Chapter 10: Language Variation

In-Group slang

A type of slang that is associated with a particular group at a particular time - can be used to keep insiders together and to exclude outsiders

What does AAVE stand for?

African American Vernacular English

What do bundles of isoglosses reveal?

Dialect boundaries

Regional variation

Has to do with how speakers in different parts of a country speak the same language differently

Why dont English speakers speak exactly the same way?

It is due to internal variation

A cover term, used by linguists, to refer to any form of language characterized by systematic features.

Language variety

Regional marker and stereotype for Appalachia:

- a-prefixing (he comes a-running) - Irregular verb preservation (Clumb vs climbed, het vs heated) - Multiple negation (I didn't have no lunch)

Dialect

- any variety of a language spoken by a group of people that is characterized by systematic differences from other varieties of the same language in terms of structural or lexical features. - regional and social variations

There are inherent differences within language that affect the way we speak, including:

- dialects - idiolects - slang - jargon

What is language variation?

- differences within languages - languages vary internally

Registers

- different levels of speech formality (speech style) - ex. formal, informal, casual, or careful

Regional marker and stereotype for the West:

- discourse markers introducing quoted speech - i'm like, he's all

Regional marker and stereotype for the South:

- double modals - South: I might could help you; Others: I might be able to help you

Speech comunities may be defined in terms of a number of extralinguistic factors, meaning

- factors not based in linguistic strucutre - region, socioeconomic status, age, gender, and ethnicity

dialects can differ in what levels?

- morphological level - syntactic level - lexical/semantic level

Regional marker and stereotype for the North:

- needs + verb + ing - North: The table needs cleaning; Others: The table needs to be cleaned

Dialects differing at a lexical/semantic level

- refers to differences in the words people use to mean the same thing or to refer to the same object, or differences in what the saem word means or refers to. - Ex. Soda -> common in northeastern and western parts of the U.S; Pop -> common in the Midwest and Northwest; Coke -> common in the South

What is internal variation?

- refers to the fact that within a single language, there are different ways of expressing the same meaning - inherent to all human languages

Communicative isolation

- results when a group of speakers forms a coherent speech community relatively isolated from speakers outside of that community - rare, can cause "pure" dialect

What are the social factors impacting langauge variation?

- socioeconomic class - age - gender - ethnicity

Speakers of different dialects often have different accents, meaning

- systamatic phonological variation - accents can be native (L1 speaker) vs. non-native (L2 speaker)

Speech styles

- systematic variations in speech based on factors such as topic, setting, and addressee - way of speaking marked by defrees of fomality

Dialects differing at a morphological level

- the distribution of morphemes in two varieties or the use of completely different morphemes for the same function in two varieties - Ex. Tom's car vs. Tom car; and Himself vs. Hisself

Idiolect

- the language variety of an individual speaker - a native speakers unique way of speaking

Bi-dialectal

- the same speaker can speak 2 dialects - multiple dialects; multi-dialectal

Dialects differing at a syntactic level

- variation in all of the syntactic properties of words and phrases and the the words are put together (exs. modals, verbs, subject "pro-drop") - Ex. You are crazy vs. You crazy; and Nothing is going on vs. Ain't nothing going on

AAVE is spoken by many black residents of the Northern US and Southern states because of:

- waves of migration out of the South - long-standing patterns of racial segregation

Slang

- words or expressions (creative and stylistic) used in informal settings - often to indicate membership in a particular social group

Which subfield of linguistics deals with the study of the relationship between these language varieties and social structure as well as the interrelationships among different language varieties?

Sociolinguistics (cultural norms, expectations, and context on the say language is used)

prescriptive standard

Standard by which people often make judgements of "right" and "wrong".

Regional Variation example

The Rhenish fan separates Low German (North) and High German (South). Pre-Germanic stop consonants [p,t,k] have remained [p,t,k] in Low German but have become fricative [f,s,x] in High German.

How/why does Chicano English develop?

They develop because of the varieties of English spoken in a community, not because of Spanish input. In many cases, these speakers have little or no fluency in Spanish

True or False: 'Standard' dialects of a given language usually have a high overt prestige.

True

True or False: AAVE is a valid non-standard dialect that evolved separately from SAE

True

True or False: Dialect atlases show the geographical boundaries of the distribution of a particular linguistic feature by drawing a line on a map (isogloss).

True

True or False: No two speakers of a language speak exactly the same way, nor does any individual speaker speak the same way

True

True or False: the term dialect is applied most often to regional speech patters. However, a dialect may also be defined by other factors, such as social class, speaker's gender, age, ethnic background, etc.

