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UNIVERSITARIA MINUTO DE DIOS BACHELOR PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL CONTEXT Topic: Social Variation (Social Dialects) Session: April 9 Objectives: Identify language variation in relation to social differences. Analyze language used by African American people and its difference with Standard English. Key Words Social Variation AAE Standard English Phonology Deletion Reduction Activity 1: Reading Read Fromkin et. al. (2007) and answer the questions What are social dialects? What are the characteristics of AAE (African American English) in contrast to Standard English in terms of phonology and syntax? Activity 2: Movie You will watch parts from the movie Akeelah and the Bee. The main character in the movie is an African American girl who wants to participate in the Scripps Spelling Bee. Write down samples of the language used by the girl and members of her community that exemplify AAE. Notice the expressions Dr. Joshua Larabee uses to refer to the way Akeelah speaks. Activity 3: Analyzing language Classify the samples you wrote down. Phonology Syntax R-deletion Multiple negatives L-deletion Deletion of the verb be Consonant cluster reduction Habitual be Diphthong Reduction Loss of interdental fricatives Glotal Stop substitution Activity 4: Latino What is the attitude of Dr. Larabee towards Akeelahs way of speaking? Why do you think he acts that way? Whats the difference in the language Akeelah uses with Dr. Larabee and her friends and people at school? What socioeconomic difference do you notice between Akeelahs school and lifestyle and her friend Javiers?

 References Fromkin, V., Rodman, R. & Hyams, N. (2007). An introduction to Language. (8th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Thomson Wadsworth

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