Language and

Regional Variation 1
Week 2
 Language and
Regional Variation 1
Week 2
 Outline
Language and Regional Variation
The standard language
Accent and dialect
Dialectology
Regional dialects
Isoglosses and dialect boundaries
 Language and Regional
Variation
Every language has a lot of variation,
especially in the way it is spoken.
For example, English, is spoken with
variation in diAerent countries such as
Australia, Britain and the USA. We can also
Cnd a range of varieties in diAerent parts of
those countries.
To investigate aspects of language variation
based on where that language is used, is a
way of doing linguistic geography.
 The standard language
 It is an idealized variety, because it has no
speciCc region. It is the variety associated
with administrative, commercial and
educational centers, regardless of region.

 It is more easily described in terms of the

written language (i.e. vocabulary, grammar,
spelling) than the spoken language.
Examples of Standard English

Newspapers, books, in the mass media, taught

in schools and to learners of English as second
or foreign language, and is clearly associated
with education and broadcasting.
 General Variety used in
public broadcasting
In the United states Standard American English

In Britain Standard British English

In other parts of the world Standard Australian English

Standard Canadian English
Standard Indian English.
 Accent and dialect
Some speakers have accents while others doa
myth
not is

We all speak with an accent.

We might feel that some speakers have very

distinct or easily recognized types of accent
while others may have more subtle or less
noticeable accents, but every language-user
speaks with an accent.
 Accent and dialect
“Accent” is a term, restricted to the
description of aspects of pronunciation
that identify where an individual speaker
is from, regionally or socially.

“A dialect” is a term used to describe

features of grammar and vocabulary as
well as aspects of pronunciation.
 DiLerences between accents
and dialects
“You don’t know what you’re talking about”
This sentence will look the same whether spoken with an
American or a Scottish accent. Why?
Both speakers will be using forms associated with

Standard English, but have diAerent pronunciations.

“Ye dinnae ken whit yer haverin’ aboot”

This sentence has the same meaning as the Crst, but has

been written out in an approximation of what a person
who speaks one dialect of Scottish English might say.
There are diAerences in pronunciation (e.g. whit, aboot),

but there are also examples of diAerent vocabulary (e.g.
ken, haverin’) and a diAerent grammatical form (dinnae).
DiAerences in vocabulary are often easily
recognized, but dialect variations in the
meaning of grammatical constructions are less
frequently documented.

See the example on page 241.

 Dialectology
Q- What is dialectology?
It is the study of dialects.

To identify dialects, we may diAerentiate between two

diAerent dialects of the same language (whose speakers can
usually understand each other) and two diAerent languages
(whose speakers can’t usually understand each other).
Linguistically, none of the varieties of a language is
inherently “better” than any other. They are simply diAerent.
Socially, some varieties do become more prestigious like
“standard variety”.
 Regional dialects
The existence of diAerent regional dialects is widely
recognized and often the source of some humour for
those living in diAerent regions.
For example,
People from the Brooklyn area of New York may joke
about a Southerner’s deCnition of sex by telling you that
sex is fo’ less than tin, in their best imitation of someone
from the Southern states. In return, Southerners can
wonder aloud about what a tree guy is in Brooklyn, since
they have heard Brooklyn speakers refer to doze tree
guys.
Some regional dialects clearly have stereotyped
pronunciations associated with them.
 Regional dialects
Many survey research have been devoted to the
identiCcation of consistent features of speech
found in one geographical area compared to
another.
These dialect surveys involve painstaking
attention to detail and tend to operate with very
speciCc criteria in identifying acceptable
informants.
After all, it is important to know if the person
whose speech you are recording really is a
typical representative of the region’s dialect.
 Consequences of the major
dialect surveys (20th C)
The informants tended to be NORMS or “non-
mobile, older, rural, male speakers.”
Such speakers were selected because it was
believed that they were less likely to have inXuences
from outside the region in their speech.
One unfortunate consequence of using such criteria
is that the resulting dialect description tends to be
more accurate of a period well before the time of
investigation. Nevertheless, the detailed information
obtained has provided the basis for a number of
Linguistic Atlases of whole countries
 Isoglosses and dialect
boundaries
One of the aims of a survey of this type is to
Cnd a number of signiCcant diAerences in the
speech of those living in diAerent areas and to
be able to chart where the boundaries are, in
dialect terms, between those areas.
If it is found, for example, that the vast majority
of informants in one area say they carry things
home from the store in a paper bag while the
majority in another area say they use a paper
sack, then it is usually possible to draw a line
across a map separating the two areas.
 Isoglosses

This line is called an isogloss and

represents a boundary between the areas
with regard to that one particular
linguistic item.
 Drawing an isogloss
If a very similar distribution is found for
another two items, such as a preference for
pail to the north and bucket to the south,
then another isogloss, probably overlapping
the Crst, can be drawn on the map.

