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REGIONAL AND SOCIAL DIALECTS. by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen. SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA: NEW ENGLAND NAMES. New England Plymouth Rock New York New Jersey Cambridge, Massachusetts Boston Celtics (Irish) New Amsterdam (Dutch) Harlem New York Knickerbockers Dutch West Indies.
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REGIONAL AND SOCIAL DIALECTS by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen
SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA: NEW ENGLAND NAMES • New England • Plymouth Rock • New York • New Jersey • Cambridge, Massachusetts • Boston Celtics (Irish) • New Amsterdam (Dutch) • Harlem • New York Knickerbockers • Dutch West Indies
New England and New YorkCompare New Jersey, New Amsterdam, New Orleans, Nova Scotia…
SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA: PENNSYLVANIA NAMES • William Penn • Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) • “thee” “thy,” “thine” and “thou”
SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA:CONNECTIONS WITH ENGLAND, ETC. • Jamestown, Virginia • Williamsburg, Virginia • The Slave Trade: Charleston, South Carolina; Liverpool, England; and Sierra Leon, West Africa • Pidgins and Creoles resulting from “Maritime English” • The development of black English as a pidgin
Virginia and West VirginiaSettled by Queen Elizabeth, the “Virgin” Queen
The Slave Trade: Charleston, South CarolinaLiverpool, England and West Africa
SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA: THE CUMBERLAND PASS • Scottish and Irish settlements in the South • Irish story tellers (the Jack tales like “Jack and the Beanstalk”)
PHONOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES • Greasy • With • spoon (noon) • Creek • Roof • However, wash is not so much regional as rural.
PHONOGICAL DISTINCTIONS THAT ARE BECOMING LOST • cot-caught • witch-which • mourning – morning • However, pin-pen is remaining stable.
NEW ENGLAND PHONOLOGY • lot (New England) • park the car; Cuba-r-is • merry – marry – Mary • calf (pass, path, dance) • Brooklyn: dis, dat, dese, dose, dem
The Southern Dialect • “The South, because of its rural, isolated past, boasts a diversity of dialects, from Appalachian twangs in several states, to Elizabethan lilts in Virginia, to Cajun accents in Louisiana, to African-influenced Gullah accents on the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina.” • “One accent that has been all but wiped out is the slow juleps-in-the-moonlight drawl favored by Hollywood portrayals of the South. To find that so-called plantation accent in most parts of the region nowadays requires a trip to the video store.” (Collins & Wyatt [2009]: 333-334)
The Plantation Drawl vs. Appalachian Speech • “Even as the stereotypical southern accent gets rarer, other speech patterns take its place, and they’re not any less southern.” • “The Upland South accent, a faster-paced dialect native to the Appalachian mountains, is said to be spreading just as fast as the plantation drawl disappears.” (Collins & Wyatt [2009]: 334)
Walt Wolfram on Southern Speech • Walt Wolfram says that “the vowel shift where one-syllable words like “air” come out in two syllables, “ay-ah” is certainly vanishing.” • “Other aspects—such as double-modal constructions like ‘might could’—are still pervasive.” (Collins & Wyatt [2009]: 335)
Roy Blount Jr. on Southern Speech • Roy Blount Jr. said, “My father, who was a surely intelligent man, would say ‘cain’t,’ He wouldn’t say ‘can’t.’ And, ‘There ain’t no way, just there ain’t no way.’ You don’t want to say, ‘There isn’t any way.’ That just spoils the whole thing.” • “I just think that there’s a certain eloquence in southern vernacular that I wouldn’t want to lose touch with…you ought to sound like where you come from.” • “There are still plenty of professions that thrive on a good southern twang—from preachers to football coaches to a certain breed of courtroom litigators.” (Collins & Wyatt [2009]: 335)
SOUTHERN PHONOLOGY • Mrs. hog (frog, dog, Deputy Dog) • south souf during doin, and going gon • help hep test tes • ring rang boy boah • car cah POlice
