Pre-quiz work-out questions:
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What are the most important concepts in syntactic theory?
What is aphasia?
What is the hypothesis of language lateralization?
What are the hypotheses about first language acquisition?
Language varieties
Sociolinguistics
• the study of the different varieties of a language across regions, ethnic
groups, socioeconomic classes, and gender groups (regional vs. social
dialects)
Dialect
• the language varieties characteristic of regional or social groups.
Register
• language varieties characteristic of different situations of use.
Language vs. dialect
• Is there a difference?
• Romance languages: They arose from regional varieties of Latin spoken in
different parts of the Roman Empire. Those dialects of Latin eventually gave rise
to Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. These varieties share
many linguistic features in common, yet considered different languages.
• Chinese: The Chinese language comprises several distinct dialects, including
Mandarin and Cantonese. Even though not all Chinese dialects are mutually
intelligible, they are sometimes regarded as sharing the same language.
North American vs. British English
• Two languages or two dialects?
• British English is the basis for the varieties spoken in England, Ireland,
Wales, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Malaysia,
Singapore, and South Africa.
• North American includes chiefly the English of Canada and the US.
• Spelling differences:
US
Brit
color
colour
tire
tyre
theater
theatre
Which ones are adopted by Canadians?
• Morphological and syntactic differences:
US
Brit
in the hospital,
to the university,
the next day
in hospital
to university
next day
You have a brother, don’t you?
You have a brother, haven’t you?
Which ones are adopted by Canadians?
• Words:
US
elevator
second floor
TV
hood(of a car)
trunk
cookies
gas
truck
can
line
underwear
Brit
lift
first floor
telly
bonnet
boot
biscuits
petrol
lorry
tin
queue
knickers
Which ones are adopted by Canadians?
Accent vs. Dialect
• Difference?
• Accent: pronunciation
• Dialect: pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar
Norm vs. Dialect
• Norm = the dialect most socially successful, originally connected with a
political or cultural center (London for British English, Paris for Standard
French)
Pidgin vs. creole
• Pidgin = a variety of a language developed for practical purposes
(trading) among people who had a lot of contact but did not know each
other’s language
• Creole = a pidgin who becomes the first language of a social community
Le pidgin de Hawaii
An den? and then? So?
Any kine: any kind.
Ass right: that's right.
Bo da dem: both of them.
Braddah: brother.
Brah: friend, buddy.
Brok da mout: tastes delicious.
Grind: eat.
Grinds: food.
How you figga? what do you think?
Howzit? how are you doing?
K den: OK, agreed.
Lolo: dummy, stupid.
Mo bettah: much better.
No can: cannot, not possible.
Ono: tasty.
Onoliscious: very tasty, delicious!
Pau hana: finished work for the day.
Slippah: thongs, slippers.
Stink eye: mean or dirty look.
Talk stink: speaking badly about someone.
Talk story: rap; chew the fat, chat.
Tanks: thanks.
To da max: all the way; most you can get.
Creoles
• Caribbean Creoles:
• Papiamento = a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, and it also has some Arawak Indian and
African influences. Papiamentu is one of the few Creole Languages of the Caribbean that has survived to the present day.
Papiamentu is predominately a spoken language among the local people of Curaçao, Bonaire, and Aruba. The official language
is Dutch, and the written Papiamentu is limited to some local newspapers and literature. Also the schooling system is Dutch, and
people typically don't get any formal training in their language. There have been some discussions about introducing
Papiamentu to be taught at schools as well.
http://www.narin.com/papiamentu/
• Kreyol = is primarily spoken in the Caribbean on the western part of the
island of Hispaniola, i.e., Haiti, and has the largest number of speakers
of all the Caribbean creoles, around 6 million. The language is derived
from French, but has also many words borrowed from African
languages.
http://www.verbix.com/languages/kreyol.shtml
• Martinique Creole = spoken on the Martinique Island; on the basis of
French vocabulary
Portuguese based Creole in south Asia
• What are the main languages spoken in Canada? Are they languages
or dialects?
Next week: read pages 226-238