You StandardsandDialects
Do Speak American? Northern/Southern Varieties
LIN200LanguageinUnitedStates Dr.JCWeisenberg Feb.9th,2010
Language vs. Dialect
Whatsthedifferencebetweenalanguage andadialect?
Alanguageisadialectwithanarmyanda navy.(MaxWeinreich,quotingaBronx teacher)(Aronoff,2009)
Aronoff, M. (2009) Language and group legitimization. Humanities Institute at Stony Brook, lecture [September 9,
Language is a system Language system
Phonology (sounds/ pronunciation)
Grammar (word order, prefixes, suffixes) Lexicon (vocabulary)
slang
What we know about dialects
Dialects have their own grammar have Dialects are not just bad or wrong ways of bad wrong speaking; they are subject to grammatical rules just like any other variety of a language. rules In this way, dialects differ from broken language or an imperfectly learned second language language. language.
What we know about dialects
Dialects show a speakers regional origin There may be more than one dialect in one place Dialects show a speakers social position Speakers adjust their speech behavior to how they are spoken to Dialects can be chosen Speakers adjust their speech behavior to a particular social circumstance
Language Subordination: Language reactions reactions
How do speakers react to the How subordination of their speech? subordination
Linguistic insecurity Linguistic Resignation Accent reduction classes (Julia Roberts) Defiance, pride, solidarity
How should they react?
Regional Dialects
Whydopeoplespeakdifferentlyasyou movearoundtheUS?
Europeansettlementbeganasisolatedcommunities Settlersbroughttheirowndistinctdialectsand languageswiththem.
American Dialect Regions
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap
Major regional dialects of the United States
NewEnglandNotedforfronted/a/incarandlossofpostvocalic/r/in urbanareas.Maine,MA,RhodeIsland TheMidAtlantic(NYC,NJ)nonrhoticor/r/lessdialect. TheSouth:nonrhoticor/r/lessdialect,Notedformonophthongizationofay >/a:/(Florida,SC,Virginia,Mississippi,Georgia,Arkansas) TheMidland(N.Midland&S.Midland):aresidualdomainwithmuchgreater diversity,wheremostindividualcitieshavedevelopeddialectpatternsoftheir own.Pittsburgh,PA;St.Louis,Missouri.(N.Midland:Ohio,Illinois,Southern Iowa)(S.Midland:ScottsIrishbroughtfromPAintoSouthernAppalachia, pickedupsomeSouthernfeaturesbeforeitspreadwestwardtoKentucky& Tennessee) TheNorth:centeredonChicago,Illinois,theGreatLakestoupperNewYork state.Michiganarea. TheWest:includingCaliforniaandthemidwest.Notedforpreservationof postvocalic/r/.Nevada,Oregon,Washington,etc.
Major Regional Dialects
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/NationalMap/NatMap1.h
Lexical Variation Lexical
Do you call it a pail or a bucket? Do pail bucket Do you say to get a cold or catch cold Do get catch Does the s in greasy sound like /s/ or /z/? Does greasy Which of these patterns is Northern? Which Midland? Midland?
http://www.hamline.edu/personal/aschramm/linguistics2001/3dialec
Northern vs. Midland
Midland:
sack catchcold caughtandcotdorhyme singreasysoundslikezinbreezy bucket(orpail:N.Midland) slick crawl creekrhymeswithpeak( * )In 5 S.Midland:branch.InN.Midland: 5 spigotorspicket
Northern: bag getacold caughtandcotdon'trhyme singreasysoundslikesin bussing
pail(*bucketpossiblyforlarger
container)
slippery creep creekrhymeswithpick 5 faucet
New England /r/
Where would we expect to find /r/-less speech Where in New England? Along the coast or inland? in
Mapping Dialect Boundaries
isogloss: a geographic boundary line delimiting isogloss the area in which a given linguistic feature occurs. occurs.
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~dinkin/TLN/map4.html
Isogloss Forr dropping
Modern Day Lexical Variation: Modern soda vs. pop vs. coke soda coke
What do you call a carbonated beverage?
http://www.popvssoda.com/countystats/total-county.html
Discussion
Whydodialectdifferencespersistdespite intenseexposuretoanationalnetwork standard? Whatarethesocialconsequencesof changingthewayyouspeak?Ofnot changingthewayyouspeak?
Examining a dialect:
Southern American English
Some features of Southern Some American English (SAE) American
Howcanwecategorizethefeaturesof SAE?
