Language Variation III

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Language Variation III

• Professor Brian Ó Broin
• WPU-NJ
• Eng 401

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"He push a car" "he got push"
hi pu ð? kar
Rule for Unmarked Dialects
Rule for Unmarked Dialects (Irish, AAVE)
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Reflexive Pronouns
1 2 Possessive Standard Nonst
andard pronouns English English   my myself m
yself your yourself yourself his himself his
self her herself herself our ourselves ourse
lves your yourselves yourselves their themsel
ves theirselves Of the two groups of reflexive
pronouns, which is more regular? Of the two
groups of reflexive pronouns, which is considered
more refined?
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Omission of final -s
1 2 I walk I walk You walk You
walk He walks He walk She walks She walk We
walk We walk You walk You walk They walk They
walk   Which verb paradigm is more
regular?   Which verbal forms are marked?
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Other nonstandard morphological features
PRES PRET I see I saw 1 I see I seed 2 I
see I seen 3 Which is the most regular of the
verbal forms above? Which is the most marked?
1 2 I am I is You are You is He is He
is   Which is the most regular of the verbal
forms above? Which is the most marked?
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PRES POSS PLU
Sam hates his sister's boyfriends. PRES
POSS PLU   Phonetically, the three processes
sound exactly alike WORD -S, but do not occur
with the same frequency. This proves that the
omission of PLU -s is morphological, not
phonological (if it were the latter, the
frequency of omission would be the same for all
three).   Frequency (in everyday
speech) PRES Most frequent omission POSS PLU
Least frequent omission
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What it is??
It is a nice day Standard syntax   THE
SYNTACTIC PROCESS OF ASKING A QUESTION   It is
what   Is it what Syntax altered for
I-Movement   What is it? Syntax altered for a
WH-Question   What it is? Syntax NOT altered for
I-Movement
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Standard English It is / It's a nice
day AAVE It a nice day   Standard English Do
you know if it's / it is his? AAVE Do you know
if it his?     Standard English Do you know what
it is? but it's AAVE Do you know what
it?   Rule AAVE does not omit forms of be where
standard English does not contract the verb.
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END OF PRESENTATION
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