bond with its speakers. Autonomy: A language must be felt by its speakers to be different from other languages. Reduction: Reduction is when the speakers of a particular variety of a language regard it as a sub-variety or a dialect. Mixture: Mixture refers to how mixed a languages speakers feel their language has become. De Facto Norms: Norms refers to the feeling that many speakers have that there are both good speakers and poor speakers, and that the good speakers represent the norms of proper usage.

ISOGLOSSES Define isoglosses. BE = is.o.gloss AE = i.so.gloss They show the boundary of different dialects

Do You Speak American? Dialects Lobsterman/Pronunciation in Maine : MacNeil says, Mainers fear that their dialect... is coming to the end of the road. How might a decline in a way of life be related to a decline in a way of speaking? Does one cause the other or do they just coincide? Can there be one without the other? Clip: E1 00:00 05:48

Buying a car: Pam Head, the Massachusetts native, tells a story of living in Oklahoma, where people did not understand her pronunciation of the word car as cah. 1.If Head had remained in Oklahoma, do you think she would have continued to use her Massachusetts pronunciation? 2.If you have ever moved from one dialect region to another, did you notice yourself changing your pronunciation? 3.If so, why? In order to be understood? In order to fit in? For some other reason? 4.Have you ever noticed other people changing their pronunciation? 5.Which is harder, adopting new and strange vocabulary items or modifying pronunciation? 6.What are the advantages and disadvantages of trying to adopt a different regional dialect? Clip: E1 06:04 08:34

Question 1 Dennis Preston: MacNeil says, Americans are ambivalent about language. They may think that New York and Southern accents are bad English but they can also find them charming. 1.Do you agree that Americans are ambivalent about language? 2.Do you share the sorts of feelings MacNeil describes? 3.Do you consider your own variety of English to be prestigious or stigmatized? Clip: E1 20:28 27:36

Question 2 Dennis Preston: Dennis Preston studies Americans perceptions and attitudes about English, called folk linguistics. 1.Do you consider speakers of some varieties to sound more educated, more friendly, more intelligent, or more cheerful? 2.If so, why do you think that is? Are your impressions similar to your classmates?

Celebrating dialect diversity: Linguist Walt Wolfram says, Were coming to celebrate and recognize some of the dialect differences as part of our natural cultural heritage. He believes that we ought to celebrate language variety instead of trying to eradicate it. 1.In what ways can we celebrate language variety differences? 2.What varieties of English do people tend to celebrate? 3.Are there any varieties that people still typically do not celebrate? Clip: E2 01:40 09:03

Country music : Cody James, a singer from Oregon, says that country music doesnt necessarily have to be sung with a Southern accent but that it seems right to do so. 1.What language varieties seem right for singing the following: jazz, pop, heavy metal, hip-hop. Why? 2.What would it be like if the voice didnt match the style of the musicfor example, what would it sound like if Cody James sang with a New York accent? 3.Are there other activities besides singing that invite a certain accent or other features of a dialect? Clip: E2 09:03 12:33

Language prejudices : In the story about Eudora Welty that MacNeil recounts, Welty claims that when she was at Columbia University in New York, she was never given tickets to cultural events because people interpreted her way of speaking as evidence that she would not be interested in cultural activities. 1.When you hear someone speak, what judgments do you feel confident about making? 2.Do you think you can judge peoples interests from the way they sound? 3.What assumptions do you think people make about you based on the way you speak? 4.What sort of connections between speech and other attributes are most valid, and which are least valid? Clip: E2 12:33 15:06

Jeff Foxworthy: Foxworthy makes a joke about not wanting your brain surgeon to have a Southern accent. 1.What accent would you like your brain surgeon to have? 2.What about a car mechanic or a computer repairperson? 3.How are assumptions about regional dialects made and why are they maintained? 4.How could misleading ones be modified? Clip: E2 15:06 16:57

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Sociolinguistics Languages, Dialects, and Varieties Class notes