Ling 390 - Intro to Linguistics - Winter 2005 Class 1 - Monday, January 3, 2005

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About me, you and this lecture What do you hope
to gain from this lecture? Jeff Conns Webpage
web.pdx.edu/connjc Information about this
lecture at http//web.pdx.edu/connjc/Suzhou20Le
cture20Conn202010.htm
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First, a quick Phonetics review of English

• (voiceless sounds on the left)

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Non circled vowels lax vowels
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Sociolinguistics

• The study of language in its social contexts
• The correlation of linguistic variation and
  social factors
• Speech community - group of people who share some
  set of social conventions (socioling norms)
  regarding language use
• Accent - pronunciation
• Dialect - includes pronunciation
  (phonological/phonetic), but also includes
  grammatical, lexical and language usage - MFL
  example
• Some examples of homophones for some --
  hock/hawk, caller/collar, cot/caught, Don/Dawn

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Sociolinguistics

• Dialects in North America are mutually
  intelligible - the differences do not impede
  communication totally
• Dialect continuum go village by village, from
  northwestern France to southern Italy and each
  adjacent village can understand each other,
  although Parisians cannot understand Romans.
• Variety - used as a more neutral term for dialect
  or language
• Issues between dialect differences versus
  language differences are linguistic and political
• What are some dialect differences in China?

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Sociolinguistics

• Linguistic variation and change dialect (and
  language) differences due to linguistic change
  over time
• Some social factors interacting with linguistic
  variation
• REGION - what are the major dialects/accents
  spoken in America?
• Sex/Gender
• Social class
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Style

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• Linguistic variation and change - Region
• Regional varieties described in terms of lexical
  choices done through Linguistic Atlas creation
• Dialectologists looked at NORMs - (non-mobile old
  rural men)
• Asked what is the word you use for...
• Plotted variation on a map and drew lines
  isoglosses
• Craig Carver, 1987 Used Dictionary of American
  Regional English (DARE) which looked at lexical
  variation to identify dialects of N. American
  English
• Now sociolinguists look at urban populations and
  exam different regions in terms of what is
  happening in the cities with respect to language
  change
• Labov, Ash and Boberg, 2005 Lingusitic Atlas of
  North American English large scale phonological
  survey of North American English

American Tongues Chapter 10
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• What are the different regional accents in your
  opinion?

http//www.pbs.org/speak/speech/mapping/map.html
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• Dialect regions according to some
  dialectologists/sociolinguists

American Tongues Chapter 5
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• Dialect regions according to some
  dialectologists/sociolinguists

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• Linguistic variation and change cot vs. caught
• From Linguistic Atlas of N American English

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Some general American pronunciation Voiced
sounds (like b, d, g, j) are not really voiced in
beginning and end of a word in isolation dad
d?Qd?? almost like tat Voiceless stops (p,
t, k) have aspiration after (little puff of air)
before the vowel (when stop occurs right before
vowel and no s in front). Contrast bit b?It
pit pHIt and spit spIt North American t
Can be aspirated at the beginning of a word
(immediately before a vowel) as in tip tHIp.
Can become glottal stop (shut off air in throat)
at end of word as in cat kHQt?. Can be glottal
stop before a nasal with unstressed vowel as in
kitten kHI??n. Between vowels (second vowel is
unstressed) it becomes a tap (like a d) as in
writer raIR?? which comes out the same as rider
because this happens to d too rider
raIR?? American English r dialect
differences but all dialects have some r. Say
uh and curl tip of tongue up to roof of mouth.
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General American - Vowel Reduction

• In unstressed syllables, vowels become more
  central
• Common reduced vowels in English

high central unrounded vowel
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• Linguistic variation and change
• Some dialects in North America have no r at the
  ends of words (car, card, guard, etc). For them,
  r can only be the beginning of a syllable.
• Includes New York City, Boston, New England and
  some older southern styles (like Savannah, GA,
  Charleston, SC, Richmond, VA)
• American Tongues Chapter 17, 4424
• post-vocalic r (car, card, guard, etc)
• William Labov - NYC - listen to a New Yorker

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• Linguistic variation and change
• Style and ling change interacts with social class
• ? William Labovs department store study

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• Interpreting Labov, 1994

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• Interpreting Labov, 2001

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Different Vowel Systems Philly Bonnie - listen
C syllable closed by Cons F free vowel
final V closed by voiced Cons or final 0
closed by voiceless Cons
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• Linguistic variation and change
• Regional difference by vowel production shifts
  (language change) over time
• Northern Cities Shift (play Chicago sample -
  3mins)

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2009). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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• Linguistic variation and change
• The Southern Shift (Play Arkansas 2mins play Eng
  3mins

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2009). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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• Linguistic variation and change
• The California/Canada Shift (Play Cali - 145
  Ontario 215)

