Lecture 12a:
Language, Thought & Culture
– Dialects
• Who in this room speaks a dialect?
Dialects
Dialects of American English
Language in Society
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Dialects
Dialects of English
Standard American English
African American English (AAE)
Latino (Hispanic) English
Non-native Varieties of English
Styles, Slang & Jargon
Dialects
• Are there any dialects that you (or people you
know) think sound ugly, stupid, or rude?
• Who speaks a dialect?
• We all do!
• What is a language?
• A dialect with an army and a navy!
Dialects
• What do we listen to when we listen to people talk?
– HOW people talk
as much or more than to
– WHAT people say
• After listening, we usually make judgments about people
by the kind of language they use
– Their regional background
– Their social status
– Their ethnicity
– Their education
– etc/.
• So there are some who believe that language
differences serve as the single most reliable
indicator of social position in our society:
– When we live a certain way, we are expected to
match that lifestyle with our talk;
– When we don’t meet people’s expectations to match
that lifestyle with our talk (e.g., a teacher talking like
a punk), the mismatch between words and behavior
is itself a topic for conversation.
Language differences are unavoidable in a
society composed of a variety of social groups.
The Many Meanings of ‘Dialect”
• Linguists maintain that:
• ‘Dialect’ is a neutral label to refer to any
variety of a language that is shared by a group
of speakers.
• To speak a language is to speak some dialect
of that language
• In this definition, there is no inherently ‘good’ or
‘bad’ dialects
• ‘Dialect’ is simply how we refer to any language
variety that typifies a group of speakers within a
language.
• Socially favored or ‘standard’ varieties constitute
dialects every bit as much as those varieties
spoken by socially disfavored groups whose
language differences are socially stigmatized.
Some Popular Senses of “Dialect”
• ‘We went to Boston for a vacation and the
people there sure do speak a dialect.’
• ‘Dialect’ here refers simple to those who speak
differently from oneself.
Some Popular Senses of “Dialect”
• ‘I know we speak a dialect I the mountains, but it’s a very
colorful was of speaking.’
• ‘Dialect’ here refers to those varieties of English whose
features have become widely recognized through American
society, e.g.,
– Southern drawl
– New York accent
– Etc.
• For a variety of historical and social reasons,
some dialects have become much more
marked than others in American society, and
speakers of those varieties therefore accept
the dialect label more comfortably.
Some Popular Senses of “Dialect”
• ‘The kids in that neighborhood don’t really speak
English; they speak a dialect.’
• ‘Dialect’ here is perceived as an imperfect
attempt to speak ‘correct’ or ‘proper’ English
Examples
• Three mile
• Her ears be itching vs.
• She done grew
vs. Three miles
Her ears itch
vs. She’s grown up
• The result is incorrectly perceived as ‘deviant’ or
‘deficient’ from English.
Dialectologists’ Position
• Dialects are not deviant forms of language,
but simply different systems with distinct
subsets of language patterns.
• All language varieties are systematic
– For any language feature, there are contexts in
which the form may be used and contexts in
which it is not typically used.
Appalachian Dialect Patterns
1a. Building is hard work.
b. She was building a house.
2a. He likes hunting.
b. He went hunting.
3a. The child was charming the adults.
b. The child was very charming.
4a. He kept shocking the children.
b. The story was shocking.
5a. They thought fishing was easy.
b. They were fishing this morning.
Further Patterns for Appalachian a1a.
b.
2a.
b.
3a.
b.
They make money by building houses.
They make money building houses.
You can’t make much money fishing.
You can’t make much money by fishing.
People destroy the beauty of the
mountains through littering.
People destroy the beauty of the
mountains littering.
More Patterns for Appalachian a1a.
b.
2a.
b.
3a.
b.
4a.
b.
She was disCOVering a trail.
She was FOLlowing a trai.
She was rePEATing the chant.
She was HOLlering the chant.
They were FIGuring the change.
They were forGETting the change.
The baby was RECognizing her mother.
The baby was WRECKing everything.
Deficit-Difference Controversy
• In the 1960s-1970s, debated in educational circles
– Some language scholars: dialect variation is simple a
matter of difference, not deficit
– Some educators: variation from the socially accepted
standard constituted a fundamental deficiency.
