how can dialect diversity persist in the face of mass communication, increased mobility, and growing cultural homogenization? linguistic mechanisms OVERVIEW http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology rule extension analogy transparency grammaticalization phonetic / phonological phenomena changes in word meaning sociohistorical mechanisms language contact economic ecology social stratification geographical factors Causes for the development of dialects UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE STRUCTURE all languages are dynamic systems that are constantly in the process of changing some groups of speakers adopt certain changes, while others do not (and possibly adopt other changes instead) creation of a dialect difference (if it continues: split into different languages) changes from within: language-internal change on the basis of the organization of a specific language system (see following sections) changes from outside: changes triggered by contact to another http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology changes from outside: changes triggered by contact to another dialect or language influence of underlying principles of language explains occurrence of similar if not identical phenomena in unrelated dialects/languages use of was with all persons (we was), regularized plural (oxes), simplification of final consonant clusters (desk as /ds/) in Hispanic English varieties in California, Native American English in the Southwest, African American English in northern urban areas Causes for the development of dialects RULE EXTENSION speakers seem to prefer language rules that are as general as possible over time a rule of limited application may come to apply in more and more situations and to affect broader sets of items English has two types of personal pronouns, one for subjects (I see), one for objects (She saw me, He gave the book to me) extension of object pronouns to subject situations: Its me, Me and http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology extension of object pronouns to subject situations: Its me, Me and Charlie went to the store (It is I is unnatural and old-fashioned to most speakers) intrusive //: non-rhotic varieties drop final //, but insert it again when next word starts with a vowel (e.g. / k stts/ vs. / k v /) this insertion rule is often extended to words which do not underlyingly end in // at all, e.g. idea in the idea[] of it or law in law[] and order) Causes for the development of dialects ANALOGY language forms which are similar in some ways (meaning, function, sound), but not in others, are made more similar Proportional Analogy irregular processes are adapted to more regular ones process of change expressed in a four-part relationship x is to x as y is to y (x : x :: y : y) cow : cows :: ox : oxes cow : cows :: sheep : sheeps http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology cow : cows :: sheep : sheeps walk : walked :: grow : growed Minority Pattern Analogy: in rare cases minority patterns instead of the most regular pattern may reshape other irregular forms or even regular ones brought brang/brung (phonological model sing, sang, sung) dived dove (phonological model: ride, rode) Leveling forms within the paradigm of a word/lexical entry are made more similar simple past conjugation of to be in southern dialects: I was, you was, he/she/it was, we was, you was, they was Causes for the development of dialects THE TRANSPARENCY PRINCIPLE simplifications such as those promoted by rule extension and analogy are counterbalanced by the need to ensure that meaning distinctions are as clear as possible to listeners Transparency Principle preserving or introducing distinctions to enhance comprehensibility e.g. southern speakers who eliminate subject-verb agreement marking for to be (all forms was) do not eliminate positive-negative marking (was vs. wasnt) and even use different roots for the negative forms http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology was vs. werent (Outer Banks, North Carolina) am/is/are vs. aint can [ken, kn, kn] vs. caint [knt] use of Multiple Negation (also Negative Concord) e.g. I dont know nothing this form of negation is standard in many languages such as Spanish (No s nada) and also used to be common in Old and Middle English (ic ne wt nwiht) Causes for the development of dialects GRAMMATICALIZATION assigning new meanings to particular grammatical structures double modals in Southern American English I might could go with you expresses lessened intensity that can only be circumscribed by a longer sentence such as I may be able to go out with you but Im not really sure in Standard English counterfactual liketa in Southern American English It was so cold out there, I liketa died is used in a nonfactual way and simply indicates that it was very cold (not that the speaker was was in any http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology simply indicates that it was very cold (not that the speaker was was in any real danger). liketa comes from original like to have and is similar in meaning to almost, however it is only used in a figurative, never in a factual sense habitual be in African American English He (always) be coming to school late indicates a habitual or ongoing action or state. In other types of sentences speakers of African American English use finite forms (am, is, are etc.) or no form of be at all (He coming to school right now) Causes for the development of dialects PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL PHENOMENA I articulation-related changes some speech sounds (or combinations thereof) involve more complex movements of the tongue or other speech organs or more intricate coordination of the articulators than others substitution: a more natural sound replaces a marked one e.g. use /t/, /s/ or /f/ for // and /d/ or /z/ for // (clothes as /klz/) assimilation: neighboring sounds become more similar to each other e.g. in + possible = impossible (labial place of articulation); Southern business as /bdns/ (stop manner of articulation) http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology Southern business as /bdns/ (stop manner of articulation) weakening: less blockage of airflow in the oral cavity (weaker obstruction) e.g. tapping in American English: better as /b/ glottalization in Southeastern British English: bottle as /bl/ elision: deletion of a sound, frequently to simplify consonant clusters e.g. final /s/ following consonant clusters: tests as /tst/ epenthesis: insertion of a sound e.g. athlete as /li:t/ (breaking up consonant cluster) insertion of homorganic stops adjacent to nasal (thunder vs. Donner) Causes for the development of dialects PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL PHENOMENA II consequences of the organization of the phoneme inventory phonological distinctions within the system are maintained if the functional load is high, a change that makes one phoneme too similar to another can induce a chain shift across the whole system (e.g. Great Vowel Shift in Middle English, Northern Cities Chain Shift, Australian Chain Shift etc.) sporadic sound changes changes that do not occur broadly across the system but in individual cases dissimilation: e.g. r-l-dissimilation (avoid multiple // or /l/ in the same word, http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology dissimilation: e.g. r-l-dissimilation (avoid multiple // or /l/ in the same word, either by changing sound quality (colonel as /knl/) or elision (governor as /gvn/) metathesis: sounds changing position within the word, e.g. bryde > bird, thridde > third, hros > horse, ask > aks well-formedness of syllables sequences of CV syllables are most natural, processes like elision and epenthesis can create these structures, e.g. nuclear as nucular Causes for the development of dialects CHANGES IN WORD MEANING dialect areas do of course show lexical and semantic differences same meaning, different word: often relating to food and drink items, e.g. sub, hoagie, grinder, hero for submarine sandwich same word, different meaning: to mommuck meaning to bother, harass in Outer Banks, North Carolina, but to make a mess of in southeastern North Carolina environmental and cultural influences: some foods only exist in certain areas, less marine-related vocabulary in land-locked areas http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology areas, less marine-related vocabulary in land-locked areas new words can be made up (coined), e.g. meehonkey (game on Ocracoke Island) or created by compounding, e.g. hushpuppies (bite- sized pieces of deep-fried cornmeal batter) dialect words may spread and become standard words: ranch (southwestern US), bisque (cream soup, New England) standard words may retract to regional use: garret (attic) or yonder (over there) only survive in the rural South Causes for the development of dialects SOCIOHISTORICAL MECHANISMS language is a highly structured communicative code that also functions as a kind of cultural behavior social differentiation is likely to correspond to language differences http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology dialects are most likely to develop in situations of physical and/or social separation among groups of speakers Causes for the development of dialects LANGUAGE CONTACT language contact influences both language development and specific dialect formation lexical borrowings mocassin, racoon, chipmunk (Native American languages) bureau, prairie, depot (18th century French) New Orleans: lagniappe (small gift or bonus) Southern Pennsylvania: stollen (type of cake) http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology morphological borrowings suffix -fest in songfest, beerfest, slugfest from German compound Suffix -ee in draftee, trainee, enlistee from French transferred syntactic structures Southern Pennsylvania: Are you going with? from German Causes for the development of dialects ECONOMIC ECOLOGY ecologically based occupations such as fishing in coastal areas, mining in mountain regions, or farming in the plains mainly bring about the development of specialized vocabulary effect on direction and rate of language change in grammar and pronunciation: metropolitan regions are typically centers of change, while rural areas are more conservative and often maintain older language features http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology more conservative and often maintain older language features as rural language features are often associated with long-established heritage, they sometimes (in rare cases) spread as a counterreaction to an influx of outsiders in the area: e.g. in Oklahoma rural constructions like Shes fixing to go to church now have spread to the cities as well, so native Oklahomans can assert their identity Causes for the development of dialects SOCIAL STRATIFICATION I members of different social classes distinguish themselves from one another in a whole range of social behaviors including the type of language they use communication networks who people talk to on a regular basis is an important factor in the development of dialect differences regions affected by patterns of transportational flow and population movement social networks: Who do speakers interact with on a daily basis? http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology social networks: Who do speakers interact with on a daily basis? High-Density: all speakers interact (everyone knows everyone) Multiplex: speakers interact with the same speakers in different social arenas (e.g. families live in same neighborhood + work in same place) Low-Density: speaker all know a particular individual but dont interact with each other Uniplex: interacting with different sets of people in different social spheres speakers in high-density, multiplex networks cling to to localized, vernacular language varieties, while speakers in uniplex, low-density networks are quicker to adopt new outside features Causes for the development of dialects SOCIAL STRATIFICATION II group reference people often want to be considered part of a particular social group and project their identity with this group in many ways including talking like other members of the group group membership may be voluntary or without choice, but often carries connotations of pride and loyalty e.g. members of established families on the Massachusetts island of Marthas Vineyard heightened their usage of certain unusual vowel sounds in order to http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology distinguish themselves from tourists motivation to switch between dialects (e.g. people returning home for family visits) personal identity dialect features are often associated with certain character traits e.g. Anglo teenagers who want to be cool adopt features of African American English Causes for the development of dialects GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS I natural boundaries (rivers, lakes, mountains, valleys) can separate groups of speakers, determine the routes they take and where they settle (sea islands off the Carolina coast are examples of isolated dialects) settlement North American dialect differences can be traced back to dialect differences that existed in the British Isles http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology that existed in the British Isles Distinct phases of settlement Phase 1: move into area with attractive environment, original culture Phase 2: occupy all land, new cultural identity, cohesive society (may lead to elimination of established cultures, e.g. Native Americans) Phase 3: regional populations define themselves with respect to others (culture, commerce, transportation), localized with unique identity Causes for the development of dialects ORIGINS OF VARIETIES Scotland: Northumbrian dialect of Old English Scots decline begins around 1600; Union of Parliaments 1707 Scottish English Ireland: English speakers since 1200, almost disappeared by 1600 rise of English with renewed political domination North America: first crucial settlements in 17 th century rhotic non-rhotic http://www.ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/~jilka/ G4 Proseminar Dialectology Australia/New Zealand: first settlers early 19 th century South Africa: 5000 English settlers in 1820 Wales: acquisition of English in mid-19 th century rhotic non-rhotic
Investigating Moroccan University Students Difficulties in Dealing With Concrete and Abstract Prepositions: The Case of The English Department in The School of Arts and Humanities, Meknes, Morocco