True (Ex. Chicano Eng)

True or False: Linguistically speaking, no one dialect or language is better, more correct, more systematic, or more logical than any other

Truth

Covert prestige

Type of prestige that exists among members of nonstandard speech communities that defines how people should speak in order to be considered members of those particular communities

What marks a dialect boundary?

a bundle of isoglosses (when isoglosses coincide)

Chicano English

a cover term for the varieties of English often spoken by second- or third-generation speakers of Mexican descent in the United States

Speech community

a group of people who use language in a unique way that is mutually accepted among the members of the community

non-rhotic

a language variety in which sequences of vowel-/r/-consonant or vowel-/r/-word boundary are not permitted to occur

rhotic

a language variety in which sequences of vowel-/r/-consonant or vowel-/r/-word boundary are permitted to occur

Isogloss

a line drawn on a dialect map marking the boundary of an area where a particular linguistic feature is found

Emblematic language

a particular language variety used to refer symbolically to a particular cultural heritage or identity

One criterion used to distinguish dialects from languages is mutal intelligibility, meaning

a situation in which speakers of different language varieties are able to understand and communicate with one another

Common slang

a type of slang that is fairly neutral and is simply informal, everyday language

What are the two types of slang?

common slang and in-group slang

The use of the term dialect to differentiate among regional varieties can be confounded by what is called a

dialect continuum, in which there is gradual change of the language

People who study regional dialects are known as...?

dialectologists

What is an example of phonetic and phonological variation across dialects?

differences in accent

Are dialects similar or different from slang and jargon?

different

a criterion of mutual intelligibility is found in a phenomenon known as a dialect continuum; a situation where

in a large number of geographically contiguous dialects, each is closely related to the next, but the dialects at either end of the continuuum are mutually unintelligible

What usually coincides with a dialect boundary?

it usually coincides with some geographical or political factor

Isoglosses are

lines drawn on a dialect map marking the boundary of an area where a particular linguistic feature is found

Unlike jargon, words that are considered slang are...?

often less formal than other equivalent words

Variation studies mostly focus on which variable?

phonological variables, although morphosyntactic features can be variable as well

Received Pronunciation

regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English

Variation in AAVE can be studied according to what factors?

region, age, and social class

A group of people speaking the same dialect is called a

speech community

Dialects can also differ depending on two things:

style and register

Like jargon, slang has to do more with...?

stylistic choices in vocabulary than with systematic lexical differences between varieties

Accent

systemic phonological variation inherent in any persons speech

A jargon is also called

technical langauge - a language variety that differs only in lexical items

Style shifting

the process of automatically adjusting from one speech style to another

Although all dialects are systematic and logically constructed, many people believe that ...

there are 'correct' standard dialects and 'incorrect' non-standard dialects

Overt prestige

type of prestige attached to a particular variety of language by the community at large that defines how people should speak in order to gain status in the wider community

Social dialect

variety of a language defined by social factors such as age, religion, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status

Regional Dialect

variety of language defined by region or geography

Regional marker and stereotype for the Midland:

- /l/ - vocalization - belt pronounced bewt

Features of AAVE include:

- Consonant cluster reduction (test, desk, end) - R-lessness and /ai/ monophtongization - "th" sounds as /t/, /d/, /f/, /v/ or /s/ - Verbal -s marking - Zero copula - Habitual be (invariant be)

Regional and geographic factors (slide)

- Isoglosses rarely coincide - Isoglosses often criss-cross - Isoglosses may reveal a transitional area between focal areas

Features of Latino Englishes:

- Multiple negation (That ain't gonna never change in L.A. no more) - Regularization of irregular past tense verbs (striked) - Absence of past tense marking (she look pretty) - Habitual be - Zero copula - Vowel reduction /i/ = /ə/ (bee-cuz) - Monophtongization (/i/ pronounced without /j/ in "least") - Intonation

What is the NCVS?

- Northern Cities Vowel Shift - a vowel change found in cities settled in a westward movement of people from NY state. - proceeds westward out of the state in a path that includes: Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison.

Jargon

- Speech usually associated with or used within a particular occupation, hobby, or sport - specific to fields, aka communities of practice

Isoglosses can show that particular linguistic features spread from one location, i.e

- a focal area - relic areas remain unaffected

Bundle of isoglosses

- a set of isoglosses surrounding the same geographic region or distinguishing the same group of speakers, marking a particular language variety - usually coincides with some geographical or political factor