Synchronic and Diachronic
Variation
Variation in space and time
Synchronic variation :
Sociolinguistics
• Geographical variation (dialects)
• Social variation (‘social dialects’)
– Social class
– Ethnic group
– Sex
– Age
– Profession
– Other occupations
The illusion of the linguistic unity
• The English language
• The French language
• Role of schools, mobility and media
Synchronic variation
• British vs American English
• Phonological differences
– pronunciation of final –r (near, hurt)
– pronunciation of // vs. // (goat)
– stress patterns
la’boratory vs ‘laboratory
ciga’rette vs ‘cigarette
a’pplicable vs ‘applicable
Synchronic variation
• British vs American English
• Lexical differences
– petrol vs gasoline
– lift vs elevator
– trousers vs. pants
Synchronic variation
• British vs American English
• Syntactic differences
– X is different to Y vs X is different than Y
– Have you met Mr. Hawkins? I think I might
have (done).
Ideolect, dialect, language
• Each speaker of English/French has an
internalized grammar  ideolect
• No platonic ideal form for the
English/French language
• Dialects (first definition)
– systematic differences
– mutually intelligible
– not inferior: standard English is a dialect
Dialects vs accents
• Accent (within the linguistic community):
variation limited to pronunciation
• Accent (foreign, e.g. “French accent”):
systematic variation in pronunciation due
to influence of native language
Dialect maps and isoglosses
• Choose a linguistic variable, e.g. “what do
you call the shoes that you use for doing
gym and sports?”
• Carry out a survey over a given
geographical area, using observation
points
• Plot the results on a map
Dialect map for gymshoes
• What do you call the shoes you use for
doing gym?
Trudgill, Dialects, p.102
Dialect map for gymshoes
• Lexical variation in present day English
• Correlation with the dialect areas
established on phonetic criteria
Dialect map for Arm
• Phonetic variation in present day English
Trudgill, Dialects, p.53
Dialect map for Arm
• Phonetic variation in present day English
– Originally r is pronounced in all positions and
in all dialects of English
– 250 years ago some dialects begin to drop r
before a consonant (arm) or at the end of a
word before a pause (far)
Dialect map for but
• Phonetic variation in present day English
Dialect map for but
• Phonetic variation in present day English
– north and south are distinguished in their
pronunciation of e.g. but, up, cup, butter,
some, other, luck etc.
– south: but [] vs put []
– north : but and put : same vowel []
– The north preserves the Middle English vowel
system
Traditional dialects
• Extensive variation in
– phonology
– lexicon
– morphology
– syntax
• Data based on a survey carried out in 313
localities in England in the 1950s (cf. The
Linguistic Atlas of England)
Phonological variation
• Pronunciation of arm in traditional dialects
in the 1950s
Phonological variation
• Pronunciation of arm in traditional dialects
in the 1950s
– compare map for present day pronunciation
– begins in the south east and spreads towards
north and west
– areas of partial retention (r)
Arbitrariness of value judgements
on pronunciation
• stigmatization of r retention in Britain
• compare h deletion (hill = ill = [])
(innovative variant stigmatized)
• positive judgment on r retention in certain
US varieties
Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
• play in traditional dialects
Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
• play in traditional dialects
– heavy influence of Old Norse on English
(they, egg, skirt, …)
– especially in the lower North (200 years of
bilingualism
– Compare Norwegian leike
Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
• child in traditional dialects
– compare with Norwegian barn
Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
• dig in traditional dialects
Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
• dig in traditional dialects
– dig is borrowed from Old French diguer (‘dig a
ditch’)
– previous verbs delve and grave are limited to
the geographical edges of the country
Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
• trough in traditional dialects
Lexical variation in traditional
dialects
• trough in traditional dialects
– trough cannot be adopted independently in 3
areas
– new form manger (standard technical term)
spreads along communication lines
Morphological variation in
traditional dialects
• you in traditional dialects
2nd pers pronouns before ±1700
subject
object
sg
thou
thee
pl
ye
you
Change in 2nd pers pronouns
• plural becomes polite form for singular
addressees (compare Fr. vous)
• complete disappearance of the old
singular forms in standard English
• introduction of youse as 2nd pers pl in
some English dialects
• introduction of yall (= you all) as 2nd pers
pl in some American dialects (southern)
Morphological variation in
traditional dialects
• Am I in traditional dialects
What about French?
