Sociolinguistics - 3100 Exam 3 module 10

Sociolinguistics

How people use language to define themselves or to set themselves apart from others

dialect

Any variety of a language that is shared by a group of speakers. Rule governed. Phonological and Morphosyntactic differences.

One dialect is superior to another.

true or false

false

some dialects carry more prestige than others.

true or false

true

Factors that affect how we speak:

- Age

- Education

- Class

- Race

- Ethnicity

- Gender

- Sexuality

Central Pennsylvania dialect

- Omit infinitive form "to be" ex: The car needs washed instead of The car needs to be washed

- "Let" for "leave"

- No rising intonation for questions

Dialect leveling

movement toward greater uniformity and less variation among dialects. Use of Mainstream American English (MAE) is increasingly prevalent across the country

Linguistic isolation

geographical or socioeconomic separation from other groups

Everyone speaks some dialect of a language

true or false

true

All dialectal features are always distinct and

noticeable

true or false

false

Dialects are precise and show regular patterns

true or false

true

Southern American English Distinguishing Syntactic Features:

- Velar fronting (running - runin')

• Lexicon: "y'all"

• Vowel diphthongization (adding/removing a vowel)

• Word stressing

• The Drawl - elongated vowels

African American English (AAE)

Believed to be derived in part from rule-based language structures of some African languages

AAE Distinguishing Phonological Features

- Word -final consonant cluster reduction (e.g.,

/mɛnd/ /mɛn/)

- Initial /ɵ/ or /ð/ /d/ or /t/ (e.g., /ɵIs/

/dIs/)

- Final /ɵ/ /f/ (e.g., /ɹuɵ/ /ɹuf/)

- Deletion of /ɹ/ (e.g., /sIstɚ/ /sistə/)

- Deletion of /l/ in final and word-final abutting

consonants (e.g.,/wIl/ /wI/; /hɛlp/ /hɛp/

AAE Distinguishing Syntactic Features

- Deletion of the verb "be". ex: He is nice ---- He nice

- They're mine --- They mine

- Habitual "be" ex: john be happy

- Multiple negation, "ain't"

Children who speak AAE have a similar phonetic

inventory to children who speak MAE

true or false

true

Error patterns in AAE will be similar to those

found in MAE speakers

true or false

true

Code-switching

Changing between dialects depending upon relevant sociolinguistic variables

Linguistic discrimination

speakers of a stigmatized dialect may experience discrimination in education, employment, housing, and beyond

Pidgin

a communication system used by groups of people who wish and need to communicate with each other but have no means to do so

characteristics of pidgin

-Limited vocabulary & simplified syntactic structure

-Not degraded language but has rules all its own

-May have short life & disappear when the need for common communication ceases to exist.

-May develop into a creole

Creoles

a pidgin that becomes the mother tongue of a community - more complex syntax, phonology, lexicon, semantics, and pragmatics

Superstrate

The more dominate language (economically, etc.) provide the majority of the lexicon, and grammar

Substrate

Contributes in more subtle ways to the grammar and lexicon

Common Creoles in U.S.

- Gullah - barrier islands off the coast of S. Carolina and Georgia

- Hawaiian Creole

- Louisiana French Creole

- Haitian Creole