Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rodica Albu
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iai
ralbu@uaic.ro
Iai
The systematic nature of language
A language = a set of interrelated systems,
each acting in accordance with specific rules
and restrictions and each being studied by
specific branches of linguistics.
- Phonology;
- Morphology;
- Syntax;
- Semantics;
- Discourse analysis;
- Pragmatics.
Basic assumptions in traditional
language studies:
Language as a set of interrelated
systems.
The assumption of language uniformity
(dominating in pedagogical grammars)
and of an ideal speaker of a
homogeneous language.
The idea of correctness.
One needs to have:
Knowledge of language + knowledge of
things in the world
a small elephant vs. a big mouse
----------------
EFL
He has come here since last summer.
V1 = the set-theoretical
V2 union of all the
V6 varieties of English
(Kangiesser 1972)
V3
V5 Question: Can anyone ever
V4 master the whole set of
Englishes?
Electronic Corpora
The common core
= the set-theoretical
intersection of all
the varieties of a
language
(C. F. Hockett 1958)
The common core?...
Appalachian English: you was and y'all were
People dont be afraid any more.
Newfoundland English (regularly occurring
events): I bees, you bees; e.g., She bees
over here quite often
Somerset: I be
Birmingham (personal experience): youm
Dynamic approaches to language
Acknowledging the permanence of language change
and variation, and of the role time and geographic
space play in the evolution and structure of
language.
Looking upon language as a social phenomenon =>
The sociological, psychological, ethnological and even
politological perspectives to the study of language
are added.
Replacing the idea of an ideal speaker-listener
(Chomsky) by the idea of an idealised selection
process (pragmatic and sociological orientations).
Variation and varieties
Variety and variation are [] alternative ways of
seeing the same thing as, respectively, product and
process. (Pope 1998: 229)
Variation = the historical process of differentiation; it
embraces shifts and switches within the usage of an
individual even within a single speech as well as
large-scale change across whole language
communities. (Pope 1998: 229)
Varieties = the relatively stable and relatively
homogeneous entities resulting from variation.
Idiolect = a variety of a language unique to an
individual.
Variation - basic types
Diachronic variation =
variation in time, i.e., language change in progress
Note
Some authors also speak of:
unconditioned / free / inherent variation.
Language change exemplified
Changes in pronunciation: a tendency
towards simplifying certain diphthongs and
triphthongs has been remarked even within
RP (Received Pronunciation).
Lexical change: gramophone, record player,
tape recorder
Changes in grammar
UMC 0% UMC 1%
LWC 97%
The spread of English throughout the
world and its contact with new realities
and local languages has contributed to
regional variation. Geopolitical and
ethnic factors impinge on the patterning
of the so-called new Englishes side by
side with social factors.
Stylistic variation
= Variation in the pronunciation, lexical and
grammatical choices of an individual, which is
conditioned by the perception of the situation
in which he/she is speaking and by the
intended effect of his/her speech act; the
socially determined variation in the speech of
an individual.
In pronunciation, e.g., the forms of to be
A Noble Prize
Mooma what a fete! Dem St. Lucians
dance an prance till the back door tumble down
De boys say, Charlie, have you heard the news?
He turn on the radio an ah hear a Loshan win a Nobel prize
You hear how he say Nobel Speakey-spokey like the
Queen?
All the pickney know dat de word is Noble
He say is de second Nobel a Looshan win
Dey say he win it for potery and play
He never know dem uses to give price for dat
(Min you, me doesn play much) but me got nuff potery in my
yard
Mus can give dis Walcott competition
Ah goin aks de boss to write up my petition
All you tink dis is fete? When ah get de tird Noble
Mama it go be pure bacchanal till nex year carnival.
DIATOPIC
DIASTRATIC DIAPHASIC
(Coseriu, Rona)
(Coseriu, Rona) (Coseriu)
also called
local-regional also called also called
or social-cultural diatopic (Rona)
geographic dialect or
(Gregory) or
(variety according to) social dialect functional-stylistic
Region (Quirk et al.)
(Gregory)
(variety according to)
Education and Social Standing (Quirk (according to)
et al)
Lexis
Grammar
Thank you!
See you in Iasi!
Test true or false?
1.Social variation correlates with regional
variation.
2. Multiple negation is the rule rather than the
exception in many varieties of English.
3. Accommodation is the term in
sociolinguistics for the influence that housing
has on the choice of a certain functional
variety.
4.There is far more regional variation in the
British Isles than there is in the United States.
5. RP is a social accent.
6.More as well as more complex
subordination patterns are typical of spoken
in contrast to written language.
7. You cannot speak a standard dialect with a
regional accent.
8. Field, tenor and mode all relate to
functionally motivated variation in language
use.
9. More as well as more complex
subordination patterns are typical of written in
contrast to spoken language.