DIALECTS

DIALECTS

eTMA 02 (Units 1-7)

Question

Part 1

In order to understand how language variation descriptors are used, we first must understand what language variation is. We can say that the U.S. is linguistically diverse because of the multitude of languages spoken here, but we can also find diversity within these languages. All languages have both dialectical variations and registral variations. These variations, or dialects, can differ in lexicon, phonology, and/or syntax from the Standard Language that we often think of as Oecorrect' Language, although they are not necessarily less proper than, say, Standard English. It depends on where, by whom, and in what situation the dialect is used as to whether or not it is appropriate.

Most people are familiar with regional dialects, such as Boston, Brooklyn, or Southern. These types of variations usually occur because of immigration and settlement patterns. People tend to seek out others like themselves. Regional variations tend to become more pronounced as the speech community is more isolated by physical geography, i.e. mountain ranges, rivers. Linguists have done extensive studies on regional dialects, producing detailed Linguistic Atlases. Many linguists can tell where a person is from just by knowing whether a person carries groceries home from the supermarket in a paper bag or from the grocery store in a paper sack (Yule 1985 Pp. 46). And the person who comes home from the supermarket with a paper sack serves to remind us that language variation is not a discrete, but rather a continuous variable. Characteristics of the dialect are more pronounced in the center of the speech community and tend to be less discernible at the outer boundaries, where they often overlap other regional dialects.

Within, and between, these regional variations we find the social dialects. The primary social factors that influence dialects are class, education, occupation, ethnicity, sex, and age (Ferguson 13, Yule 46). And social dialects can vary on any or all three descriptor levels; syntax or grammar, lexicon or vocabulary, and phonetics or pronunciation. Social dialects are also where the described differences are often defined as stigmatized or nonstigmatized (Ferguson 52). Stigmatized items include use of the double negative (grammar), substituting the d sound for the leading th and losing sounds like the middle r and the final g in ing (pronunciation), and stylistic choices such as puke for vomit (vocabulary).

Part2

To compare the differences between the old and the new variations is to compare changes from one time period to another. The second way that age produces change is over time, to correspond with various stages of an individual's life. This is particularly evident in teen slang. While this kind of slang does not generally hold over from one generation to the next, the teens that used it generally do not carry it into middle age, either. Far out and groovy were perfectly acceptable vocabulary for a young adult in the 1960's, but no one wants to hear their grandparents use those terms.

There are three main types of reactions to these ...