O'Grady, W., Archibald, J., Aronoff, M.,
Rees-Miller, J. (2009). Contemporary
Linguistics An Introduction (6th edition)
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Different Vowel Systems - Portland
C syllable closed by Cons F free vowel
final V closed by voiced Cons or final 0
closed by voiceless Cons
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Do You Speak American watch video for
examples of regional linguistic variation jot
down notes about anything surprising or parts
that were hard to understand Watch clips of
video in class the website here http//www.pb
s.org/speak/ Conn article on Portland speech is
here http//www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanva
rieties/pacificnorthwest/
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Lets try to sound Southern Lets try to sound
Northern (Northern Cities Shift) Lets try to
sound Californian (maybe west coast in general)
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• Linguistic variation and change - Attitudes
• There are many different varieties - what is
  correct?Standard English is just one of many
  different varieties
• Linguistics try to describe these varieties and
  all the varieties are equal in linguistics terms
• Are other dialects mutually intelligible here
  some sounds here from the Northern Cities area
  Northern Cities Shift (not 5)

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What are the consequences of speaking a
non-standard dialect? What is standard American
English? Is there a standard pronunciation? What
happens if someone speaks non-standard in China?
What are the consequences? Listen to clips from
American Tongues Funny Accents track, Chapter
12 (negative feelings toward southern American),
American Tongues Chapter 17, 4424
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• Linguistic variation and change
• Ethnicity - Chicano English, African American
  Vernacular English, Native American English etc.
• AAVE - shares features with other English
  dialects
• Phonological features part of other varieties
• Habitual be, copula deletion - more elaborate
  than standard English
• The coffee cold today. (One time event)
• The coffee be cold here. (Habitual)

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• Linguistic variation and change
• Ethnicity - African American Vernacular English,

From OGrady, et. al. 2005.
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• Linguistic variation and change Listen to clips
  from DYSA
• Ethnicity - African American Vernacular English,

From OGrady, et. al. 2005.
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• What are the benefits for teaching English with
  knowledge of variation?
• Knowledge of the different types of English
  students will encounter will help them prepare.
• All language has variation, so to NOT acknowledge
  that is to limit our knowledge of the language.
• Need to understand the repercussions for speaking
  in a non-standard way
• Language and identity connected American
  Tongues 5227 do we accept differences?

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Teaching pedagogy As far as teaching style, I
prefer a very informal setting. While lectures
are good, I believe lectures with laughter are
better. Why? I think that students grasp the
knowledge better if they can interpret it through
their own experience. I think an emotional
connection to the information is vital for having
it mean something to the student rather than just
processing information. While some students are
great at processing information on a very
rational/objective level, I feel I reach more
students if I can access their emotional/subjectiv
e level of understanding. Through this (what
Krashen in Second Language Acquisition calls an
Affective Filter), I think students will not only
gain a more thorough understanding of the
material, but it will also be more valuable to
them.
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Resources
Video and Internet Sources American Tongues
video - http//www.cnam.com/non_flash/language/ame
rican.html Nice examples of different American
dialects, mostly regional dialects, some
profanity, a little outdated, good examples of
how every day people feel about dialects Do You
Speak American website and video
http//www.pbs.org/speak/ Nice examples of a
lot of different American Englishes, regional
differences as well as ethnic differences,
linguist viewpoint (very descriptive with little
information on attitudes toward language), a
little long and not all is relevant, good web
resources that can be used with video including
teachers guide Conn article on Portland accent
http//www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarietie
s/pacificnorthwest/ International Dialects of
English Archive - http//web.ku.edu/idea/
Great examples of many types of English, a
little hard to find some good accent productions
(not all speakers have strong regional accents)
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Resources
Some Useful Books Labov, W. (1994) Principles of
Lingusitic Change, Volume 1 Internal Factors.
Oxford Blackwell. (Very technical information
about language change) Labov, W. (2001)
Principles of Lingusitic Change, Volume 2 Social
Factors. Oxford Blackwell. (Very technical but
detailed including Labovs Philadelphia
Study.) Milroy, L. and Gordon, M. (2003)
Sociolinguistics Method and Interpretation.
Oxford Blackwell. (Good information about field
and methodology of sociolinguistics some
technical linguistic knowledge required, not a
lot of actual examples) Wells, John C. (1982)
Accents of English 1 An Introduction. Cambridge
Cambridge Univ Press. Wells, John C. (1982)
Accents of English 2 The British Isles.
Cambridge Cambridge Univ Press. Wells, John C.
(1982) Accents of English 3 Beyond the British
Isles. Cambridge Cambridge Univ Press. (Good
descriptions of different accents, focuses on
pronunciation, mainly descriptive and not as
theoretical as others) Wolfram, W. and
Schilling-Estes, N. (2006) American English.
Oxford Blackwell Publishing. 2nd Edition. (Best
choice for beginners assumes some linguistic
technical knowledge, many specific examples)