Lexical differences between dialects

1. Lexical differences between dialects quite nice website with lots of examples: www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/activities/lexical-variation/

2. Lexical differences • Independent of accents, varieties of English differ in the lexicon • By “dialects” we mainly refer to varieties associated with geographic regions … • … but this course will (later) be concerned with other sorts of varieties, which can also be characterised by lexical differences • “registers” related to levels of formality • “sublanguages” related to different subject matters

3. Lexical differences • Lexical differences generally not as extensive or obvious as phonological differences • Not surprising: if they were too many differences, mutual understanding would be jeopardised, and we’d describe them as different languages • Indeed, “same language” status in doubt between dialects with extensive differences (eg British ~ American)

4. Lexical differences • Tend to be dotted around the lexicon, but can be concentrated in areas of vocabulary • especially high local resonance (names of flora, fauna, cultural significance) • old technologies independently developed before globalization (eg car terms in AmE) • vocabulary reflecting distinctly different system (eg legal system, education) • Not the same as slang, though slang is (also) notoriously dialectal

5. Lexical differences: categorization • Lexical borrowings from local (foreign) languages • Local feature or speciality has name not found elsewhere • Group of things more specifically distinguished locally • Different names for the same thing • Word or set of words exchange meanings

6. Lexical borrowings • Widespread in Scots and Irish English • kirk (church), dreich (overcast), brae (hillside) • taoseach (prime minister), dail (parliament), garda (police), craic (fun) • Norse borrowings in NE and Cumbrian • bairn (child), gammerstang (awkward person), lawp (jump), gan (go), yem (home)

7. Local distinctions • Classic Whorfian idea that language is conditioned by environment • Seafarers recognize/name different types of boats • More specific names for fish in fishing communities • fish names also subject to variance: same name – different fish in different locations • Local animal or plant names • Terms used by farmers • Below the level of dialect you might find special words used within a family or other close-knit group • eg kinship words (mother, father, grandmother/father …) • private references

8. Just different names • Biggest category, thousands of examples • eg Terms connected with food and drink • barm, barm cake, bread cake, bap, batch, batch cake, bun, roll, muffin, cob • Words associated with children’s games, incl. truce words: barley, fainites, pax, scribs, skinchies • Distinguish where local word is alternative, or replacement • daps, pumps, plimsolls (no standard term?) • roundabout aka island~circle~circus~rotary

9. Lots of examples • Can you think of any local dialect words in your dialect? • Actually you may not know that a word is dialectal until you travel elsewhere • Or, there may be some lexical differences which your dialect is “famous” for • Some dialect words may just be the result of accent differences • eg where they say kuh for ‘cow’ they also say hus ‘house’ etc

10. Vocabulary merry-go-round • BrE~AmE: jam~jelly~jello • BrE~AmE: biscuit~cake~cookie~cracker • Scots: live~stay • There seem to be specific things which are subject to massive variance, while other things are universally named • cf bread (everyone calls it bread)

11. Vocabulary globalization • fries (and fish and chips in NAm) • AusE chips (crisps), hot chips (chips) • movie(s), candy, cookies

12. Dialect morphology (?) • How are diminutives formed? • Some dialects seem to have a greater propensity to form diminutives • Often in a distinctive manner • Liverpool: bickie, ciggie, footie, plazzie, brekkie • Aussie: garbo, ambo, this arvo, journo, muso, brekko • old RP: footer, rugger, preggers, shampers, brekker(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_'-er')

13. Dialect geography • Just as you can map isoglosses that distinguish features of accents, you can map incidence of dialect words • Later in this course we will look more closely at some of the methods involved in dialectology • methods of collecting data • issues in quantifying dialect difference

14. Words for ‘splinter’ spell spelk speel spill splie spool splint shiver silver source: Upton, C. & J. Widdowson (1996). An Atlas of English Dialects. Oxford: Oxford University Press.