When a number of isoglosses come together

in this way, a more solid line, indicating a
dialect boundary, can be drawn.
Bidialectal vs. bilingual
Bidialectal: speaking two dialects. Most of
us grow up with some form of bidialectalism,
speaking one dialect “in the street” among
family and friends, and having to learn
another dialect “in school.”
Bilingual: a term used to describe people
who know two distinct languages.
Language and Regional
Varia/on 2
Week 3
 Outline

• Bilingualism and diglossia

• Language planning
• Pidgins and creoles
• The post-creole con/nuum
 Bilingualism and diglossia
In many countries, regional varia/on is not simply a ma?er of two (or
more) dialects of a single language, but can involve two (or more) quite
dis/nct and diFerent languages.
For example, Canada is an oIcially bilingual country, with both French
and English as oIcial languages.
 Bilingual countries
 This recogni/on of the linguis/c rights of the country’s French
speakers did not come about without a lot of poli/cal upheaval.
 For most of its history, Canada was an English-speaking country,
with a French-speaking minority group. In such a situa/on,
bilingualism tends to be a feature of the minority group.
 In this form of bilingualism, a member of a minority group grows up
in one linguis/c community, mainly speaking one language (e.g.
Welsh in Britain or Spanish in the United States), but learns another
language (e.g. English) in order to take part in the larger dominant
linguis/c community.
 Individual bilingualism
It can simply be the result of having two parents who speak
diFerent languages.
If a child simultaneously acquires the French spoken by her mother
and the English spoken by her father, then the dis/nc/on between
the two languages may not even be no/ced by the child. There will
simply be two ways of talking according to the person being talked
to.
However, one language tends eventually to become the dominant
one, with the other in a subordinate role.
 Diglossia
• A rather special situa/on involving two dis/nct varie/es of a
language, called diglossia, exists in some countries.
• In diglossia, there is a “low” variety, acquired locally and used for
everyday aFairs, and a “high” or special variety, learned in school and
used for important ma?ers.
 Examples of diglossia
A diglossia in Arabic-speaking countries
The high variety (Classical Arabic) is used in formal lectures, serious
poli/cal events and especially in religious discussions. The low
variety is the local version of the language, such as Egyp/an Arabic
or Lebanese Arabic.
Diglossia in European history
A diglossic situa/on existed with La/n as the high variety, and one
of the local languages of Europe (early versions of Modern Italian,
French and Spanish) as the low variety.
 Language planning
• Read the book page 246 for examples on language planning.
• Government, legal and educa/onal organiza/ons in many countries
have to plan which variety or varie/es of the languages spoken in the
country are to be used for oIcial business.
 The process of language planning
SelecIon: choosing an oOcial language.

CodiMcaIon: basic grammars, dicIonaries and wriKen models are used

to establish the standard variety.

ElaboraIon: the standard variety being developed for use in all aspects
of social life and the appearance of a body of literary work wriKen in
the standard.

ImplementaIon: the government aKempts to encourage use of the

standard.

Acceptance: the majority of the populaIon use the standard and think
of it as the naIonal language.
 Pidgins and creoles
• A pidgin is a variety of a language that developed for some prac/cal
purpose, such as trading, among groups of people who had a lot of
contact, but who did not know each other’s languages. It would have
no na/ve speakers. The origin of the term “pidgin” is thought to be
from a Chinese version of the English word “business.”
• A pidgin is described as an “English pidgin” if English is the lexiMer
language, that is, the main source of words in the pidgin. It doesn’t
mean that those words will have the same pronuncia/on or meaning
as in the source.
 Examples on pidgins
• Example1:
The word gras has its origins in the English word “grass,” but in Tok
Pisin it also came to be used for “hair.” It is part of mausgras
(“moustache”) and gras bilong fes (“beard”).
• Example2:
tu buk (“two books”) , di gyal place (“the girl’s place”) and use form like
bilong, and change the word order to produce phrases like buk bilong
yu.
• Example3:
Baimbai hed bilongyu i-arrait gain
by and by head belong you he alright again
“Your head will soon get well again”
 Creoles
• When a pidgin develops beyond its role as a trade or contact
language and becomes the [rst language of a social
community, it is described as a creole.

• A creole ini/ally develops as the [rst language of children

growing up in a pidgin-using community and becomes more
complex as it serves more communica/ve purposes. Thus,
unlike pidgins, creoles have large numbers of na/ve speakers
and are not restricted at all in their uses.
 Examples of creole
• Example: A French creole is spoken by the majority of the
popula/on in Hai/ and English creoles are used in Jamaica
and Sierra Leone.
• The form baimbai yu go (“by and by you go”) in early Tok
Pisin gradually shortened to bai yu go, and [nally to yu bigo,
with a gramma/cal structure not unlike that of its English
transla/on equivalent, “you will go.”
Creoliza/on: the development from a pidgin to a creole.
Decreoliza/on: when a number of speakers will tend to use
fewer creole forms and structures, leading to: a variety that is
closer to the external standard ↔a basic variety with more
local creole features.
Between these two extremes may be a range of slightly
diFerent varie/es, some with many and some with fewer
creole features. This range of varie/es, evolving aber (=
“post”) the creole has come into existence, is called the post-
creole con/nuum.
Example: in Jamaica: a speaker may say “a [ mi buk dat” or
“iz mi buk” or “it’s my book”.