7102017 Language Variation

7/30/2019 7102017 Language Variation

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Prof Elhaloui


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Whats the difference between accent and

dialect?

An accent refers to the

phoneticand

phonological

distinctions between

language varieties.


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What is a dialect?

A dialect is any varietyof a

language spoken by a group

of people that ischaracterized by systematic

differences from other

varieties of the samelanguage.


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Types of

differences

Phonetic

Phonological

Morphological Syntactic

Lexical (Semantic)

Can you give

examples?


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How can you tell if two varieties are dialects or

separate languages?

A possible criterionis mutual

intelligibility


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Language varieties are

mutually intelligible

when speakers of onevariety can

understand speakers

of another variety, and

vice vesa.

Mutual intelligibility


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It aint that easy

In China, speakers of Mandarin cannot

understand speakers of Cantonese, and vice

versa.

However, they are considered by speakers to

be dialects of the same language.Why?


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It aint that easy, Cont.

Tohono Oodham and Pima are mutually

intelligible varieties.

However, they are considered by speakers

to be different languages.

Tohono Oodham: South central Arizona. 60 villages on 7 reservations. Also

spoken in Mexico

Pima: Central Sonora-Chihuahua border, scattered, Mexico

Why?


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Clearly, political concerns

can affect the

classification of language

varieties.

I dont know what a dialect is.

But I think that Tartarian is

JUST a foreign dialect!


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Dialect Continuum

Dialect D

Dialect C

Dialect B

Dialect A

Mutually

intelligible


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Dialect Continuum

Dialect D

Dialect C

Dialect B

Dialect A

Mutually

intelligible

Virtually

intelligible


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Dialect Continuum

Dialect D

Dialect C

Dialect B

Dialect A

Mutually

intelligible

Virtually

intelligible

Mutually

intelligible


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Dialect Continuum

Dialect D

Dialect C

Dialect B

Dialect A

Not mutually

intelligible


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Idiolect

An idiolect is a type of variationthat is different from speaker to

speaker, not from community to

community.


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LanguageVariation

Regional

Socioeconomic

Political

Age

Gender Ethnicity


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Languageand Gender

Coushatta Mens and Womens Speech(Mary R. Haas)

Women Men

Lakawtakko lakawtakkos

Ka kas


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Language and Gender

Coushatta Mens and Womens Speech

(Mary R. Haas)

Women Men

lakawwil lakawwismolhil molhis


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Language and Gender

It has been noted that men tend to

speak at a lower pitch than women.


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Is it biological?

Longer vocal cords tend to create a

lower pitch.

Size of the vocal tract tends to fosterlower pitch


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So ...

One would then expect largerpeople to speak at a lower

pitch.


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But ...

what about

people likethis guy:


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It may not be entirely biological

Graddol & Swann (1989)

provide evidence indicating

that the difference in pitch may

be at least partially socially

determined.


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Cultural Evidence

Relative pitch differs at a cultural level.

In a study among Polish men and

American men, Polish men were foundto speak at a higher frequency, even

though they were of comparable sizes

(the Americans may have even been

smaller overall).


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Pre-adolescents

In a study among pre-adolescents,

girls tended to speak at a higher pitch

than boys.

However, these children had not

reached the age at which voices

biologically vary.


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Important Note

Linguistically speaking, no

one dialect or language is

better, more correct, or morelogical than any other.


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Standard vs. Non-Standard

English

What makes a

variety standard?


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Prestige

Standard varieties

are those

that are associatedwith speakers

that have highprestige.


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Prestige

Prestige has nothing to do

with the structural

properties of a language, butdepends on who is

associated with that variety.


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Prestige

In Middle English, double negatives were

commonly used by speakers of standard

Middle English.

Today, however, users ofdouble negatives

are not generally members of the higher

socioeconomic groups.

Hence, double negatives are non-standard.


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Overt vs. Covert Prestige

Overt prestige is the prestige

associated with standard dialects.

Covert prestige is the prestige

associated with non-standard dialects.

Covert prestige is often the result of

identity with a particular social group.


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Dialect Prejudice

Often there is prejudice against

speakers of a particular language

variety.

Such prejudice may causepeople to make judgments about

a person based on their dialect.


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Standard vs. Non-Standard

Some people make a conscious choice

to change their dialect, or to learn a

standard dialect.

There are even classes which teach

women to speak with a lower pitch,

assuming that more masculine

speech has a higher prestige.


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Language Styles

We often use different styles ofspeaking, depending upon the social

context.


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Register

Would you like some coffee?

vs.Want some coffee?


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Jargon

Sometimes we use specialized languagewhen speaking to others in the same

occupation.

Computerese, Legalese, Doctorese, etc.


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Slang

Common Slang:

fridge, TV, etc.

In-group Slang:

Email Abbreviations (BTW, LOL, ROTFL,IMHO, etc.)

7102017 Language Variation

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