Specificities of French in the North
• Phonological differences
– Je ne sais pas (rounded a)
– Tiens ! Thierry. (palatalization of [] →[])
• Lexical differences
– wassingue (vs. serpillère)
– souper (vs. dîner)
• Syntactic differences
– C’est pour moi manger ce soir
French traditional dialects
• Latin origin of the romance dialects spoken
in France: historical depth of change
• No mutual intelligibility between
geographically separated dialects
• No mutual intelligibility with standard
French
• Dialect continuity: usually no complete
breaks, mutual intelligibility at (relatively)
short distances
French traditional dialects
• Bunches of isoglosses separate major
dialect areas
– e.g. between the oil and oc dialects and
between wallon and picard
– often corresponding to geographical or
political boundaries
• Politics of eradication of dialects in France
– Schools
– The army
..... Southern limit of mener
(cp Occitan mina)
---- Southern limit of heure
(cp Occitan ora)
_._. Southern limit of chanter
(cp Occitan cantar)
Situation of Romance dialects in
Belgium
• Speakers of Walloon and Picard are dying
out
• Theater programs on television in dialect
Language vs dialect
• Mutual intelligibility
• Dialect continuity
• Political and sociological distinctions
– “A language is a dialect with an army and a
navy” Max Weinreich
– Catalan was considered a dialect under
Franco
– Norwegian and Danish are mutually
intelligible
Social variation
•
•
•
•
•
•
Social class
Ethnic group
Sex
Age
Profession
Other occupations
Social class and variation: England
Social class and accent variation:
England
Language and social class
• Verbs in 3rd pers sg present tense without –s
– She like him very much.
– He don’t know a lot, do he?
– It go ever so fast
• Studies in Norwich and Detroit
• Classify speakers according to social class
(non linguistic criteria)
• Count percentage of times each speaker
uses verbs with and without –s in recordings
Language and social class
Class
MMC
LMC
UWC
MWC
LWC
Norwich
0%
2%
70%
87%
97%
Class
UMC
LMC
UWC
LWC
Detroit
1%
10%
57%
71%
• Verbs without –s in Norwich and Detroit
Language and social class
• Same types of results replicable for many
different features
– Phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax
Language and ethnic group
• African American English (AAE)
• Studies in Detroit
– 80% success rate in recognition of blacks vs.
whites given a few seconds of recording
– Speech specificities not due to ethnic group
but to environment
– AAE is not inferior to other varieties
Some characteristics of AAE
• Phonological
– Loss of interdental fricatives
• []  [], []  []
Ruth  [] (=roof), brother  []
• []  [] (word initial position)
those  [] (=doze)
Some characteristics of AAE
• Syntax and semantics
– Double negatives (far broader than AAE)
• He don’t know nothing.
– Habitual be
•
•
•
•
John be happy.
John happy.
He be late.
He late.
“John is always happy.”
“John is happy now.”
“He is habitually late.”
“He is late this time.”
Language and sex
• Study of walkin’ (non RP) vs walking (RP) in
Norwich
(4% means speakers used the –in’ variant in 4% of the
cases where it is possible and the –ing variant in 96%)
Male
MMC
LMC
UWC
MWC
LWC
4%
27%
81%
91%
100%
3%
68%
81%
97%
Female 0%
Language and sex
• General tendencies noted in England
– Women are more status conscious than men
– Working class culture (and speech) are
associated with masculinity
• Under-reporting of RP uses by men and
over-reporting by women
Language and age
• Age grading: specific usages identifying
speaker with age group
• Differences in language between age
groups representing ongoing change
Language and profession, etc.
• Technical or specialized vocabularies
(jargon)
– Utility based aspects
– Identificational aspects (e.g. groupe nominal
vs. syntagme nominal)
• Slang
– Identificational aspects
Language use and identification
• Centralization
of vowels in
Martha’s
Vineyard
Language use and identification
• Centralization of vowels in Martha’s
Vineyard []  [] and [] 
[]
– while, pie, night
– out, house, trout
Language use and identification
• Centralization of vowels in Martha’s
Vineyard []  [] and [] 
[]
Age
7561-75
46-60
31-45
14-30
ay
25
35
62
81
37
aw
22
37
44
88
46
Geographical distribution of
centralization
ay
aw
Down-island
35
33
Up-island
61
66
Degree of centralization and
orientation towards Martha’s
Vineyard
Persons
Orientation
ay
aw
40
Positive
63
62
19
Neutral
32
42
6
Negative
09
08