Three Southern Dialects: Deep South, Southernand Texas and Oklahoma
SOUTHERN VOCABULARY • chitlins and grits • to buy a pig in a poke • “Carry me Back to Old Virginie”
CALIFORNIA VALLEY-GIRL & SURFER-DUDE SPEECH • Rising Inflections (like Australian English) • Superfluous use of the word “like” • Animated Body Language (like sticking a finger down the throat) • Specialized Vocabulary (like “dude”, esp. relating to shopping malls, the beach, and personality types)
CANADIAN PHONOLOGY • out and about the house • schedule • Canadian -eh
VOCABULARY DIFFERENCES • What do you fry your eggs in? • creeper, fryer, frying pan, fry pan, skillet, or spider • What do you call a soft drink? • pop, soda, soda pop, or tonic? • What do you call a long sandwich containing salami etc.? • hero, submarine, hoagy, grinder or poorboy
What do you drink water out of? • drinking fountain, cooler, bubbler or geyser • How do you get something from one place to another? • take, carry, or tote • What do you carry things in? • a bag, a sack, or a poke • How do you speculate? • reckon, guess, figgure, figger, suspect, imagine
GRAMMAR DIFFERENCES • Double Modals: might could • Negative Modals: hadn’t ought • Strange Past Participles: larnt • Strange Possessive Pronouns: yourn, hisn, hern, ourn, theirn • Strange Prepositions: a quarter before eight • Strange Conjunctions: unless => without, lessen • Strange Adverbs: anywheres, nowheres
BRITISH-AMERICAN PRONUNCIATION DIFFERENCES • calf, bath, pass, aunt • learn, fork, core, brother • carry, very • secretary, stationery, territory, dictionary, laboratory, necessary, missionary • either, neither, potato, tomato • clerk, schedule • captain, bottle (glottals [in Cockney])
21 Accents by Amy Walker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k
BRITISH-AMERICAN VOCABULARY DIFFERENCES • girl, cop, hood (of a car), trunk (of a car), suspenders, apartment, bathroom, elevator, truck, wig, gasoline, bar, line, monkey wrench, television, flashlight, subway • bird, bobby, bonnet, boot, braces, flat, loo, lift, lorry, peruque, petrol, pub, queue, spanner, tele, torch, tube
BRITISH-AMERICAN STRESS DIFFERENCES • Aluminum • Applicable • Formidable • Kilometer • Laboratory • Secretary
BRITISH-AMERICAN SPELLING DIFFERENCES • cheque • centre, theatre • colour, honour • defence, offence • labelled, travelled • pyjamas • tyre
BRITISH EXPRESSIONS TO WATCH OUT FOR • fag or faggot (wood for the fireplace, or cigarette) • soliciter (lawyer) • to knock someone up (wake someone up in the morning, or visit someone)
COCKNEY RHYMING SLANG • apples and pears (stairs) • Aristotle (bottle) • pig’s ear (beer) • Mother Hubbard (cupboard) • plates and dishes (Mrs.)
Cockney Rhyming Slang: More Recent Examples: Give us a butchers = butchers hook = look Blowing a raspberry = raspberry tart = fart (Bronx Cheer) Use your loaf = loaf of bread = head That ruined my barnet = Barnet Fair = hair I’ll just do my bird quietly = bird lime = time (prison sentence) All right, me old china? = china plate = mate (friend) Merchant = Merchant Banker = Wanker
Linguistic Archetypes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyT2jmVPAk
SOCIALLY–VARIABLE LINGUISTIC RULES • Minimal Pairs • Word Lists • Reading Style • Careful Speech • Casual Speech (William Labov’s Observation)
FIVE DEGREES OF FORMALITY • Frozen: Prissy Text Book • Formal: Most Text Books • Consultative: Conversations among Strangers or Large Groups • Casual: Conversations among Close Friends • Intimate: Conversations among Family Members or Lovers Martin Joos The Five Clocks:
BORSHT BELT HUMOR • The Borsht Belt was a chain of hotels in the mountains near New York. • These hotels provided entertainment from their guests, most of whom were Jewish vacationers from New York City.
DOWN-EAST YANKEE HUMOR • This humor is taciturn and reluctant. • There is a story about Calvin Coolidge. He was seated next to a woman at an official White House function. She leaned toward him and confided that someone had bet her that she couldn’t make him say three words. • He responded, “You lose.”