Lecture 12a:

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Lecture 12a

• Language, Thought Culture Dialects

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• Who in this room speaks a dialect?
• Dialects
• Dialects of American English

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Language in Society

• Dialects
• Dialects of English
• Standard American English
• African American English (AAE)
• Latino (Hispanic) English
• Non-native Varieties of English
• Styles, Slang Jargon

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Dialects

• Are there any dialects that you (or people you
  know) think sound ugly, stupid, or rude?
• Who speaks a dialect?
• We all do!
• What is a language?
• A dialect with an army and a navy!

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Dialects

• What do we listen to when we listen to people
  talk?
• HOW people talk
• as much or more than to
• WHAT people say
• After listening, we usually make judgments about
  people by the kind of language they use
• Their regional background
• Their social status
• Their ethnicity
• Their education
• etc/.

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• So there are some who believe that language
  differences serve as the single most reliable
  indicator of social position in our society
• When we live a certain way, we are expected to
  match that lifestyle with our talk
• When we dont meet peoples expectations to match
  that lifestyle with our talk (e.g., a teacher
  talking like a punk), the mismatch between words
  and behavior is itself a topic for conversation.

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• Language differences are unavoidable in a society
  composed of a variety of social groups.

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The Many Meanings of Dialect

• Linguists maintain that
• Dialect is a neutral label to refer to any
  variety of a language that is shared by a group
  of speakers.
• To speak a language is to speak some dialect of
  that language

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• In this definition, there is no inherently good
  or bad dialects
• Dialect is simply how we refer to any language
  variety that typifies a group of speakers within
  a language.
• Socially favored or standard varieties
  constitute dialects every bit as much as those
  varieties spoken by socially disfavored groups
  whose language differences are socially
  stigmatized.

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Some Popular Senses of Dialect

• We went to Boston for a vacation and the people
  there sure do speak a dialect.
• Dialect here refers simple to those who speak
  differently from oneself.

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Some Popular Senses of Dialect

• I know we speak a dialect I the mountains, but
  its a very colorful was of speaking.
• Dialect here refers to those varieties of
  English whose features have become widely
  recognized through American society, e.g.,
• Southern drawl
• New York accent
• Etc.

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• For a variety of historical and social reasons,
  some dialects have become much more marked than
  others in American society, and speakers of those
  varieties therefore accept the dialect label more
  comfortably.

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Some Popular Senses of Dialect

• The kids in that neighborhood dont really speak
  English they speak a dialect.
• Dialect here is perceived as an imperfect
  attempt to speak correct or proper English

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Examples

• Three mile vs. Three miles
• Her ears be itching vs. Her ears itch
• She done grew vs. Shes grown up
• The result is incorrectly perceived as deviant
  or deficient from English.

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Dialectologists Position

• Dialects are not deviant forms of language, but
  simply different systems with distinct subsets of
  language patterns.
• All language varieties are systematic
• For any language feature, there are contexts in
  which the form may be used and contexts in which
  it is not typically used.

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Appalachian Dialect Patterns

• 1a. Building is hard work.
• b. She was building a house.
• 2a. He likes hunting.
• b. He went hunting.
• 3a. The child was charming the adults.
• b. The child was very charming.
• 4a. He kept shocking the children.
• b. The story was shocking.
• 5a. They thought fishing was easy.
• b. They were fishing this morning.

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Further Patterns for Appalachian a-

• 1a. They make money by building houses.
• b. They make money building houses.
• 2a. You cant make much money fishing.
• b. You cant make much money by fishing.
• 3a. People destroy the beauty of the mountains
  through littering.
• b. People destroy the beauty of the mountains
  littering.

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More Patterns for Appalachian a-

• 1a. She was disCOVering a trail.
• b. She was FOLlowing a trai.
• 2a. She was rePEATing the chant.
• b. She was HOLlering the chant.
• 3a. They were FIGuring the change.
• b. They were forGETting the change.
• 4a. The baby was RECognizing her mother.
• b. The baby was WRECKing everything.

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Deficit-Difference Controversy

• In the 1960s-1970s, debated in educational
  circles
• Some language scholars dialect variation is
  simple a matter of difference, not deficit
• Some educators variation from the socially
  accepted standard constituted a fundamental
  deficiency.

