Scribd
Upload
54 views

Regional Variations

This document discusses regional variations in language dialects. It explains how social, political, and cultural factors contribute to the development of different dialects over time within a single language. For example, Latin evolved into distinct languages like French, Spanish, and Italian. The document also describes methods used by linguists to analyze dialect variations, such as identifying geographic boundaries between dialects using lines called isoglosses. Rural dialects tend to be more conservative compared to urban dialects. Dialects also correlate with social class - certain pronunciations and grammatical rules are more common in lower social classes. Overall, the document examines the complex social and historical influences that have led to diversification of dialects within languages.

Uploaded by

Bilal_Yunus_1784
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
54 views

Regional Variations

This document discusses regional variations in language dialects. It explains how social, political, and cultural factors contribute to the development of different dialects over time within a single language. For example, Latin evolved into distinct languages like French, Spanish, and Italian. The document also describes methods used by linguists to analyze dialect variations, such as identifying geographic boundaries between dialects using lines called isoglosses. Rural dialects tend to be more conservative compared to urban dialects. Dialects also correlate with social class - certain pronunciations and grammatical rules are more common in lower social classes. Overall, the document examines the complex social and historical influences that have led to diversification of dialects within languages.

Uploaded by

Bilal_Yunus_1784
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Arslan Aftab

Language, Culture and Society

Assignment: Critical Response on “Regional Variations”

Summary: Regional Variations


The article/chapter talks about the regional variations in the dialects of people belonging to
different languages. It shows what factors take part in the variation of one dialect (for example:
US English) from the other dialect (British English). It tells us that with the passage of time how
a single language converted in to two or more languages. For instance Latin is French in France,
Spanish in Spain and Italian in Italy.

Dialect Geographers have made an attempt to show the geographical boundaries of the
distribution of a particular linguistic feature by drawing a line on the map. Such a line is called
an Isogloss. People at one side of the line speak one word differently than the speakers present
at the other end of the line. For instance one pronounces bath as in first vowel of father and
others pronounce bath as in first vowel of cat.

The variation in the dialects of a language didn’t take place over night. Trudgill’s made an
attempt to show the development of a language both internally, i.e., linguistically and
externally, i.e., politically, socially and culturally. For his study he took samples from the rural
areas instead of urban areas because of the fact that rural people tend to be more conservative
and are inclined to be more respectful toward the older forms of languages.

The other method for choosing the informants to make the research on was quiet interesting.
They categorize the people in three categorize based on the education and social interaction
level. And, then they further categorize there informants in two parts according to their age.
But it is noted that the categorization was solely based on the instincts and judgments of the
field workers and it could not be taken as a general rule.

My Response
I think that it is a beautiful written article/ chapter. It doesn’t limit its scope to just one view; it
rather presents more than one view give a better understanding to its readers. Further, it
supports all the criticism or implications with facts and examples through which one could have
a grip on what the writer is trying to say. The article/ chapter has a lot to tell about the regional
variations in the dialects of different languages. It tells us how the social class, political class and
cultural background play a vital role in the development of our dialects. People who get apart
from each other create a different understanding and pronunciation & grammatical rules for
the same language than the other corresponding group. And this understanding, pronunciation
and grammatical rules are largely based on their education level, social class and historical
background. And it was also come to my understanding that the dialect u speak for a particular
language reflects your social class and people could easily recognize that. As it happened, in the
beginning of the movie “My Fair Lady” when Prof. Higgins quickly recognizes the social class
and background of Ms. Doolittle only by listening to her dialect. Also the article provides the
evidences of this fact by giving telling that you-all is found in all social classes, I might could and
a apple is found in the low and middle social class, whereas, I seed and fistes, postes and costes
(as plurals of fists, posts and costs) is found only in low class.

Implications of the article in my life as a

Student: As a student I can learn a lot from this article. This article gives my insights about
the regional variations and how different dialects came into existence. It helped me
acknowledge the fact that the social, cultural and historical background plays a vital role in our
pronunciation and the way we utter words. It also helped me understand that various methods
and techniques have been developed to separate people of one dialect from another, but still
there has so much more work to do and so many more methods are yet to be devised to get
better understanding in the differentiations.

Professional: As a professional, I also have learnt from this article. It helped me understand
the fact that it shouldn’t come to me as a surprise that a single language could be spoken in
various ways. This article has broadened my horizons. I am now in a better position to tell which
social class my corresponding party belongs to just by listening to their dialect. It will make it
convenient for me as how to act or converse with the other party that will make them most
comfortable and put them in ease. I would have better instincts to recognize people and to
decide whether to business with them or not.

You might also like