Synchronic and Diachronic Variation

1. Synchronic and Diachronic Variation Variation in space and time

2. Synchronic variation : Sociolinguistics • Geographical variation (dialects) • Social variation (‘social dialects’) • Social class • Ethnic group • Sex • Age • Profession • Other occupations

3. The illusion of the linguistic unity • The English language • The French language • Role of schools, mobility and media

4. Synchronic variation • British vs American English • Phonological differences • pronunciation of final –r (near, hurt) • pronunciation of // vs. // (goat) • stress patterns la’boratory vs ‘laboratory ciga’rette vs ‘cigarette a’pplicable vs ‘applicable

5. Synchronic variation • British vs American English • Lexical differences • petrol vs gasoline • lift vs elevator • trousers vs. pants

6. Synchronic variation • British vs American English • Syntactic differences • X is different to Y vs X is different than Y • Have you met Mr. Hawkins? I think I might have (done).

7. Ideolect, dialect, language • Each speaker of English/French has an internalized grammar  ideolect • No platonic ideal form for the English/French language • Dialects (first definition) • systematic differences • mutually intelligible • not inferior: standard English is a dialect

8. Dialects vs accents • Accent (within the linguistic community): variation limited to pronunciation • Accent (foreign, e.g. “French accent”): systematic variation in pronunciation due to influence of native language

9. Dialect maps and isoglosses • Choose a linguistic variable, e.g. “what do you call the shoes that you use for doing gym and sports?” • Carry out a survey over a given geographical area, using observation points • Plot the results on a map

10. Dialect map for gymshoes • What do you call the shoes you use for doing gym?

11. Trudgill, Dialects, p.102

12. Dialect map for gymshoes • Lexical variation in present day English • Correlation with the dialect areas established on phonetic criteria

13. Dialect map for Arm • Phonetic variation in present day English

14. Trudgill, Dialects, p.53

15. Dialect map for Arm • Phonetic variation in present day English • Originally r is pronounced in all positions and in all dialects of English • 250 years ago some dialects begin to drop r before a consonant (arm) or at the end of a word before a pause (far)

16. Dialect map for but • Phonetic variation in present day English

18. Dialect map for but • Phonetic variation in present day English • north and south are distinguished in their pronunciation of e.g. but, up, cup, butter, some, other, luck etc. • south: but [] vs put [] • north : but and put : same vowel [] • The north preserves the Middle English vowel system

19. Traditional dialects • Extensive variation in • phonology • lexicon • morphology • syntax • Data based on a survey carried out in 313 localities in England in the 1950s (cf. The Linguistic Atlas of England)

20. Phonological variation • Pronunciation of arm in traditional dialects in the 1950s

22. Phonological variation • Pronunciation of arm in traditional dialects in the 1950s • compare map for present day pronunciation • begins in the south east and spreads towards north and west • areas of partial retention (r)

23. Arbitrariness of value judgements on pronunciation • stigmatization of r retention in Britain • compare h deletion (hill = ill = []) (innovative variant stigmatized) • positive judgment on r retention in certain US varieties

24. Lexical variation in traditional dialects • play in traditional dialects

26. Lexical variation in traditional dialects • play in traditional dialects • heavy influence of Old Norse on English (they, egg, skirt, …) • especially in the lower North (200 years of bilingualism • Compare Norwegian leike

27. Lexical variation in traditional dialects • child in traditional dialects • compare with Norwegian barn

29. Lexical variation in traditional dialects • dig in traditional dialects

31. Lexical variation in traditional dialects • dig in traditional dialects • dig is borrowed from Old French diguer (‘dig a ditch’) • previous verbs delve and grave are limited to the geographical edges of the country

32. Lexical variation in traditional dialects • trough in traditional dialects

34. Lexical variation in traditional dialects • trough in traditional dialects • trough cannot be adopted independently in 3 areas • new form manger (standard technical term) spreads along communication lines

36. Morphological variation in traditional dialects • you in traditional dialects

38. 2nd pers pronouns before ±1700

39. Change in 2nd pers pronouns • plural becomes polite form for singular addressees (compare Fr. vous) • complete disappearance of the old singular forms in standard English • introduction of youse as 2nd pers pl in some English dialects • introduction of yall (= you all) as 2nd pers pl in some American dialects (southern)

40. Morphological variation in traditional dialects • Am I in traditional dialects

44. What about French?

45. Specificities of French in the North • Phonological differences • Je ne sais pas (rounded a) • Tiens ! Thierry. (palatalization of [] →[]) • Lexical differences • wassingue (vs. serpillère) • souper (vs. dîner) • Syntactic differences • C’est pour moi manger ce soir

46. French traditional dialects • Latin origin of the romance dialects spoken in France: historical depth of change • No mutual intelligibility between geographically separated dialects • No mutual intelligibility with standard French • Dialect continuity: usually no complete breaks, mutual intelligibility at (relatively) short distances

47. French traditional dialects • Bunches of isoglosses separate major dialect areas • e.g. between the oil and oc dialects and between wallon and picard • often corresponding to geographical or political boundaries • Politics of eradication of dialects in France • Schools • The army

49. ..... Southern limit of mener (cp Occitan mina) ---- Southern limit of heure (cp Occitan ora) _._. Southern limit of chanter (cp Occitan cantar)

50. Situation of Romance dialects in Belgium • Speakers of Walloon and Picard are dying out • Theater programs on television in dialect