Varieties, Dialects, AccentsBased in part onChilds, Wolfram & Schilling-Estes, Smith, and Rickford

Accents http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-en-

iDeZEE

Who in this room speaks a dialect?

Dialects

Dialects of American English as YOU see them

Dialects of American English

Some Popular Senses of “Dialect”

‘I know we speak a dialect in the mountains, but it’s a very colorful way of speaking.’

‘Dialect’ here refers to those varieties of English whose features have become widely recognized through American society, e.g., Southern drawl New York accent Etc.

For a variety of historical and social reasons, some dialects have become much more marked than others in American society, and speakers of those varieties therefore accept the dialect label more comfortably.

Linguists maintain that:

‘Dialect’ is a neutral label to refer to any variety of a language that is shared by a group of speakers.

To speak a language is to speak some dialect of that language

Facts about dialects All languages consist of dialects (a language is a

group of dialects; to speak a language is to speak a dialect of that language)

Therefore, everyone speaks at least one dialect Dialect differences are usually minor and dialects of

a language are usually mutually intelligible Dialects are geographically, socially, politically

determined

Facts about dialects Some linguists distinguish between

‘dialect’ and ‘accent’: Different dialects have differences of

grammar and vocabulary; Different accents have differences of

pronunciation; Every user of English uses one dialect or

another, and one accent or another.

Facts about dialects The status of any given dialect is arbitrarily

determined (‘A language is a dialect with a navy and army’) E.g., Swedish vs. Norwegian

But dialects can sometimes be mutually unintelligible E.g., Mandarin vs. Cantonese

The terms ‘dialect’ & ‘language’ are politically and socially loaded.

UK Accents http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=FyyT2jmVPAk

American Dialects

American dialects: How Linguists see them What are the major US dialects that linguists

identify?

American dialects: How people around the country see them Which dialects do many Americans consider “bad

English”? What do the majority of Americans see as the

norm?America Dialects: How Hollywood sees them.

A Working Definition of Standard English A particular dialect of English, being the only non-

localized dialect, of global currency without significant variation, universally accepted as the appropriate educational target in teaching English; which may be spoken with an unrestricted choice of accent.

Global Currency for Standard English Those who use Standard English – whether as

their mother tongue or as a foreign or second language Are not confined to any single locality or

geographical area; May be found in any inhabited region of the world.

The English Languages? McArthur

Will English as an international language succumb to the same fate as Latin? Vulgar Latin evolved into the Romance languages Classical Latin was used for administration and

literature and survived in writing. Standard English is more like Classical Latin than

Vulgar Latin.

Labeling Vernacular Dialects Strong affective associations related to particular

labels Negro Dialect, Substandard Negro English,

Nonstandard Negro English, Black English Afro-American English, Ebonics, Vernacular Black English, African American (Vernacular) English, African American Language

Latino/a English, Chicano/a English, Hispanic English, Cholo

California talk, valley girl, surfer Which do you prefer? Why? Are they the same? What do you call the vernacular you speak?