language variation register genre dialect accent

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