ELG105 1

AIMS

•  Foundational concepts in 3 areas of Linguistics:

Sociolinguistics Language Acquisition Language Processing

•  Skills to identify and analyze linguistic data

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OVERVIEW

•  5 CU course •  6 weeks 6 seminars •  Assessment Quiz – 1 hour (20%) 1 TMA (30%) Exam – 2 hour (50%)

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Students are reminded to follow schedule detailed in Course Calendar

Quiz consists of MCQs and T/F Qs. Not more than 30 Qs in total. To be done at home. Open Book

Format of Exam – 3 sections: short answers (50 words), analysis Q, 1 essay

MATERIALS

•  COURSE BOOK LINGUISTICS FOR NON-LINGUISTS •  STUDY UNITS •  TOPICS NOT COVERED •  SPECIMEN PAPER •  MODEL TMA

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LANGUAGE SYSTEM

•  a system of linguistic units or elements used in a particular language

grammatical system phonetic system

Organisation

Pattern

Rule-governed

Interrelationship 6

LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS

•  Patterns or principals shared by all languages

TRUE OR FALSE?

A.  All languages distinguish between vowels and consonants.

B.  All known languages include the categories of noun and verb.

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Verb

Verb

Verb

Verb

Noun Noun

Noun Noun Noun

Noun

Noun Noun Noun

Noun Noun Noun

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Subject

Subject

Subject

Subject

Verb

Verb

Verb

Verb Object

Object

Object

Object

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LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS

•  Syntactic Universals

Basic word orders:

SVO, VSO, SOV

Overwhelming tendency for the subject of a sentence to precede the direct object among the languages of the world

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THE SEARCH FOR LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS

•  5000 or more languages spoken today

•  Extinct languages

•  Representative sample?

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LANGUAGE VARIATION

•  Variation – the study of those features of a language that differ systematically as we compare different groups of speakers or the same speaker in different situations

•  Regional •  Social •  Ethnic •  Gender •  Stylistic •  Phonetic •  Syntactic •  Semantic

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DEFINING LANGUAGE

IDIOLECT

DIALECT

LANGUAGE

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IDIOLECT

•  The language system unique to a particular speaker

•  Idiosyncratic

What does the following video from Inside the Actor’s Studio reveal about the way Kevin Spacey succeeds at impersonations?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKKDKAKNH-k&feature=related

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DIALECT

•  A systematic variety of a language specific to a particular group of speakers

MISCONCEPTION

Dialects are inferior or degraded; associated with peasantry or working class.

W e a r e a l l s p e a k e r s o f a t l e a s t 1 d i a l e c t . 15

THINK

•  Can a person speak more than one dialect?

•  Are there examples you can think of? •  How many dialects do you speak?

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DIALECT

•  Place Singaporean English, Australian English “Eat lah!” “Let’s dig into the tucker…”

•  Time Elizabethan English, Modern English “In sooth, I know not why thou art so sad.” “Frankly, I don’t know why you’re so sad.”

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DIALECT

•  Social Class Cockney, Received Pronunciation http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=W54ACJ7QM4A&feature=related

•  Race African American Vernacular “He don’t know nothing.”

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LANGUAGE VS DIALECT

Does it depend on

NUMBER OF SPEAKERS? CODIFICATION? PRESTIGE? Refer to this website for an elaboration of discussion:

http://www.squidoo.com/language-and-dialect 19

LANGUAGE VS DIALECT

•  MUTUAL INTELLIGIBILITY

LANGUAGES ARE NOT MUTUALLY INTELLIGIBLE BUT DIALECTS USUALLY ARE.

A LANGUAGE IS A COLLECTION OF MUTUALLY INTELLIGIBLE DIALECTS.

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CHINESE

Mandarin

Cantonese

Hakka

ENGLISH

British English

American English

African American English

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Language or Dialect?

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Language or Dialect?

Product  Informa.on  from  packaging  on  Philips  Energy  Saving  Lamp:  

DANISH Kan ikke brukes i forbindelse med dimme utstyr eller elektronisk av og på mekanismer. Ikke egnet til bruk i helt lukkede armaturer.

