REGIONAL VARIATION

Group 3

1.Nguyn Th M Hng
2.Hunh Th Kim Dung
3.Nguyn Thy H
A British visitor to New Zealand, he looked up
a friend in Auckland. He found the address,
knocked on the door.
What can I do for you?, a young man who
opened the door
Ive called to see my old mate said the
visitor
Oh, hes dead now mate, the young man
said
The visitor was about to express condolence
the he saw his friend. The young man had
said Hes dad now mate, as his father
came in the gate

To British ears a New Zealanders dad sounds
like an Englishs person dead, bad sounds like
bed.
Americans and Australians as well as New
Zealanders tell of British visitors who were
given pans instead of pens.
On the other hand, Americans ladder is
pronounced identically with latter

Mistakes based on regional
accents differences
rubber or eraser? petrol or gas?
diaper or napkin? pavement or sidewalk?
AMERICAN vs BRITISH
Three Major U.S. Regional Dialects
Northern

Midland

Southern
Isogloss: a line to show the geographical
boundaries of the distribution of a particular
linguistics feature
Best known sets of isoglosses in Europe
Regional variation
In different regions of a country, there can be
some variations in the language used. These
variations can be in the pronunciation, the
vocabulary, or even grammar. But, it is very
apparent that the language is the same
language.
Ex: the Scotts speak English distinctively different
from speakers in England.
Definition: Regional variation is varieties of a
language which is spoken in different
geographical areas.

International varieties
There are differences in varieties spoken in
different regions, for instant: differences in
vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar.

Example:
Australians : sole parents
England : single parents
New Zealanders : solo parents

Intra-national or intra-continental variation
There are differences in language spoken in every
continent, the pronunciation and the intonation
pattern, grammatical usage and vocabulary
items.
The high level of intra-national communication
together with the relatively small populations,
may have inhibited the development of marked
regional differences in these countries.
Example:
West of New Zealand : gravel
East of New Zealand : sand

Cross-continental variation

Dialects on the outer
edges of a geographical
area may not be mutually
intelligible, but they will be
linked by a chain of mutual
intelligibility.

Dialect Chains are very
common across the whole
of Europe.
Varieties of Dialect chains:
-German, Dutch and Flemish
(Switzeland)through Austria
and Germany, to the
Netherlands and Belgium.
- Portuguese and Spanish,
Catalan, French and Italian.
Fill in the blank with a suitable word :
He spoke the language in a regional .........,
which made it impossible for me to understand him.
A. dialect
B. jargon
C. voice D. accent
L
A. dialect
F
50:50
Speakers who have a distinctive
regional dialect will have a distinctive
regional accent; but the reverse does
not necessarily follow.


Do you think that regional dialect is as
the same as or different from regional
accent?

Statement of argument:


Regional Accent refers to features
of pronunciation which convey
information about a persons
geographical origin.

Regional Dialect refers to features
of grammar, vocabulary,
pronunciation which convey
information about a persons
geographical origin
different
u
fair
fur
ai
They real good
vs. They are
really good.
TEACHING IMPLICATIONS
Focus mainly on the areas of dissimilarity
between the regional languages and
English for contrastive studies
This focus should be on the areas of
phonology, lexis, syntax and semantics
More assistance should be given to learners
in the areas of dissimilarity between
English and the local languages in order
to facilitate learning and mastering the
used of the language.
Holmes, Janet. (2001). An Introduction to
Sociolinguistics. London: Longman.
Wardhaugh, R. (2010). An introduction to
sociolinguistics (6th ed.). United Kingdom:
Blackwell.

REFERENCES
Thanks for
Listening