als 457 week 2 : language variation on users

dialects, and gender, ethnicity

what is the definition of dialect according to american heritage dictionary of english language?

• a regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary

• esp a variety differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of culture in which it exists

what is dialectology?

• the scientific study of dialects

• a subfield of sociolinguistics

types of dialects

1. regional dialects

2. social dialects

what is regional dialect?

• a variety associated with a place

yorkshire dialect

standard english : about, down, house, boot, home

yorkshire dialect : aboot, doon, ‘oose, beeat, eeam, ‘oom or yam

how to differentiate regional dialect?

• based on how remote it geographically located

cockney english

refers to the accent and form of english used by the working class londoners staying in the East End London

accent of cockney english

• vowel - mauf rather than mouth

• h- dropping at the beggining of words

• rhyming slang

international varieties

a) phonology

nz (dad) - british (dead)

american (god) - british (guard)

australian (pen) - british (pin)

b) vocabulary

british (single parent) - NZ (solo parent)

british (traffic light) - south africans (robot) - american (stoplight)

c) grammar

americans (do you have) - british (have you got)

americans (dove) - british (dived)

how does regional dialects develop?

• it takes time to develop

what is dialect chains?

• a chain that links all the dialects across several countries

• varieties that blend into one another despite the different countries in which the speech community is located

• the varieties have more common aspects found in the language used in the nearby village/area than the language of the country

• from one village and town to the next there is a chain or continum

what is social dialect?

• a variety associated with different social class groups

• language varieties, distinguishable by their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation

• used by dofferent social class

social dialects reflects the social and economics status of the speakers

true

exp : standard english

• a dialect used by well-educated english speakers around the world

• a variety used for national broadcast and taught in schools

• more accomodating than RP

caste dialects

in india, different languages are associated to castes

speeches of brahmin and non-brahmin are different

• brahmin - haalu

• non - brahmin - aalu

social class

difference between people who are associated with social prestige, wealth and education

example of social dialects

standard english

• a dialect used by well- educated english speakers around the world

• a variety used for national broadcast and taught in schools

non- standard form is a

vernacular english

caste dialects (india)

• different languages are associated to castes

• brahmin vs non-brahmin

caste dialects ( milk )

brahmin = haalu

non-brahmin = aalu

social class - pronunciation

• the higher a person’s social group, the more [r] are pronounced