ELG105

AIMS
Foundational concepts in 3 areas of Linguistics: Sociolinguistics Language Acquisition Language Processing Skills to identify and analyze linguistic data

OVERVIEW
5 CU course 6 weeks 6 seminars Assessment Quiz 1 hour (20%) 1 TMA (30%) Exam 2 hour (50%)
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Students are reminded to follow schedule detailed in Course Calendar Quiz consists of MCQs and T/F Qs. Not more than 30 Qs in total. To be done at home. Open Book Format of Exam 3 sections: short answers (50 words), analysis Q, 1 essay

MATERIALS
COURSE BOOK LINGUISTICS FOR NON-LINGUISTS STUDY UNITS TOPICS NOT COVERED SPECIMEN PAPER MODEL TMA

LANGUAGE SYSTEM
a system of linguistic units or elements used in a particular language grammatical system phonetic system
Organisation Pattern Rule-governed Interrelationship
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LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS
Patterns or principals shared by all languages
TRUE OR FALSE? A. All languages distinguish between vowels and consonants. B. All known languages include the categories of noun and verb.

Noun

Verb

Noun Noun

Noun

Noun

Noun

Verb

Verb

Noun

Noun

Noun

Noun

Verb

Noun

Noun
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Subject

Verb

Object

Subject

Object

Verb

Verb

Subject

Object

Subject

Verb

Object
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LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS
Syntactic Universals
Basic word orders: SVO, VSO, SOV Overwhelming tendency for the subject of a sentence to precede the direct object among the languages of the world
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THE SEARCH FOR LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS

5000 or more languages spoken today Extinct languages Representative sample?
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LANGUAGE VARIATION
Variation the study of those features of a language that differ systematically as we compare different groups of speakers or the same speaker in different situations Regional Social Ethnic Gender Stylistic Phonetic Syntactic Semantic
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DEFINING LANGUAGE

IDIOLECT
DIALECT LANGUAGE

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IDIOLECT
The language system unique to a particular speaker Idiosyncratic
What does the following video from Inside the Actors Studio reveal about the way Kevin Spacey succeeds at impersonations? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKKDKAKNHk&feature=related

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DIALECT
A systematic variety of a language specific to a particular group of speakers
MISCONCEPTION

Dialects are inferior or degraded; associated with peasantry or working class. We are all speakers of at least 1 dialect.
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THINK

Can a person speak more than one dialect? Are there examples you can think of? How many dialects do you speak?

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DIALECT
Place
Singaporean English, Australian English Eat lah! Lets dig into the tucker

Time
Elizabethan English, Modern English

In sooth, I know not why thou art so sad.

Frankly, I dont know why youre so sad.
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DIALECT
Social Class
Cockney, Received Pronunciation
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=W54ACJ7QM4A&feature=related

Race
African American Vernacular He dont know nothing.

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LANGUAGE VS DIALECT

Does it depend on NUMBER OF SPEAKERS? CODIFICATION? PRESTIGE?

Refer to this website for an elaboration of discussion: http://www.squidoo.com/language-and-dialect
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LANGUAGE VS DIALECT
MUTUAL INTELLIGIBILITY LANGUAGES ARE NOT MUTUALLY INTELLIGIBLE BUT DIALECTS USUALLY ARE. A LANGUAGE IS A COLLECTION OF MUTUALLY INTELLIGIBLE DIALECTS.
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CHINESE
Mandarin

ENGLISH
British English American English

Cantonese

African American English

Hakka
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Language or Dialect?

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Language or Dialect?
Product Informa.on from packaging on Philips Energy Saving Lamp:

DANISH Kan ikke brukes i forbindelse med dimme utstyr eller elektronisk av og p mekanismer. Ikke egnet til bruk i helt lukkede armaturer. NORWEGIAN Kan ikke bruges i forbindelse med lysdmper og elektronisk tndsluk-ur. Ikke egnet til helt lukkede armaturer.
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CROSS CONTINENTAL VARIATION dialect chains Read story in Holmes p 140

5 Types of Relationship between Dialect and Language

TYPE 1
COMMUNITY A

Mutually intelligible Common cultural history Same language

COMMUNITY B

eg. British English

eg. American English

TYPE 2
COMMUNITY A

Mutually unintelligible Different cultural history Different languages

COMMUNITY B

eg. English

eg. Chinese

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TYPE 3
COMMUNITY A

Mutually intelligible Different cultural history ?

COMMUNITY B

eg. Norwegian

eg. Danish

TYPE 4
COMMUNITY A

Mutually unintelligible Same cultural history

COMMUNITY B

eg. Cantonese

eg. Hakka

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TYPE 5
COMMUNITY A

Partially (un)intelligible Overlapping cultural history ?

COMMUNITY B

eg. Turkish

eg. Uzbek

From David Crystal (1987) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

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DEFINING LANGUAGE
A LANGUAGE IS A DIALECT THAT HAS AN ARMY AND A NAVY .
Max Weinreich

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REGIONAL DIALECT
Language differences identified with specific geographical locations Phonological Variation
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=3UgpfSp2t6k&NR=1&feature=fvwp

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STORY TIME
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? Ive called to see me old mate Dan Stone, said the visitor. Oh hes dead now mate said the young man. The visitor was about to express condolences when he was thumped on the back by Don Stone himself. The young man had said Heres dad now mate, as his father came in the gate.
From Janet Holmes p 135 : An Introduction to Sociolinguistics
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REGIONAL DIALECT
Language differences identified with specific geographical locations Lexical Variation
What do these words mean in British and American English? DIARY MINCE MEAT DIRT PANTS CHECK FLAT
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LETS TRY THIS

