Varieties of English

Recurrent Concepts of English Language and Linguistics

Varieties of English• VARIATION: Natural phenomenon• Language is a form of social behavior and

communities tend to split up into groups, each displaying differences of behavior

• Language manifests differences of behavior• Language is the variety of speakers• Speakers vary in their vocabulary and skills to use it• Linguistic variables have both social and style

variation, some only social, but none style variation only

Dialect• No universally accepted criteria for

distinguishing languages from dialects, although a number of paradigms exist, which render sometimes contradictory results

• The exact distinction is a subjective one, dependent on the user's frame of reference

• Language varieties are often called dialects rather than languages

Because

• solely they are not, or not recognized as literary languages

• the speakers of the given language do not have a state of their own

• they are not used in press or literature, or very little.

• because their language lacks prestige

Difference between Accent and Dialect

• a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers

• applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class

• Defined as: a sub-division of a language, used by a group of speakers who have some non-linguistic characteristics in common or the specific form of a language used by a speech community

Most common characteristics

• The regional one• Link can also be occupational and social• Sometime variety depends upon the occasion

to use as well• the word "dialect" is sometimes used to refer

to a lesser-known language most commonly a regional language, especially one that is unwritten or not standardized

Difference between Language & Dialect

• often accompanied by the erroneous belief that the minority language is lacking in vocabulary, grammar, or importance

• the difference between language and dialect is the difference between the abstract or general and the concrete and particular

• Identifying a particular dialect as the "standard" or "proper" version of a language are in fact using these terms to express a social distinction

The status of language

• the status of language is not solely determined by linguistic criteria, but it is also the result of a historical and political development

• Mandarin and Cantonese are often considered dialects and not languages, despite their mutual unintelligibility, because they share a common literary standard and common body of literature

• The number of speakers, and the geographical area covered by them, can be of arbitrary size

• a dialect might contain several sub-dialects• A dialect is a complete system of verbal

communication oral or signed, but not necessarily written with its own vocabulary and grammar

• A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation including phonology and prosody

• the "dialects" of a "language" which itself may be a "dialect" of a yet older tongue may or may not be mutually intelligible

• a parent language may spawn several "dialects" which themselves subdivide any number of times, with some "branches" of the tree changing more rapidly than others

• among the modern Romance tongues, with Italian and Spanish having a high degree of mutual comprehensibility, which neither language shares with French, despite both languages being genetically closer to French than to each other

• French has undergone more rapid change than have Spanish and Italian

Standard and non-standard dialects

• A standard dialect: a dialect that is supported by institutions

• Such institutional support may include government recognition or designation;

• presentation as being the "correct" form of a language in schools;

• published grammars, dictionaries, and textbooks that set forth a "correct" spoken and written form;

• an extensive formal literature that employs that dialect in prose, poetry, non-fiction, etc.

• Standard American English, Standard British English, Standard Indian English, Standard Australian English, and Standard Philippine English may all be said to be standard dialects of the English language

Non-standard Dialect

• A nonstandard dialect: has a complete vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, but is not the beneficiary of institutional support

• An example of a nonstandard English dialect is Southern English

• The Dialect Test was designed by Joseph Wright to compare different English dialects with each other

Regional dialect

• not a distinct language • a variety of a language spoken in a particular area of a

country• Some regional dialects have been given traditional names

which mark them out as being significantly different from standard varieties spoken in the same place

• Ex: 'Hillbilly English' from the Appalachians in the USA and 'Geordie' from Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK

Minority dialect

• Sometimes members of a particular minority ethnic group have their own variety which they use as a marker of identity, usually alongside a standard variety

• Ex: African American Vernacular English in the USA, London Jamaican in Britain, and Aboriginal English in Australia

Indigenized variety

• Indigenized varieties are spoken mainly as second languages in ex-colonies with multilingual populations

• The differences from the standard variety may be linked to English proficiency, or may be part of a range of varieties used to express identity.

• 'Singlish' spoken in Singapore is a variety very different from standard English, and there are many other varieties of English used in India

Sociolect

• the variety of language characteristic of a social background or status

• A dialect which evolves from regional speech may also have sociolectical implications

• Ex: standard Italian is a dialect in that it is particular to Tuscany; yet, being the national language of Italy, it is also a sociolect in that it carries a certain prestige from being the lingua franca throughout the country – both in broadcasting, in the press, and by people of high social status

Idiolect• a variety of a language unique to an individual• manifested by patterns of word selection and grammar, or

words, phrases, idioms, or pronunciations that are unique to that individual

• Every individual has an idiolect• the grouping of words and phrases is unique, rather than an

individual using specific words that nobody else uses• idiolect can easily evolve into an ecolect—a dialect variant

specific to a household• languages are congruences of idiolects and thus exist only in

the intersection between individual speakers • Idiolects change through contact with other idiolects, and

change throughout their lifetime as well as from generation to generation

Register • term was originated by: Thomas Bertram Reid in 1956• Become common: in the 1960s introduced by a group of

linguists who wanted to distinguish between variations in language according to the user and variations according to use,

• each speaker has a range of varieties and choices between them at different times

• (Halliday et al, 1964)• focus is on the way language is used in particular

situations • Halliday (1964) identifies three variables that determine

register: field (the subject matter of the discourse), tenor (the participants and their relationships) and mode (the channel of communication, e.g. spoken or written)

Summary

• Varieties of Language

• Dialects• Sociolects• Idiolects• Register• Isogloss