Questions? Comments?

1. Questions? Comments? • Exercises for Chapter 14: 2 & 7 due 6/3 • Problem Set 5 due 5/29

2. Socioling Slide 1 Sociolinguistics • Like Pragmatics, it’s the study of the use of language • The study of language in its social contexts • Speech community - group of people who share some set of social conventions (socioling norms) regarding language use - EXAMPLES? • Accent - pronunciation • Dialect - includes pronunciation (phonological/phonetic), but also includes grammatical, lexical and usage - MFL example • Some examples of homophones for some -- hock/hawk, caller/collar, cot/caught, calm/com, Don/Dawn • Variety - used as a more neutral term for dialect or language • Mary = merry = marry • Mary = merry  marry • Mary  merry = marry • Mary = marry  merry???

3. Socioling Slide 2 Sociolinguistics • Dialects in North America are mutually intelligible - the differences do not impede communication totally • Dialect continuum – go village by village, from northwestern France to southern Italy and each adjacent village can understand each other, although Parisians cannot understand Romans.

4. Socioling Slide 3 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • Social Factors: • Style • REGION - what are the major dialects/accents spoken in America? • Sex/Gender • Social class • Age • Ethnicity

5. Socioling Slide 4 Sociolinguistics • Style or register - what does this mean? Formal/informal • Jargon is specific vocabulary tied to a specific event or setting (snowboard jargon, linguistic jargon, computer jargon, etc) • Slang - helps to show in- and out-group membership. Fad new words or new meanings on old words - EXAMPLES?

6. Socioling Slide 5 Sociolinguistics - region • What are the different regional accents in your opinion?

7. Socioling Slide 6 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change

8. Socioling Slide 7 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change

9. Socioling Slide 8 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • Regional varieties described in terms of lexical choices done through Linguistic Atlas creation • Dialectologists looked at NORMs = old men in the sticks! (non-mobile old rural men) • Asked what is the word you use for... • Plotted variation on a map and drew lines – isoglosses (see image ) • Now sociolinguists look at urban populations and exam different regions in terms of what is happening in the cities

10. Socioling Slide 9 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change – cot vs. caught

11. Socioling Slide 10 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • Regional difference is post-vocalic r(car, card, guard, etc) • William Labov - NYC - listen to a New Yorker • Style – attitudes about varieties Remember this??? Coffee shop with a sign:“We’re sorry - no blended drinks today. The blender is broke.” This sign was in Portland area – where would you expect to see it (based on stereotypes – not your opinion if they’re real) [stereotypes based on class/education/income]

12. Socioling Slide 10b Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • Style and ling change interacts with social class •  William Labov’s department store study

13. Socioling Slide 11 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • There are many different varieties - what is correct?Standard English is just one of many different varieties • Linguistics try to describe these varieties and all the varieties are equal in linguistics terms • What would happen if I said that Standard English meant that you have to distinguish between cot~caught, tot~taught, hock~hawk, Don~dawn, collar~caller? How would that make you feel? • Are other dialects mutually intelligible – here some sounds here from the Northern Cities area: Northern Cities Shift (not #5)

14. Socioling Slide 13* Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • Regional difference by vowel production shifts (language change) over time • Northern Cities Shift (play Chicago sample - 3mins)

15. Socioling Slide 14* Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • The Southern Shift (Play Arkansas 2mins; play Eng 3mins;

16. Socioling Slide 15 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • The California/Canada Shift (Play Cali - 1:45; Ontario 2:15)

17. Socioling Slide 15 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • The California/Canada Shift (Play Cali - 1:45; Ontario 2:15)

18. Socioling Slide 16 Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • Ethnicity - Chicano English, African American Vernacular English, Native American English; etc. • AAVE - shares features with other English dialects • Tables 15.13 and 15.14 on p. 517 shows AAVE features • Phonological features part of other varieties • Habitual be, copula deletion - more elaborate than standard English • The coffee cold today. The coffee be cold here.

19. Socioling Slide 16b Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • Ethnicity - African American Vernacular English,

20. Socioling Slide 16c Sociolinguistics • Linguistic variation and change • Ethnicity - African American Vernacular English,

21. Socioling Slide 17 Sociolinguistics • Gender variable - different degree of usage for men and women • Do men and women speak differently? • What are the assumptions here...

22. Socioling Slide 18 Sociolinguistics • Some say... women use more hedges in their speech - EXAMPLES? • TRUE OR FALSE? • Grammatical gender - not directly related to real men and women, but most langs with gram gender do use the masc forms as generic (ellos vs. ellas) • The switch from he as “neutral” pronoun to they

23. Socioling Slide 19 Sociolinguistics • Sex differences of linguistic behavior: Discourse • Hedges • Interruption - men have been found to interrupt women more than vice-versa (even when woman is a doctor and power is involved) • In a review article looking at 63 studies investigating the amount of talk by sex (studies from 1951-1991) - only 2 of these studies found women to talk more overall, but there are differences with respect to topic and formality of situation See here for more details

24. Socioling Slide 20 Sociolinguistics • Robin Lakoff, 1975, “women’s language” • Tag questions • Rising intonation for declarative statements • “Empty” adjectives (divine, lovely) • Specialized women’s vocabulary (color terms) • Frequent use of emphasis (“speaking in italics” - What a beautiful hat) • Intensive so (You are so fired) • Politeness devices and hypercorrect grammar (women use more standard language; more indirect requests) • Hedges (well, like, sort of) • Women don’t tell jokes

25. Socioling Slide 21 Sociolinguistics • Contact linguistics – when languages come into contact • Pidgin – a language created by people to communicate (usually for commerce). Usually uses the lexical items from the dominant language (superstrate) (colonizing language like English, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French) and uses other aspects of grammar from the native languages where the pidgin occurs (substrate languages). Always acquired as a second language, and is relatively transparent and simplistic. Where pidgins are used are limited – usually in the marketplace. • Creole – the development of a pidgin when spoken as a first/native language by children. At this point, the language becomes more complex as it evolves. The use of creoles are expanded to all aspects of social life (at home, in the church, as well as in the marketplace).

26. Socioling Slide 22 Pidgins and Creoles

27. Socioling Slide 23 Pidgins and Creoles Solomon Islands Pidjin

28. “Do You Speak American” – use video for examples of linguistic variation for final Watch clips of video in class – the website here: http://www.pbs.org/speak/ My article on Portland speech is here: http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/pacificnorthwest/