Language variation
• register
• genre
• dialect
• accent
Language variation
• dialect
• accent• "a language"
Discussing language variation in Iceland
• Are there any dialects in Icelandic?
• What "type" of Icelandic is taught to foreign students?
• Will they hear any difference in the Icelandic spoken in Reykjavík, Ísafjörður, Akureyri, Neskaupstaður, Höfn .....
• Can all Icelanders understand each other?
Discussing language variation in Iceland
• Compare this to an Icelandic student who has learnt English for 15 years at school and at university in Iceland –
• will s/he be able to communicate with people on the street in London, Taunton, Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Londonderry, Dublin ....?
Discussing language variation in Iceland
• Can all speakers of Icelandic understand each other?
• Can all speakers of English understand each other?
• German? Italian? Japanese?
Discussing language variation in Iceland
• How long do you have to listen to an Icelander to hear what part of Iceland s/he comes from?
• Britain?
• Germany?
• Norway?
• Italy?
I saw her yesterday
I seed her yesterday
So I said to him ...
So I says to him ...
I don’t want any more trouble
I don’t want no more trouble
English?
DescriptionPrescription
descriptive rules or prescriptive rules?
• Our father which art in heaven
• Our father who art in heaven
• Our father who is in heaven
• Our father oo is in heaven
• Our father what is in heaven
• Our father as be in heaven
English?
• Good and bad English
• Correct and incorrect English
• Standard and substandard English
• Standard and non-standard English
• Dialects of English
English?
• Lexical - vocabulary
• Grammatical
• Phonological- pronunciation
LINGUISTIC VARIABLES
• Lexical - vocabulary
This and the following maps are from Widdowson
and Upton
Isoglossshowing lexicalvariables
Isoglossesshowing lexicalvariables
Isoglossesshowing lexicalvariables
Isoglossesshowing lexicalvariables
Isoglossesshowing lexicalvariables
Isoglossesshowing lexicalvariables
• Grammatical• Lexical - vocabulary
Isoglossesshowing grammaticalvariables
Isoglossesshowing grammaticalvariables
Isoglossesshowing grammaticalvariables
Isoglossesshowing grammaticalvariables
Isoglossesshowing grammaticalvariables
• Phonological- pronunciation
• Grammatical• Lexical - vocabulary
• vocabulary• grammar• pronunciation
}→ dialect
→ accent
dialect 1 → accent 1dialect 2 → accent 2dialect 3 → accent 3dialect 4 → accent 4
Each dialect has its own accent:
Standard dialect → standard acccent + all other accents
• vocabulary• grammar• pronunciation
}→ dialect
→ accent
London dialect → London acentYorkshire dialect → Yorkshire accentSomerset dialect → Somerset accentStandard English → RP
+ London, Yorshire, Somerset .....
English dialects:
Phonological variables
STRUT/FOOT
BATH/TRAP
ISOGLOSS
A line drawn on a map between two different realisations of a single linguistic variable.
ISOGLOSS
These realizations are often the result of a historical process, such that on one side of the line the process has occurred (+), and on the other it has not occurred (-).
+_
ISOGLOSS
b
ba
aHere are two isoglosses, showing two imaginary processes which we shall call a and b
ISOGLOSS
b
ba
a
+a +b
+a -b
-a -b
-a +b
They split the area into 4 different language varieties.
ISOGLOSS
ISOGLOSS
BUNDLES OF ISOGLOSSES
Isoglosses often occur in bundles, resulting in different dialectal areas with a transition zone between them.
dialect x
dialect y
Language
dialects
?What do we mean by:
language? dialect?
•Some possible definitions: Languages are divided into dialects Dialects are regional varieties of language Dialects are regional and social varieties of language
But first we have to ask: what do we mean by a language?
EidskogEda
20 km
eistein
esten
Eid Eda
stein sten
OsloStock-holm← dialect continuum →
OsloStock-holm
EdaEid
OsloStock-holm
Norwegian Swedish
socio-political entities
EdaEid
Dialect continua in Europe
Langauge B
"Language" A"Language" B
Garobia Porkistan
Gorb
Porki
A national border in adialect continuum
Language ALanguage Bbilingual area
BanandiaGorskch
Nanamai
Pthsiskt
A national border between twodifferent language families
Dialect continua in Europe
What is a dialect?What a language?
Popular understanding:
1. A dialect is a type of language spoken by uneducated or country people. It is a corrupt form of the “correct” language. It is derived from the “corrrect” form.
Those who speak the language “correctly” do not speak “dialect”.
What is a dialect?What a language?
Or:
2. A language is a collection of dialects, one of which has been adopted as the standard variety, which people think of as “the language”.
The standard variety is simply another dialect.
A dialect becomes a standard:1. Selection. The dialect of the ruling or most
influential class is adopted as the standard.
2. Literacy. It acquires a written form.
3. Standardizaton. Grammars and dictionaries are composed, spelling becomes fixed, and are competing grammatical or spelling forms current, one is adopted as correct and the other(s) are deemed incorrect.
4. Elaboration. Its vocabulary increases with cultural, philosophical, technological and scientific development.
the standard language:“French”, “German”
REGIONAL DIALECTS
Socialaxis
Geographical axis
Norsk Svenska
Eidskog Eda
To Sweden, 1658
Max Weinreich 1945 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_language_is_a_dialect_with_an_army_and_navy
"Vos iz der khilek fun a dialekt biz a shprakh?" Ikh hob gemeynt, az es ruft zikh im der maskilisher bitl, un ikh hob im gepruvt aroyffirn afn rikhtikn veg, nor er hot mikh ibergerisn "Dos veys ikh, ober ikh vel aykh gebn a besere definitsye. A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot."
Max Weinreich 1945 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_language_is_a_dialect_with_an_army_and_navy
...A teacher at a Bronx high school once appeared among the auditors. He had come to America as a child and the entire time had never heard that Yiddish had a history and could also serve for higher matters.... Once after a lecture he approached me and asked, 'What is the difference between a dialect and language?' I thought that the maskilic contempt had affected him, and tried to lead him to the right path, but he interrupted me: 'I know that, but I will give you a better definition. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.' From that very time I made sure to remember that I must convey this wonderful formulation of the social plight of Yiddish to a large audience
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