Do you have a match? Have you got a cigarette? She has gotten used to the noise. Shes got used to the noise. He dove in head first. He dived in head first Did you eat yet? Have you eaten yet?
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Dialectal Variation
phonology better: [bdr]; UK [bt]; Scottish [btr]; Aus [bd] lexis professor / lecturer; elevator / lift; trunk / boot; cell phone/ mobile; pants / trousers; suspenders / braces morphology shes gotten / shes got; dove / dived; snuck / sneaked syntax He's a man who likes his food (that; at; as; what; he; )

REGIONAL DIALECT p 5
DARE
Dictionary of American Regional English Begun in 1965 Fieldwork: surveys, face-to-face interviews, audio recordings
Website for DARE: http://dare.wisc.edu/

Joan Hall, Current Chief Editor Frederic Cassidy 1907-2000

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Usefulness of DARE
A doctor in Maine recounted a story from his first practice in Allenton, Pennsylvania. One of his first patients came in and said, Doc, Ive been riftin and Ive got jags in my leaders. rifting = belching Rift, a Scots and northern English dialect term, found mostly in Pennsylvania jags in my leaders = pain in tendons and ligaments Leader is especially common in the South Midland and the South.

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MAPPING REGIONAL DIALECTS

Thousands of questionaires are sent out. Thousands of recordings and interviews are carried out. Sample Questions: 1. What do you call the thing youre sitting on? 2. When your skin and eyeballs turn yellow, youre getting 3. What do you call the vehicles people push babies around in? 4. What do you call the shoes people wear for tennis or running?
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105. What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage? a. soda (52.97%) b. pop (25.08%) c. coke (12.38%) d. tonic (0.67%) e. soft drink (5.89%) f. lemonade (0.01%) g. cocola (0.29%) h. fizzy drink (0.14%) i. dope (0.03%) j. other (2.55%) (10669 respondents)

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LETS TRY THIS

Can you guess what the following words and phrases mean? Hint: Snowblossom These words Mash the tea come from different The place was all frousted parts of the A great mawther UK. An effet Ill fill up your piggy, its time for bed
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THINK /PAIR/SHARE

What is the difference between a regional accent and a regional dialect?

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ISOGLOSS Line demarcating the area where a linguistic feature can be found. Geographical boundary A bundle of isoglosses denotes a distinct dialect area.

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ISOGLOSS - example
The line on the map of southern England separates the area where the vowel in a word such as cut is [V] (black circles) from the area where the vowel is [U] (crosses).

phonological isoglosses
vowels stress rdeo / rodo [] book; [] blood

lexical isoglosses

dialect continuum

Amsterdam - ik marken dorp dat Dusseldorf Cologne Trier Bassel ix marken dorp dat ix maxen ix maxen ix maxen dorp dat dorf dorf dat das

DIALECT AREAS IN THE US

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MAPPING REGIONAL DIALECTS

DIALECT ATLAS
A series of maps, each plotting the geographical distribution of a particular linguistic feature
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REASONS FOR REGIONAL DIALECTS

POLITICS GEOGRAPHY SOCIAL FACTORS

refer to study guide p SU1-6

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AMERICAN ENGLISH
English Colonization of America Virginia (1607) Massachusetts (1620)

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AMERICAN ENGLISH
Development of Regional Dialects Early settlers in New England speak18th century British English Example r is omitted before consonants & ends of words farm [fa:m] farther [fa:@] Today, r-less dialect spoken in Boston, NY and Savannah Later settlers from Northern England maintain the r. Pioneers moving Westward brought along the r.
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AMERICAN ENGLISH
Watch video on American English
http://www.sunlituplands.org/2010/02/story-of-englishpioneers-o-pioneers.html

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AMERICAN ENGLISH
Phonological Variation (CB p 10)
Linking [r] [r] / V _______ # V

That idea[r] is crazy.

Consonant Epenthesis New England & New York City

SPEAK LIKE A NEW YORKER! 1. I dont read news about Asia anymore. 2. We need a new sofa and some chairs.
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AMERICAN ENGLISH
Phonological Variation
Vowel Neutralization Before Nasals // [I] / _______ C [+nasal] pen pin [phn]

Southern Dialects
SPEAK LIKE A SOUTHERNER! 1. Ten 2. Dentist Tin Dinner
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AMERICAN ENGLISH
Phonological Variation
Vocalization Post-vocalic liquid /l/ or /r/ is replaced with /@/ there /r/ becomes [@]

Dialect of Deep South

SPEAK LIKE A SOUTHERNER! 1. Come over here! 2. She lives in North Carolina
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Lets Listen
Southern Accent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrbpzJI5H4

EXERCISES FROM COURSEBOOK

Exercise A, Q.2 (p.3)
From time to time, cases are reported in the news of twins who have invented their own dialect, which no one else can understand. Is such a case properly termed a language, dialect, or idiolect?

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EXERCISES FROM COURSEBOOK

Exercise B, Q.3 & 4 (p.6) Exercise D, Q.1 (p12) Exercise D, Q.3 (p.13)

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EXERCISES FROM COURSEBOOK

Exercise D, Q.3 (p.13) V
- high - low - back - tense

[+high] / ___ C
[+ nasal]

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EXERCISES FROM COURSEBOOK

Exercise D, Q.3 (p.13) V
- high - low - back

[+high] / ___ C
[+ nasal]

/hm/ /pIn/ /pnt/ /pn/ /str / /tin/ /nt/ /nit/

/hIm/ /pIn/ /pnt/ /pIn/ /strIk / /tin/ /nt/ /nit/

- tense

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WHAT WE COVERED TONIGHT

Definitions of idiolect, dialect & language Regional Dialect Dialect vs Accent Mapping regional dialects Analyze some systematic variations in regional dialects

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