7102017 language variation
TRANSCRIPT
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Prof Elhaloui
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Whats the difference between accent and
dialect?
An accent refers to the
phoneticand
phonological
distinctions between
language varieties.
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What is a dialect?
A dialect is any varietyof a
language spoken by a group
of people that ischaracterized by systematic
differences from other
varieties of the samelanguage.
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Types of
differences
Phonetic
Phonological
Morphological Syntactic
Lexical (Semantic)
Can you give
examples?
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How can you tell if two varieties are dialects or
separate languages?
A possible criterionis mutual
intelligibility
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Language varieties are
mutually intelligible
when speakers of onevariety can
understand speakers
of another variety, and
vice vesa.
Mutual intelligibility
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It aint that easy
In China, speakers of Mandarin cannot
understand speakers of Cantonese, and vice
versa.
However, they are considered by speakers to
be dialects of the same language.Why?
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It aint that easy, Cont.
Tohono Oodham and Pima are mutually
intelligible varieties.
However, they are considered by speakers
to be different languages.
Tohono Oodham: South central Arizona. 60 villages on 7 reservations. Also
spoken in Mexico
Pima: Central Sonora-Chihuahua border, scattered, Mexico
Why?
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Clearly, political concerns
can affect the
classification of language
varieties.
I dont know what a dialect is.
But I think that Tartarian is
JUST a foreign dialect!
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Dialect Continuum
Dialect D
Dialect C
Dialect B
Dialect A
Mutually
intelligible
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Dialect Continuum
Dialect D
Dialect C
Dialect B
Dialect A
Mutually
intelligible
Virtually
intelligible
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Dialect Continuum
Dialect D
Dialect C
Dialect B
Dialect A
Mutually
intelligible
Virtually
intelligible
Mutually
intelligible
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Dialect Continuum
Dialect D
Dialect C
Dialect B
Dialect A
Not mutually
intelligible
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Idiolect
An idiolect is a type of variationthat is different from speaker to
speaker, not from community to
community.
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LanguageVariation
Regional
Socioeconomic
Political
Age
Gender Ethnicity
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Languageand Gender
Coushatta Mens and Womens Speech(Mary R. Haas)
Women Men
Lakawtakko lakawtakkos
Ka kas
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Language and Gender
Coushatta Mens and Womens Speech
(Mary R. Haas)
Women Men
lakawwil lakawwismolhil molhis
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Language and Gender
It has been noted that men tend to
speak at a lower pitch than women.
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Is it biological?
Longer vocal cords tend to create a
lower pitch.
Size of the vocal tract tends to fosterlower pitch
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So ...
One would then expect largerpeople to speak at a lower
pitch.
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But ...
what about
people likethis guy:
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It may not be entirely biological
Graddol & Swann (1989)
provide evidence indicating
that the difference in pitch may
be at least partially socially
determined.
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Cultural Evidence
Relative pitch differs at a cultural level.
In a study among Polish men and
American men, Polish men were foundto speak at a higher frequency, even
though they were of comparable sizes
(the Americans may have even been
smaller overall).
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Pre-adolescents
In a study among pre-adolescents,
girls tended to speak at a higher pitch
than boys.
However, these children had not
reached the age at which voices
biologically vary.
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Important Note
Linguistically speaking, no
one dialect or language is
better, more correct, or morelogical than any other.
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Standard vs. Non-Standard
English
What makes a
variety standard?
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Prestige
Standard varieties
are those
that are associatedwith speakers
that have highprestige.
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Prestige
Prestige has nothing to do
with the structural
properties of a language, butdepends on who is
associated with that variety.
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Prestige
In Middle English, double negatives were
commonly used by speakers of standard
Middle English.
Today, however, users ofdouble negatives
are not generally members of the higher
socioeconomic groups.
Hence, double negatives are non-standard.
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Overt vs. Covert Prestige
Overt prestige is the prestige
associated with standard dialects.
Covert prestige is the prestige
associated with non-standard dialects.
Covert prestige is often the result of
identity with a particular social group.
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Dialect Prejudice
Often there is prejudice against
speakers of a particular language
variety.
Such prejudice may causepeople to make judgments about
a person based on their dialect.
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Standard vs. Non-Standard
Some people make a conscious choice
to change their dialect, or to learn a
standard dialect.
There are even classes which teach
women to speak with a lower pitch,
assuming that more masculine
speech has a higher prestige.
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Language Styles
We often use different styles ofspeaking, depending upon the social
context.
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Register
Would you like some coffee?
vs.Want some coffee?
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Jargon
Sometimes we use specialized languagewhen speaking to others in the same
occupation.
Computerese, Legalese, Doctorese, etc.
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Slang
Common Slang:
fridge, TV, etc.
In-group Slang:
Email Abbreviations (BTW, LOL, ROTFL,IMHO, etc.)