LingAsia 122: English as a World Language

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Ling/Asia 122 English as a World Language

• Varieties, Dialects, Accents
• Based on
• Strevens, McArthur, and Wolfram and
  Schilling-Ester

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• Dialects of American English
• Listen
• More dialect samples

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Whats Standard?Whats a Dialect?

• Notice the different definitions of both
  standard and dialect found in the three
  readings for this lecture.
• Can you write a paragraph outlining the
  differences?

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What is Standard English?

• What it is not
• An arbitrary, a priori description of English
• The usage of a particular group
• The statistically most frequently occurring forms
  of English
• A form imposed upon those who use it.
• Peter Strevens

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A Working Definition of Standard English

• A particular dialect of English, being the only
  non-localized dialect, of global currency without
  significant variation, universally accepted as
  the appropriate educational target in teaching
  English which may be spoken with an unrestricted
  choice of accent.

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Dialect vs. Accent

• Strevens distinguishes between dialect and
  accent
• Different dialects have differences of grammar
  and vocabulary
• Different accents have differences of
  pronunciation.
• Every user of English uses one dialect or
  another, and one accent or another.

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Standard English

• Strevens defines Standard English as that
  dialect of English that is not associated with
  any particular locality, and therefore occurs in
  any and every locality.
• It is not paired with a specific accent.

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Global Currency for Standard English

• Those who use Standard English whether as their
  mother tongue or as a foreign or second language
• Are not confined to any single locality or
  geographical area
• May be found in any inhabited region of the
  world.

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Universal Acceptance of SE

• Although SE dialect is universally accepted as
  the educational target, no single accent fills an
  equivalent position.
• The tacit acceptance of SE dialect for
  educational purposes does not mean that it is
  best in some universal sense.

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Standard English and Social Class

• Most, if not all, English users switch between SE
  and some other dialect.
• People vary their language according to the
  social circumstances.
• Non-conformity to the norms of language use
  appropriate for the context is often seen as
  unacceptable behavior.

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The English Languages? McArthur

• Will English as an international language succumb
  to the same fate as Latin?
• Vulgar Latin evolved into the Romance languages
• Classical Latin was used for administration and
  literature and survived in writing.
• Standard English is more like Classical Latin
  than Vulgar Latin.
• SE has a common core negotiated among a a variety
  of national standard varieties.

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Dialects, Standards, VernacularsWolfram
Schiling-Estes

• 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/.

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• 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 dont meet peoples 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.

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• Language differences are unavoidable in a society
  composed of a variety of social groups.

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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

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• 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.

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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.

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Some Popular Senses of Dialect

• I know we speak a dialect I the mountains, but
  its 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.

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• 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.

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Some Popular Senses of Dialect

• The kids in that neighborhood dont really speak
  English they speak a dialect.
• Dialect here is perceived as an imperfect
  attempt to speak correct or proper English

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Examples

• Three mile vs. Three miles
• Her ears be itching vs. Her ears itch
• She done grew vs. Shes grown up
• The result is incorrectly perceived as deviant
  or deficient from English.

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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.

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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.

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Further Patterns for Appalachian a-

• 1a. They make money by building houses.
• b. They make money building houses.
• 2a. You cant make much money fishing.
• b. You cant make much money be fishing.
• 3a. People destroy the beauty of the mountains
  through littering.
• b. People destroy the beauty of the mountains
  littering.

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More Patterns for Appalachian a-

• 1a. She was disCOVering a trail.
• b. She was FOLlowing a trai.
• 2a. She was rePEATing the chant.
• b. She was HOLlering the chant.
• 3a. They were FIGuring the change.
• b. They were forGETting the change.
• 4a. The baby was RECognizing her mother.
• b. The baby was WRECKing everything.

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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.

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Oakland Ebonics Controversy

• Mid-1990s
• Status of African American English
• Ebonics as a separate language
• Political and economic motivation
• Proposed educational program
• Outcome

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Standard Vernacular Languages

• Formal Standard English / Prescriptive Standard
  English
• Informal Standard English

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Formal Standard English / Prescriptive Standard
English

• Based on the written language of established
  writers
• Codified in English grammar texts
• Perpetuated in schools
• Conservative and resistant to change

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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 didnt do nothing.
• different verb agreement patterns Theys o.k.
• different irregular verb forms She done it.

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Continuum of Standardness

• Standard--A---B---C---D---ENonstandard

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Standard or non-standard?

• Hes not as smart as I.
• Hes not so smart as I.
• He aint as smart as me.
• He not as smart as me.

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Standard or non-standard?

• Hes not to do that.
• He not supposed to do that.
• He dont supposed to do that.
• Hes not supposed to do that.

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Standard or non-standard?

• Im right, aint I?
• Im right, arent I?
• Im right, am I not?
• Im right, isnt I?
• Im right, isnt it?

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Standard or non-standard?

• A person should not change ones speech.
• One should not change ones speech.
• A person should not change their speech.
• A person should not change his or her speech.

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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

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Labeling Vernacular Dialects

• Strong affective associations related to
  particular labels
• Negro Dialect, Substandard Negro English,
  Nonstandard Negro English, Black English
  Afro-American 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?