Oakland “Ebonics Controversy”
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Mid-1990s
Status of African American English
Ebonics as a separate language
Political and economic motivation
Proposed educational program
Outcome
Linguistic Society of America
• 1997 Statement:
– All human language systems – spoken, signed, and
written – are fundamentally regular….
Characterizations of socially disfavored varieties as
“slang, mutant, defective, ungrammatical, or
broken English” are incorrect and demeaning.
Principle of
Linguistic Subordination
• The speech of a socially subordinate group will
be interpreted as linguistically inadequate by
comparison with that of the socially dominant
group.
Dialect Myths & Reality
Myth: A dialect is something that someone else
speaks.
Reality: Everyone who speaks a language speaks
some dialect of that language; it is not possible to
speak a language without speaking a dialect of
the language.
Dialect Myths & Reality
Myth: Dialects always have highly noticeable
features that set them apart.
Reality: Some dialects get much more attention
than others, but the status of a dialect is
unrelated to public commentary about its
special characteristics.
Dialect Myths & Reality
Myth: Only varieties of a language spoken by
socially disfavored groups are dialects.
Reality: The notion of dialect exists apart from
social status or evaluation; there are socially
favored as well as socially disfavored dialects.
Dialect Myths & Reality
Myth: Dialects result from unsuccessful
attempts to speak the ‘correct’ form of a
language.
Reality: Dialect speakers acquire their language
by adopting the speech features of those
around them, not be failing in their attempts
to adopt standard language features.
Dialect Myths & Reality
Myth: Dialects have no linguistic patterning in
their own right; they are deviations from
standard speech.
Reality: Dialects, like all language systems, are
systematic and regular; furthermore socially
disfavored dialects can be described with the
same kind of precision as standard language
varieties.
Dialect Myths & Reality
Myth: Dialects inherently carry negative social
connotations.
Reality: Dialects are not necessarily positively or
negatively valued; their social values are
derived strictly from the social position of
their communities of speakers.
Dialects
• Any distinct variety of a language, either
regional, social, or age
– Mutually intelligible
– Same basic system of grammar with systematic
differences
• Regional dialects
– Dialects spoken in a particular geographic region
• Accents
– Phonological (i.e., pronunciation) distinctions that
convey information about a speaker’s dialect
American Dialects
American dialects: How Linguists see them
– What are the major US dialects that linguists identify?
American Dialects
• Phonological (pronunciation) differences
– Pin / pen
– Mary / marry / merry
– Which / witch
– Creek
– Harvard Yard
– Caught / cot
American Dialects
• Lexical (vocabulary) differences
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Pail / bucket
Faucet / spigot / tap
Blinds / shades / curtains
Baby carriage / buggy
Coach / cab / taxi
Soda / pop
Frying pan / skillet
Parkway / freeway / thruway / expressway / turnpike
Drinking fountain / bubbler
Tram / street car
American Dialects
• Syntactic (grammatical) differences
– The house needs painted.
– … where the streetcar bends the corner round.
– John will eat, and Mary.
– They done it.
– He don’t know.
– Just between you and I, ….
– Take the 101 south.
American Dialects
American dialects: How people around the
country see them
– Which dialects do many Americans consider “bad
English”?
– What do the majority of Americans see as the
norm?
• America Dialects: How Hollywood sees them.
American Dialects - Discussion
• Do you agree with the findings of Preston’s study
that concludes that two of the low-prestige dialects
in the U.S. are those spoken in NY and Texas?
• As you were growing up, what dialects / accents did
you make fun of?
– What were some of its features?
– Why was it considered funny?
Social Dialects - Standard American English
(SAE)
• What is it?
– The dominant or prestige dialect?
– The dialect used by political leaders and the upper
socio-economic classes?
– The dialect used for literature and printed documents?
– The dialect taught in schools?
– The dialect used by national news broadcasters?
– SEA is an idealization – nobody speaks this dialect
Informal Standard English
• Exists on a continuum, rather than a categorical
notion
• Flexible with respect to specific features of regional
varieties
• Specific criteria used to judge speech as standard
• Defined in terms of what it is not
– Avoidance of socially stigmatized forms –
• double negatives – ‘They didn’t do nothing.’
