Slide 1Sociolinguistics “to study the relationship between language and society” (Ferguson 1966)Slide 3Inter-relationship between linguistic items and social evaluations a. butter, budder, bu’er b. fishing, fishin’ etc… p.26 WardhaughOkay, can we define “dialect”Taking a slow walk through villages from southern Italy to northern France? Where does French end and Italian begin? Some French dialects are very Italian and some Italian dialects are very French. (p. 44)English Scottish American EnglishA Scots sampler Below is a selection of Scots/English differences in three parts (Scots on the left, English on the right). All listed forms are in current use. As regards pronunciation, whatever their typical speech (more Scots, more English, or mixed), a majority of the Scottish people differ in speech from other Anglophones in two ways that are shibboleths of Scottishness: (1) a tapped or rolled alveolar r in such words as breathe, world, and there; (2) a voiceless velar fricative as in the ch of such words as ach, loch, Bach, Munich.(1) Pronunciation and typical spelling hame, stane, sair, gae home, stone, sore, go hoose, oot, doon/doun, coo house, out, down, cow ba(w), ha(w), faut, saut ball, hall, fault, salt buit, guid, muin, puir boot, good, moon, poor licht, micht, richt, sicht light, might, right, sight(2) Grammar lookit, mendit looked, mended tell/tellt, sell/sellt tell/told, sell/sold gae/gaed/gan go/went gie/gied/gien give/gave/given eye/een eye/eyes he’ll no can come the day He won’t be able to come today ah micht could gae the morn I might be able to go tomorrow ah dinna(e) ken I don’t know we couldna(e) dae it We couldn’t do it he’ll no be comin He won’t be coming that’s me awa(e) hame I’m going home now ah, it’s yirsel Ah, it’s you(3) Vocabulary an ashet a serving dish a bairn a child tae blether to talk nonsense a brae a slope (of a hill) braw fine, beautiful, handsome tae dicht to clean, wipe douce sweet, especially in manner a dwam a stupor, dazed state fantoosh flashy glaikit stupid-lookingMore ScotsSome Scots Gaelic Tha mi uamhasach sgith !Dialect at one time indicated a geographical as well as linguistic distinctionstandardizationWhat is “Standard English”Madonna vs. Guy RichieVitalityHistorocityAutonomyReductionMixtureGood speakers Bad speakersLanguage vs DialectVernacular and KoineYikes!Dialect vs patoisDialect vs AccentDiscussion questionsSocial dialectsStyles, Registers, BeliefsHigh/low vs better/worseAs Wardhaugh points out, depite what we “know” people tend to believe and to teach value judgments about lanaguage and dialect.People without university educations tend to think of their speech and grammar as inferior. They believe pundits who tell them about “proper” grammar and speech.On the other hand, humans are naturally very smart about language. We deduce and intuit a great deal about speakers. How can do we make these judgments? How can we know when we are right and wrong? Would we be able to spot a Martian trying to pass himself off as a native English speaker?My friends Alaister and AlexProduction vs. Reception: We notice and comprehend better than we can produce and convey. Our “competence” outstrips our “performance” ?Let us attempt/let’s try disussion questions 4-7 on pp. 54-5Slide 39BilingualismSlide 41Slide 42Slide 43DiglossiaDiglossic situationDiglossic situation: functions of H vs. LSlide 47Language choiceExample of code-switching in the AmazonPidgin and CreoleSlide 51Language shift in different communitiesLanguage shift in different communitiesSlide 54Slide 55Non-migrant communitiesLanguage Death & ShiftSlide 58Slide 59Factors affecting language shiftSlide 61Slide 62Slide 63Slide 64How Can a Minority Language be Maintained?Language RevivalSlide 67Slide 68Slide 69Slide 70Socio-Socio-linguistics linguistics 22Languages and communitiesWardhaugh Chapter 2Sociolinguistics “to study the relationship between language and society” (Ferguson 1966)•possible interactions between language and society–social structure influence–language influence society–mutual influence –no influenceCulture: how a group of people perceives, believes, thinks, behaves (different verbal and nonverbal communication patterns, values, cognitive styles, expectancies, etc.)Three main factors that distinguish one culture from another: 1) ethnicity 2) language3) social classInter-relationship between linguistic items and social evaluations a. butter, budder, bu’erb. fishing, fishin’etc… p.26 WardhaughOkay, can we define “dialect”•Nope•But I like analogy with speciation. If it is different but mutually intelligible, I’d call it a dialect. If it so different that speakers can not understand each other, a language.•But sometimes the distinction is political. Think of Chinese: Mandarin vs. Cantonese and conversely Swedish vs DanishTaking a slow walk through villages from southern Italy to northern France? Where does French end and Italian begin? Some French dialects are very Italian and some Italian dialects are very French. (p. 44)EnglishScottishAmerican EnglishA Scots samplerBelow is a selection of Scots/English differences in three parts (Scots on the left, English on the right). All listed forms are in current use. As regards pronunciation, whatever their typical speech (more Scots, more English, or mixed), a majority of the Scottish people differ in speech from other Anglophones in two ways that are shibboleths of Scottishness: (1) a tapped or rolled alveolar r in such words as breathe, world, and there; (2) a voiceless velar fricative as in the ch of such words as ach, loch, Bach, Munich.(1) Pronunciation and typical spellinghame, stane, sair, gae home, stone, sore, gohoose, oot, doon/doun, coo house, out, down, cowba(w), ha(w), faut, saut ball, hall, fault, saltbuit, guid, muin, puir boot, good, moon, poorlicht, micht, richt, sicht light, might, right, sight(2) Grammarlookit, mendit looked, mendedtell/tellt, sell/sellt tell/told, sell/soldgae/gaed/gan go/wentgie/gied/gien give/gave/giveneye/een eye/eyeshe’ll no can come the day He won’t be able to come todayah micht could gae the morn I might be able to go tomorrow ah dinna(e) ken I don’t knowwe couldna(e) dae it We couldn’t do ithe’ll no be comin He won’t be comingthat’s me awa(e) hame I’m going home nowah, it’s yirsel Ah, it’s you(3)