NORWEGIAN Kan ikke bruges i forbindelse med lysdæmper og elektronisk tænd-sluk-ur. Ikke egnet til helt lukkede armaturer.

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CROSS CONTINENTAL VARIATION– dialect chains

•  Read story in Holmes p 140

TYPE 1

COMMUNITY A COMMUNITY B Mutually intelligible Common cultural

history

Same language eg. British English eg. American English

TYPE 2

COMMUNITY A COMMUNITY B Mutually unintelligible

Different cultural history

Different languages eg. English eg. Chinese

5 Types of Relationship between Dialect and Language

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TYPE 3

COMMUNITY A COMMUNITY B Mutually intelligible

Different cultural history

? eg. Norwegian eg. Danish

TYPE 4

COMMUNITY A COMMUNITY B Mutually unintelligible Same cultural history

? eg. Cantonese eg. Hakka

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From David Crystal (1987) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

TYPE 5

COMMUNITY A COMMUNITY B Partially (un)intelligible Overlapping cultural

history

? eg. Turkish eg. Uzbek

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DEFINING LANGUAGE

A LANGUAGE IS A DIALECT THAT HAS AN ARMY AND A NAVY .

Max Weinreich

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REGIONAL DIALECT

•  Language differences identified with specific geographical locations

•  Phonological Variation http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=3UgpfSp2t6k&NR=1&feature=fvwp

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STORY TIME A British visitor to New Zealand decided while he was

in Auckland he would look up an old friend from his war days. He found the address walked up the path and knocked on the door.

“Gidday”, said the young man who opened the door. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ve called to see me old mate Dan Stone”, said the visitor.

“Oh he’s dead now mate” said the young man. The visitor was about to express condolences when

he was thumped on the back by Don Stone himself. The young man had said “Here’s dad now mate”, as his father came in the gate.

From Janet Holmes p 135 : An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 30

REGIONAL DIALECT

•  Language differences identified with specific geographical locations

•  Lexical Variation

What do these words mean in British and American English?

DIARY MINCE MEAT DIRT PANTS CHECK FLAT

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LETS TRY THIS

•  Do you have a match? •  Have you got a cigarette? •  She has gotten used to the noise. •  She’s got used to the noise. •  He dove in head first. •  He dived in head first •  Did you eat yet? •  Have you eaten yet?

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Dialectal Variation

phonology •  better: [bƐdəәr]; UK [bƐtəә]; Scottish [bƐtəәr]; Aus [bƐdəә]

lexis •  professor / lecturer; elevator / lift; trunk / boot; •  cell phone/ mobile; pants / trousers; suspenders /

braces

morphology •  she’s gotten / she’s got; dove / dived; snuck / sneaked •  syntax •  He's a man who likes his food (that; at; as; what; he; Ø)

REGIONAL DIALECT – p 5

DARE Dictionary of American Regional English

Begun in 1965 Fieldwork: surveys, face-to-face interviews, audio recordings Website for DARE: http://dare.wisc.edu/

Frederic Cassidy 1907-2000

Joan Hall, Current Chief Editor

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Usefulness of DARE A doctor in Maine recounted a story from his first

practice in Allenton, Pennsylvania. “One of his first patients came in and said, ‘Doc, I’ve been riftin’ and I’ve got jags in my

leaders.’”

“rifting” = belching

“Rift,” a Scots and northern English dialect term, found mostly in Pennsylvania

“jags in my leaders” = pain in tendons and ligaments

“Leader” is especially common in the South Midland and the South.

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MAPPING REGIONAL DIALECTS

Thousands of questionaires are sent out. Thousands of recordings and interviews are carried out.

Sample Questions: 1. What do you call the thing you’re sitting on? 2. When your skin and eyeballs turn yellow, you’re

getting… 3. What do you call the vehicles people push babies

around in? 4.  What do you call the shoes people wear for tennis or

running? 36

105. What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage? a. soda (52.97%) b. pop (25.08%) c. coke (12.38%) d. tonic (0.67%) e. soft drink (5.89%) f. lemonade (0.01%)

g. cocola (0.29%) h. fizzy drink (0.14%) i. dope (0.03%) j. other (2.55%) (10669 respondents)

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LET’S TRY THIS

Can you guess what the following words and phrases mean?