Phonology(pronunciation) Grammar(wordandsentenceformation) Lexicon(vocabulary)
SAE Pronunciation: vowels
Southern Shift
merger of the // and // vowel sounds vowel before nasals (/n/ and /m/), e.g. pin/pen (// (/
is a high, front, lax vowel, whereas // is a mid-front, lax is is vowel) vowel)
//-// merger before /l/, e.g. still/steel. (These merger
are both high, front vowels, but // is lax) are
Monopthongization of /aI/ diphthong:
The diphthong /aI/ becomes becomes monophthongized to a single long vowel /a:/ before voiced consonants so that tide is /ta:d/ tide and wide is /wa:d/. wide
Southern Vowel Shift (SVS)
Researchers1 working on Southern American dialects have noted a series of what appear to be distinguishing vowel shifts in occurring white Southern speech, referred to as the Southern Vowel Shift (SVS). Little is known about the ethnic distribution of the SVS, but preliminary work2 suggests the Southern African American work community may not be participating in changes affecting white speech in the South.
Labov, Yaeger, and Steiner 1972; Feagin 1986; Labov 1991, 1994; Bailey 1997; Thomas Labov, 1997a, 1997b, 2001; Fridland 2000, 2001) 1997a,
1 2
Thomas 1997b; Bailey and Thomas 1998; Thomas and Bailey 1998 Thomas
SAE Pronunciation: consonants
ing > in e.g. talkin, walkin , singin Change of the /z/ sound in Change contractions to /d/ contractions
e.g. "wasn't" = wudint wudint e.g. doesnt>dudint
SAE: pronunciation
The diphthongization of the traditional The diphthongization short front vowels as in the words: short pat, pet, pit pet pit These vowels develop a glide. The vowel These glide The moves up from original starting position to /j/, and then back down to schwa. /j/,
pat//[j] pet //[j];pet[pjt] pit //[j]
Stress
For many Southern speakers, some For nouns are stressed on the first syllable rather than the second as in Standard English (SE). Standard e.g. plice, cment, bhind, Dtroit. bhind, e.g. plice,
SAE: pronunciation
The English of the Deep South is The historically non-rhotic (/r/-less): it drops the sound of final /r/ before a consonant or a word boundary, so that guard sounds similar to god and guard god sore like saw. sore saw The more northern, inland, and The Appalachian varieties of SAE are rhotic (have /r/). rhotic
SAE: grammar
Use of double modals ("might could", ", "might should", "might would", etc.) etc.)
e.g. A: Can you help me clean the A: gutters? gutters? B: I might could help you out. B: might
Use of "y'all" as the second person as plural pronoun (less commonly "you-all")
SAE Grammar
Use of "fixin' to" as an indicator of as immediate future action. immediate
Im fixin to visit my sister. Im fixin
Use of the word "done" in place of in "already" or "did." "already"
"We done read it." (We already read it). "We done
Multiple Negation
Heaintneverdonenoworktospeakof. Thereaintnevernoneonthatshelf. Icanthardlymakeitout. Aintnochickenthatcantgetoutofnocoop.
ShakespeareanEnglish: Icannotgoenofurther.
Multiple Negation in other Multiple languages languages
Nohaynadie. Thereisntnobody. Thereisntanyone. Ilnapasriendit. Hedidntsaynothing. Hedidntsayanything.
Nosenada. Idontknownothing. Idontknowanything.
SAE: lexicon
Use of "over yonder" in place of "over there," e.g. Use "the house over yonder "the All carbonated beverages called "coke". Little gray bugs called "roley-poleys" rather than "pill Little bugs" or "woodlouse" bugs" grocery cart called a "buggy The small freshwater crustacean in lakes and streams as a "crawdad," "crawfish," or "crayfish. streams
Trends in SAE
/r/-lessness is rapidly disappearing from almost all /r/-lessness Southern accents, to a greater degree than the other traditionally /r/-less dialects of the East Coast such as New York and Boston. New Low back merger: merger of vowels in cot/caught is Low cot/caught beginning to appear in parts of the south (awh is a mid-back vowel, whereas the ah in( J is a lowmid-back back vowel) Influx of northerners affecting urban areas. Younger southerners giving up distinctive dialect Younger features. features.
Language Ideologies
Widely held ideas and sets of beliefs about Widely languages and their speakers. languages The idea that certain dialects (regional, The social, or even foreign) sound dumb or dumb uneducated, but others sound quaint or uneducated but quaint rustic, and others sophisticated. rustic and sophisticated
Regional, social and foreign Regional, accents accents
What do particular accents say to us about the speakers of What those accents? those
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What meanings lie behind What different accents in films? different
German? German? French? French? Middle Eastern/Arabic? Chinese? Chinese? Japanese? Japanese? South Asian/Indian? South
Judging Accents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zW8oA2AEio
Wearesinking!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k Accents
Hispanicaccent
21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oprr47CEw5E&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqohw8nR6qE
AfricanAmericanEnglish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIijBLnIKDI
ComedianreferringtoChineseaccents