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Regional and Social Dialects A. Regional Variation 1. International Varieties

This document discusses regional and social dialects in English. It provides examples of regional variations between different places like New Zealand and Britain. It also discusses intra-national variations within countries like different dialects in the US. Additionally, it examines social variations in English like Received Pronunciation (RP) and standard dialects as well as social class dialects defined by vocabulary and pronunciation differences.

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162 views

Regional and Social Dialects A. Regional Variation 1. International Varieties

This document discusses regional and social dialects in English. It provides examples of regional variations between different places like New Zealand and Britain. It also discusses intra-national variations within countries like different dialects in the US. Additionally, it examines social variations in English like Received Pronunciation (RP) and standard dialects as well as social class dialects defined by vocabulary and pronunciation differences.

Uploaded by

Riska
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Theofany Sabtiandy R.

171220098
B Inggris VI B

Regional and Social Dialects

A. Regional Variation

1. International Varieties
Look at this example:
A British visitor to New Zealand decided while he was in Auckland he would look up an
old friend from his war days. He found the address, walked up the path and knocked on
the door.
“Gidday,” said the young man who opened the door.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’ve called to see me old mate Don Stone,” said the visitor.
“Oh he’s dead now mate,” said the young man.

The visitor was about to express condelences when he was thumped on the back by Don
Stone himself. The young man had said., “Here’s dad now mate”, as his father came in
the gate.

To British ears a New Zealander’s dad sounds like an English person’s dead, and bad
saounds like bed. Americans Australians, as well as New Zealanders, tell of British
visitors who were givenpens instead of pins and pens instead of pens.

2. Intra-national or Intra-continental Variation


Look at this example:
Rob : This wheel’s completely disjaskit.
Alan : I might could get it changed
Rob : You couldn’t do nothing of the sort. It needs dumped.

This conversation between two Geordies (people from Tyneside in England) is likely to
perplex many English speakers. The double modal might could is typical Geordis, though
it is also heard in some parts of the Southern USA. The expression needs dumped is also
typical Tyneside, though also used in Scotland, as is the vocabulary item disjasket,
meaning “worn out” or “compeletely ruined”.

Regional variation takes time to develop. British and American English , for instance,
provide much more evidence of regional variation than New Zealand or Australian
English. In the USA, dialetologist can identify distinguishing features of the speech of
people from different regions. Nothern, Midland and Southern are the main divisions, and
within those three areas a number of further divisions can be made. Different town and
even parts of towns can be distinguished: and within those the Boston dialect is different
from that New York City. Words dragonfly in the EasternStates include darning, needle.
Mosquito hawk, spindle, snake feeder, snake dactor, and snake waiter, but of these only
darning needle is used in New York.

3. Cross-continental Variation: Dialect Chains


Dialect Chains are very common across the whole of Europe. One chain links all the
dialects of German, Dutch and Flemish from Switzerland through Austria and Germany ,
to the Netherlands and Belgium, and there is another which links dialects of Portugese,
Spanish, Catalan, French and Italian. A scandinavian chain link dialects of Norwegian,
Swedish and Danish. So that Swedes and Norwegians in adjacent areas can communicate
more easily than fellow-Swedes from Southern and Nothern Sweden.

B. Social Variation

1. RP: a Social Accent


RP stands for Received Pronunciation, it's the accent of the best educated and most
prestigious members of English society. It is claimed that the label derives from the
accent which was 'received' at the royal court, and it is sometimes identified with 'the
Queen's English'. It is essentially a social accent not a regional one. Indeed, it conceals a
speaker's regional origins.

2. Social Dialects
Dialects are linguistic varieties which are distinguishable by their vocabulary, grammar
and pronunciation. Just as RP is a social accent, so standard English is a social dialect. It
is the dialect used by well-educated English speakers throughout the world. It is the
variety used for national news broadcasts and in print, and it is the variety generally
taught in English-medium schools.

3. Standard English
Standard English is more accommodating than RP and allows for some variation within
its boundaries. In Standard English, a limited amount of grammatical variation is
acceptable. The dialect we grace with the name Standard English is spoken with many
different accents. But there are also mang Standard Englished. US Standard English is
distinguishable from South African Standard English and Australian Standard English, for
instance, and all three differ from thr British Standard Dialect.
4. Caste Dialects
People can be grouped together on the basis of similar social and economic factors. Their
language generally reflects these groupings – they use different social dialects. It is
easiest to see the evidence for social dialects in places such as India and Indonesia where
social divisions are very clear-cut. In these countries, there are caste system determined
by birth, and strict social rules govern the kind of behaviour appropriate to each group.
The rules cover such matters as the kind of job people can have, who they can marry,
how they should dress, what they should eat, and how they should behave in a range of
social situations. Not suprisingly, these social distinctions are also reflected in speech
differences. A person’s dialect reflects their social background.

5. Social Class Dialects

a. Vocabulary
The term social class is used here as a shorthand term for differences between people
which are associated with differences in social prestige, wealth and education. Bank
managers do not talk like office cleaners, lawyers do not speak in the same way as the
burglars they defend. Class divisions are based on such status differences. Status
refers to the defences or respect people give someone-or dont give them, as the case
may be- and status generally derives in Western society from the materials resources a
person can command, though there are other sources too. Family background may be
a source of status independently of wealth. So class is used here as convenient label
for group of people who share similarities in economic and social status.

b. Pronounciation
Look at this example:
Kim : Only uneducated people drop their 'h's.
Stephen : Let's hear you say 'Have you heard about Hilda's new house that her
husband left her? It cost her a heck of a lot to fix up.' If you don't drop
a single 'h' in that sentence you'll sound like one of Monty Python's
upper-class twits!

One linguistic form which has proved particularly interesting to sociolinguists


studying English-Speaking speech communities is the varriable pronunciation of [r] in
words like car and sard, for and form. In areas where [r] pronunciation is prestigious,
sociolinguists have found patterns like those described above for [h] dropping. The
higher a person’s social group, the more [r] they pronounce.

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