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Oakland Ebonics Controversy

• Mid-1990s
• Status of African American English
• Ebonics as a separate language
• Political and economic motivation
• Proposed educational program
• Outcome

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Linguistic Society of America

• 1997 Statement
• All human language systems spoken, signed, and
  written are fundamentally regular.
  Characterizations of socially disfavored
  varieties as slang, mutant, defective,
  ungrammatical, or broken English are incorrect
  and demeaning.

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Principle of Linguistic Subordination

• The speech of a socially subordinate group will
  be interpreted as linguistically inadequate by
  comparison with that of the socially dominant
  group.

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Dialect Myths Reality

• Myth A dialect is something that someone else
  speaks.
• Reality Everyone who speaks a language speaks
  some dialect of that language it is not possible
  to speak a language without speaking a dialect of
  the language.

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Dialect Myths Reality

• Myth Dialects always have highly noticeable
  features that set them apart.
• Reality Some dialects get much more attention
  than others, but the status of a dialect is
  unrelated to public commentary about its special
  characteristics.

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Dialect Myths Reality

• Myth Only varieties of a language spoken by
  socially disfavored groups are dialects.
• Reality The notion of dialect exists apart from
  social status or evaluation there are socially
  favored as well as socially disfavored dialects.

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Dialect Myths Reality

• Myth Dialects result from unsuccessful attempts
  to speak the correct form of a language.
• Reality Dialect speakers acquire their language
  by adopting the speech features of those around
  them, not be failing in their attempts to adopt
  standard language features.

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Dialect Myths Reality

• Myth Dialects have no linguistic patterning in
  their own right they are deviations from
  standard speech.
• Reality Dialects, like all language systems, are
  systematic and regular furthermore socially
  disfavored dialects can be described with the
  same kind of precision as standard language
  varieties.

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Dialect Myths Reality

• Myth Dialects inherently carry negative social
  connotations.
• Reality Dialects are not necessarily positively
  or negatively valued their social values are
  derived strictly from the social position of
  their communities of speakers.

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Dialects

• Any distinct variety of a language, either
  regional, social, or age
• Mutually intelligible
• Same basic system of grammar with systematic
  differences
• Regional dialects
• Dialects spoken in a particular geographic region
• Accents
• Phonological (i.e., pronunciation) distinctions
  that convey information about a speakers dialect

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American Dialects

• American dialects How Linguists see them
• What are the major US dialects that linguists
  identify?

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American Dialects

• Phonological (pronunciation) differences
• Pin / pen
• Mary / marry / merry
• Which / witch
• Creek
• Harvard Yard
• Caught / cot

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American Dialects

• Lexical (vocabulary) differences
• Pail / bucket
• Faucet / spigot / tap
• Blinds / shades / curtains
• Baby carriage / buggy
• Coach / cab / taxi
• Soda / pop
• Frying pan / skillet
• Parkway / freeway / thruway / expressway /
  turnpike
• Drinking fountain / bubbler
• Tram / street car

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American Dialects

• Syntactic (grammatical) differences
• The house needs painted.
• where the streetcar bends the corner round.
• John will eat, and Mary.
• They done it.
• He dont know.
• Just between you and I, .
• Take the 101 south.

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American Dialects

• American dialects How people around the country
  see them
• Which dialects do many Americans consider bad
  English?
• What do the majority of Americans see as the
  norm?
• America Dialects How Hollywood sees them.

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American Dialects - Discussion

• Do you agree with the findings of Prestons study
  that concludes that two of the low-prestige
  dialects in the U.S. are those spoken in NY and
  Texas?
• As you were growing up, what dialects / accents
  did you make fun of?
• What were some of its features?
• Why was it considered funny?

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Social Dialects - Standard American English (SAE)

• What is it?
• The dominant or prestige dialect?
• The dialect used by political leaders and the
  upper socio-economic classes?
• The dialect used for literature and printed
  documents?
• The dialect taught in schools?
• The dialect used by national news broadcasters?
• SEA is an idealization nobody speaks this
  dialect

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Informal Standard English

• Exists on a continuum, rather than a categorical
  notion
• Flexible with respect to specific features of
  regional varieties
• Specific criteria used to judge speech as
  standard
• Defined in terms of what it is not
• Avoidance of socially stigmatized forms
• double negatives They didnt do nothing.
• different verb agreement patterns Theys o.k.
• different irregular verb forms She done it.