•  Snowblossom •  Mash the tea •  The place was all frousted •  A great mawther •  An effet •  I’ll fill up your piggy, it’s time for bed

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Hint: These words come from different

parts of the UK.

THINK /PAIR/SHARE

•  What is the difference between a regional accent and a regional dialect?

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ISOGLOSS Line demarcating the area where a linguistic feature can be found. Geographical boundary

A bundle of isoglosses denotes a distinct dialect area. 40

ISOGLOSS - example

The line on the map of southern England separates the area where the vowel in a word such as cut is [V] (black circles) from the area where the vowel is [U] (crosses).

phonological isoglosses

vowels stress ródeo / rodéo [ʊ] book; [ʊ] blood

lexical isoglosses

dialect continuum

Amsterdam - ik marken dorp dat

Dusseldorf - ix marken dorp dat

Cologne – ix maxen dorp dat

Trier - ix maxen dorf dat

Bassel - ix maxen dorf das

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DIALECT AREAS IN THE US

MAPPING REGIONAL DIALECTS

DIALECT ATLAS A series of maps, each plotting the geographical distribution of a particular linguistic feature

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•  POLITICS

•  GEOGRAPHY

•  SOCIAL FACTORS

refer to study guide p SU1-6

REASONS FOR REGIONAL DIALECTS

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AMERICAN ENGLISH

•  English Colonization of America

Virginia (1607) Massachusetts

(1620)

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AMERICAN ENGLISH

•  Development of Regional Dialects •  Early settlers in New England speak18th century British

English Example r is omitted before consonants & ends of words farm [fa:m] farther [fa:ð@]

•  Today, r-less dialect spoken in Boston, NY and Savannah

•  Later settlers from Northern England maintain the r. •  Pioneers moving Westward brought along the r.

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AMERICAN ENGLISH

•  Watch video on American English

http://www.sunlituplands.org/2010/02/story-of-english-pioneers-o-pioneers.html

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AMERICAN ENGLISH

•  Phonological Variation (CB p 10) Linking [r]

Ø [r] / V _______ # V

That idea[r] is crazy.

Consonant Epenthesis

New England & New York City SPEAK LIKE A NEW YORKER!

1.  I don’t read news about Asia anymore. 2.  We need a new sofa and some chairs.

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AMERICAN ENGLISH

•  Phonological Variation Vowel Neutralization Before Nasals /ε/ [I] / _______ C [+nasal]

pen pin [phĨn]

Southern Dialects

SPEAK LIKE A SOUTHERNER!

1.  Ten Tin 2.  Dentist Dinner

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AMERICAN ENGLISH

•  Phonological Variation Vocalization Post-vocalic liquid /l/ or /r/ is replaced with /@/ there /ðεr/ becomes [ðε@]

Dialect of Deep South

SPEAK LIKE A SOUTHERNER!

1.  Come over here! 2.  She lives in North Carolina

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Let’s Listen

•  Southern Accent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-rbpzJI5H4

EXERCISES FROM COURSEBOOK

•  Exercise A, Q.2 (p.3)

From time to time, cases are reported in the news of twins who have invented their own “dialect”, which no one else can understand. Is such a case properly termed a language, dialect, or idiolect?

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EXERCISES FROM COURSEBOOK

•  Exercise B, Q.3 & 4 (p.6)

•  Exercise D, Q.1 (p12)

•  Exercise D, Q.3 (p.13)

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EXERCISES FROM COURSEBOOK •  Exercise D, Q.3 (p.13) V [+high] / ___ C - high [+ nasal] - low - back

- tense

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EXERCISES FROM COURSEBOOK •  Exercise D, Q.3 (p.13) V [+high] / ___ C - high [+ nasal] - low - back

- tense

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/hεm/ /pIn/ /pænt/ /pεn/ /strεŋθ / /tin/ /nεt/ /nit/

/hIm/ /pIn/ /pænt/ /pIn/ /strIŋkθ / /tin/ /nεt/ /nit/

WHAT WE COVERED TONIGHT

•  Definitions of idiolect, dialect & language •  Regional Dialect •  Dialect vs Accent •  Mapping regional dialects •  Analyze some systematic variations in

regional dialects

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