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Language and regional variation. Introduction
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Introduction Every language will have more than one variety, especially in the way in which it is spoken. This variation in speech is an important and well-recognized aspect of our daily lives as language-users in different regional and social communities. This chapter considers the type of variation which has been investigated via a form of ‘linguistic geography’, concentrating on regional varieties.
Standard Language By: Nawalal zahrani • It is a particular variety of a language which is accepted by the majority of the speakers. It is used in • Newspapers • Text books • Dictionary • Education and broadcasting
Accents and Dialects Done by Sarab Mohammad
Accent & Dialect Accent: It is restricted to the description of aspects of pronunciation that identify where an individual speaker is from regionally or socially.
Whether we think we speak a standard variety of English or not, we all speak with an accent. We might feel that some speakers have very distinct or easily recognized types of accent while others may have more subtle or less noticeable accents . * But every language-user speaks with an accent. By:NahlaAdel Al-Harbi
Accents such as American, British or Australian, stand out, almost everyone speaks with a certain kind of accent and accents vary person to person. As accent is just a way of pronouncing or putting stress on certain vowels and consonants, almost everyone has an accent that differs from another person.
Dialect: Used to describe features of grammar and vocabulary as well as aspects of pronunciation • e.g. 1/ ‘ You don’t know what you’re talking about’ • = ‘Ye dinnae ken whit yerhaverinaboot • dialect of ‘Scottish English’ = differences in pronunciation + voc +grammar
The important point to remember is that, from a linguistic point of view, no one variety is better than another. They are simply different. From a social point of view, however, some varieties do become more prestigious. The variety which develops as the Standard Language has been one socially prestigious dialect, originally connected with a political or cultural center (e.g. London for British English, and Paris for French).
Regional DialectBy Maram Saeed Definition: The distinct form of a language spoken in a certain geographical area. Dialect surveys involved painstaking attention to details and tended to operate with specific criteria in identifying acceptable informants whose speech is a typical representative of the region’s dialect. Consequently, the informants tended to be NORMS, or non-mobile, older, rural, male speakers. Such speakers were selected because it was believed that they were less likely to have influences from outside the region in their speech
Isogloss Some words are known only inside one specific area, for example ‘paper bag’ , while other words are known in other areas, for example ‘paper sack’. This difference division that results of a region with another is called isogloss.
Isogloss This “red” line is called isogloss and represents a boundary between the areas with regard to that one Particular linguistic item. Area A Area B Paper Bag Paper sack
Dialect Boundary It is a more solid line that occurs when a number of isoglosses come together.
Dialect Boundaries When a number of isoglosses come together, a more solid line is formed which produces a dialect boundary. Area A Area B Area A Area B Area A Area B Area A Area B Area A Area B Two informants of each area are compared in terms of its dialect. If the differences are few, a line called Isogloss is produced . If these isoglosses are much more, and if they are mixed, a dialect boundary is produced. Area A Area B
Definition of dialect continuum At most dialect boundary areas, one variety emerges into another. Keeping this in mind, we can view regional variation as existing within a continuum, and not as having sharp breaks from one region to the next. So that the further apart two regions are, the more the language differs.
*A very similar type of continuum can occur with related languages existing on either side of a political border .
E .x : when you travel from Holland into Germany , you will find concentrations of Dutch speakers giving way to areas near the border where the Dutch dialects and the German dialects are less clearly differentiated, then as you travel into Germany, greater concentrations of distinctly German speakers occur.
Bidialectal: proficient in or using two dialects of the same language. Bilingual : • able to speak two languages with the facility of a native speaker. • When we talk about people knowing two distinct languages .
Language planning In some countries, like the United States, an official language (standard English) is used to unify the whole country in which large communities use a non-English first language, such as Spanish in Texas. Thus, English is used as a representative language for the government and the educational system. However, Canada is an officially bilingual country, with both English and French as official languages.
Pidgins and creoles A pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups which do not have a language in common. it is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak language different from the language of the country in which they reside (but where there is no common language between the groups).Fundamentally, a pidgin is a simplified means of linguistic communication, as it is constructed impromptu, or by convention, between individuals or groups of people. A pidgin is not a native language of any speech community, but is instead learned second language.
A creole language, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent language; creoles differ from pidgins (which are believed by scholars to be necessary precedents of creole ) in that creoles have been nativized by children as their primary language, with the result that they have features of a natural language that are normally missing from pidgin.
linguistic characteristics of pidgins: 1- sounds are fewer and less complicated in their configurations. 2- no morphophonemic variation in pidgins (e.g. space, spacious developed in creoles). 3- a complete lack of inflection. For example, pronouns are not distinguished by case. 4- Simplified sentence structure. For example, no embedding, use of particles for negation or tense.
The Post-Creole continuum The development from a Pidgin to a Creole is known as creolization. Another process called decreolization is a retreat from the use of the Creole by those who have greater contact with a standard variety of the language. For example, many speakers in Jamaica tend to use fewer Creole forms and structures where education and greater social prestige are associated with a higher variety, used as a model (e.g. British English).
Decreolization leads, at one extreme, to a variety that is closer to the external standard model called the acrolect, and leaves, at the other extreme, a basic variety with more local Creole features called the basilect. Between these two extremes may be a range of slightly different varieties, some with many and some with fewer Creole features known as mesolects. This range of varieties, evolving after (=post) the Creole has been created, is called the Post-Creole continuum.