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Continuum of Standardness

• Standard--A---B---C---D---ENonstandard

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Standard or non-standard?

• Hes not as smart as I.
• Hes not so smart as I.
• He aint as smart as me.
• He not as smart as me.

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Standard or non-standard?

• Hes not to do that.
• He not supposed to do that.
• He dont supposed to do that.
• Hes not supposed to do that.

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Standard or non-standard?

• Im right, aint I?
• Im right, arent I?
• Im right, am I not?
• Im right, isnt I?
• Im right, isnt it?

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Standard or non-standard?

• A person should not change ones speech.
• One should not change ones speech.
• A person should not change their speech.
• A person should not change his or her speech.

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Academic Register

• There is an academic register necessary for
  carrying out certain kinds of educational
  routines.
• That register must be mastered for academic
  success.
• But mastery or lack of mastery of that register
  has nothing to do with basic language capability.

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Vernacular Dialects

• Varieties of language that are not classified as
  standard dialects
• Applied to spoken language
• Exist on a continuum
• Listener judgment essential in determining social
  unacceptability
• Usually characterized by presence of stigmatized
  structures
• Not all speakers use the entire set of structures
  associated with that dialect

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Labeling Vernacular Dialects

• Strong affective associations related to
  particular labels
• Negro Dialect, Substandard Negro English,
  Nonstandard Negro English, Black English
  Afro-American English, Ebonics, Vernacular Black
  English, African American (Vernacular) English,
  African American Language
• Latino/a English, Chicano/a English, Hispanic
  English, Cholo
• Which do you prefer? Why? Are they the same?

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Social Dialects African American English (AAE)

• Origins of AAE
• Historical discrimination slavery, segregation,
  social isolation
• Some Features of AAE
• R-deletion (sore/saw, fort/fought, etc.)
• Consonant cluster simplification (past/pass,
  etc.)
• Loss of interdental fricatives (both gt bof, etc.)
• Double negatives (He dont know nothing.)
• be deletion (He tired.)
• Habitual be (He be tired.)

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Social Dialects Latino (Hispanic) English

• There is no homogeneous Latino dialect.
• Puerto Rican English
• Cuban English
• Chicano English
• Etc.
• Bilingual Latinos engage in code-switching.
• My mom fixes tamales verdes
• Mi mamá hace green tamales
• My mom fixes verdes tamales.
• Why do people engage in code-switching?

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Nonstandard Dialects of English - Summary

• Dialect variation is a matter of difference, not
  deficit.
• Nonstandard dialects are self-contained
  systems, with their regular phonological and
  syntactic rules.
• Nonstandard dialects are close relatives to SAE,
  sometimes reflecting older forms of SAE.

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Social Dialects Non-native Varieties of English

• Origins British and U.S. colonialism
• Where these varieties are spoken
• India, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong,
  Nigeria, etcc.
• These varieties are characterized by
  nativization systematic changes in their formal
  features at all linguistic levels, which result
  from the use of English in new sociocultural
  settings, in contact with other languages, and in
  the absence of native speakers of English.

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Examples of NN Varieties of English

• My friend wants to go down the bus.
• get off
• Did you know that Richard is moving with Eunice?
• courting
• Britain derecognized the DK in 1979.
• withdraw diplomatic recognition
• This is an outstation call.
• out of town
• He overlistened to the boys conversation.
• eavesdropped
• Most of the students here are bed-spacers.
• room renters (no board)
• Our son is England-returned.
• come back from England
• You have to be careful with these been-to boys.
• who have returned from England

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Non-Native Varieties of English

• What is your reaction when you hear certain
  non-native varieties of English (e.g., Indian
  English, Philippine English, etc.) spoken?
• Have anyone ever reacted negatively to a variety
  of English you have used? Is so, who? When?
  Where? What were you saying?

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Accents in the Popular Media

• Watch this trailer for Aladdin.
• Which characters speak with an American accent?
  Which with a foreign accent?
• Genie
• Aladdin
• Monkey
• Princess Jasmine
• King
• Evil sorcerer Jabar
• What does it mean in terms of the perception of
  individuals with such accents?

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• Implications for your future work?