• different verb agreement patterns – ‘They’s o.k.’
• different irregular verb forms – ‘She done it.’
Continuum of Standardness
Standard--A---B---C---D---E—Nonstandard
Standard or non-standard?
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He’s not as smart as I.
He’s not so smart as I.
He ain’t as smart as me.
He not as smart as me.
Standard or non-standard?
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He’s not to do that.
He not supposed to do that.
He don’t supposed to do that.
He’s not supposed to do that.
Standard or non-standard?
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I’m right, ain’t I?
I’m right, aren’t I?
I’m right, am I not?
I’m right, isn’t I?
I’m right, isn’t it?
Standard or non-standard?
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A person should not change one’s speech.
One should not change one’s speech.
A person should not change their speech.
A person should not change his or her speech.
Academic Register
• There is an academic register necessary for
carrying out certain kinds of educational
routines.
• That register must be mastered for academic
success.
• But mastery or lack of mastery of that register
has nothing to do with basic language
capability.
‘Vernacular’ Dialects
• Varieties of language that are not classified as
standard dialects
• Applied to spoken language
• Exist on a continuum
• Listener judgment essential in determining social
unacceptability
• Usually characterized by presence of stigmatized
structures
• Not all speakers use the entire set of structures
associated with that dialect
Labeling Vernacular Dialects
• Strong affective associations related to particular
labels
– Negro Dialect, Substandard Negro English,
Nonstandard Negro English, Black English AfroAmerican English, Ebonics, Vernacular Black English,
African American (Vernacular) English, African
American Language
– Latino/a English, Chicano/a English, Hispanic English,
Cholo
• Which do you prefer? Why? Are they the same?
Social Dialects – African American English
(AAE)
• Origins of AAE
– Historical discrimination: slavery, segregation, social
isolation
• Some Features of AAE
– R-deletion (sore/saw, fort/fought, etc.)
– Consonant cluster simplification (past/pass, etc.)
– Loss of interdental fricatives (both > bof, etc.)
– Double negatives (He don’t know nothing.)
– ‘be’ deletion (He tired.)
– Habitual ‘be’ (He be tired.)
Social Dialects – Latino (Hispanic) English
• There is no homogeneous Latino dialect.
– Puerto Rican English
– Cuban English
– Chicano English
– Etc.
• Bilingual Latinos engage in code-switching.
– My mom fixes tamales verdes
– Mi mamá hace green tamales
– *My mom fixes verdes tamales.
Why do people engage in code-switching?
Nonstandard Dialects of English - Summary
Dialect variation is a matter of difference, not deficit.
Nonstandard dialects are “self-contained” systems, with
their regular phonological and syntactic rules.
Nonstandard dialects are close relatives to SAE,
sometimes reflecting older forms of SAE.
Social Dialects – Non-native Varieties of
English
• Origins: British and U.S. colonialism
• Where these varieties are spoken
– India, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Nigeria,
etcc.
• These varieties are characterized by nativization:
systematic changes in their formal features at all
linguistic levels, which result from the use of
English in new sociocultural settings, in contact
with other languages, and in the absence of native
speakers of English.
Examples of NN Varieties of English
My friend wants to go down the bus.
= get off
Did you know that Richard is moving with Eunice?
= courting
Britain derecognized the DK in 1979.
= withdraw diplomatic recognition
This is an outstation call.
= out of town
He overlistened to the boys’ conversation.
= eavesdropped
Most of the students here are bed-spacers.
= room renters (no board)
Our son is England-returned.
= come back from England
You have to be careful with these been-to boys.
= who have returned from England
Non-Native Varieties of English
• What is your reaction when you hear certain
non-native varieties of English (e.g., Indian
English, Philippine English, etc.) spoken?
• Have anyone ever reacted negatively to a
variety of English you have used? Is so, who?
When? Where? What were you saying?
Accents in the Popular Media
• Watch this trailer for Aladdin.
– Which characters speak with an American accent?
Which with a foreign accent?
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Genie
Aladdin
Monkey
Princess Jasmine
King
Evil sorcerer Jabar
• What does it mean in terms of the perception of
individuals with such accents?
Implications for your future work?