Download 340LanguageVariants - Kimberly Martin, Ph.D.

Language Variants
A Single Language Varies
According to:
Idiolect = the unique characteristics of
how a given individual speaks the
language.
Dialect = a version of a language that
is systemmatically different from
other versions of the language
Standard = the ideal against which
idiolects and dialects are measured
Language or Dialect?
Mutual Intelligibility
is the criterion used to differentiate between
dialects and languages
 is a matter of judgement and tradition.
Communicative Isolation
 Results in the divergence of differing forms of a
language (linguistic drift)
 is what creates dialects and new languages
 Can be complete or only partial
Dialect Leveling
 The opposite of isolation, this makes a language
more uniform in its variants
Dialects
Regional = geographically defined
Socioeconomic = defined by social class
Ethnic = defined by membership in a
particular ethnic group
Aspects of Dialect
Accents
= systematic phonological
differences in the use of speech sounds
Lexical Differences = vocabulary
differences
Syntactic Differences = differences in
how sentences are constructed and used
Pidgins
Pidgin is a language that arises from the
need for workers and bosses to communicate
when they do not speak the same language
Limited vocabulary
Simplified grammatical elements
eg. Slaves and owners
Colonial land owners and
peasants who work the land
Hawaiian Pidgin began as a pidgin that
allowed colonists to give orders to
indigenous workers
Combined Hawaiian and English language
elements
Creoles
• Pidgins that have become
complete languages that are
learned by children as their first
language
Eg. Hawaiian Pidgin has become
a creole over time and is the
local language that is spoken by
individuals growing up in
Hawaii
African American English
(AAE)
Phonological Differences
R-deletion
guard = god, sore = saw, poor = pa
L-deletion
all = awe, help = hep
Neutralization of [I ]and [E] before nasals (intermediate
sound)
pin = pen, ten = tin
Loss of interdental fricatives
Ruth = roof
Brother = brover
This = dis
That = dat
Syntactic Differences
Double negatives
“he don’t know nothing”
“he don’t got none”
Deletion of the verb “to be”
He is nice. = He nice.
I am gonna do it. = I gonna do it.
Habitual “be”
Sarah is happy. = Sarah be happy.
( Sarah is a always a happy person)
He is late. = He late
He is always late. = He be late.
Latino/Hispanic/Chicano
English
Phonological Differences
Substitution of the Spanish 5 vowel system for the English 11 vowel
system
ship & sheep = sheep
rid and read = read
Interchangeability of sh and ch
show = cho
check = sheck
Devoicing some consonants
easy = isi
guys = gais
Final consonant cluster simplification
war and ward = war
star and start = star
Consonant substitution
th = t (thin = tin)
th = d (they = dey)
Addition of e sound at beginning of s words
school = eskool
start = estart
Latino/Hispanic/Chicano
English
Syntactic Differences:
Double negatives
“he don’t know nothing”
“he don’t got none”
Use of more for more often
Use of out from for away from
Registers
• Situational dialects that are
used in different roles and in
differing social situations.
• Informal vs formal
EG. Tu vs usted in Spanish
Motherese with young
children
Slang
• An informal set of alternative
vocabulary and/or meanings
• Including:
– Recombining existing words in new
ways to create meanings (“spaced
out”)
– Introducing new words (zonked)
– Attaching new meanings to
existing words
(“to text”)
Jargon
• A set of vocabulary that is used
in a specified limited technical,
professional or occupational
context.
• EG. The vocabulary that you
have been learning in this class
that is used by specialists in
Linguistics: phoneme,
morpheme, phonetics, phonemics,
morphology, syntax, semantics,
grammar, etc.
Taboo Language vs
Euphemisms
Taboo = language that should not be
used in polite situations
Euphemism = a word that replaces a
taboo or unpleasant word
Class Exercise
Why Use Taboo Language?
Why Use Euphemisms?
Study Guide
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Idiolect
Dialect
Standard
Mutual intelligibility
Communicative isolation
Dialect leveling
Regional dialect
Socioeconomic dialect
Ethnic dialect
Accents
Lexical differences
Syntactic differences
African American/Black English
Chicano/Hispanic/Latino English
Registers
Slang
Jargon
Taboo language
Euphemisms