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SOCIAL DIALECTS
class Ethnicity Gender Age (see Cajun English & Lumbee English) Patterns of interaction
Source: Wolfram and Schilling-Estes. 2006. American English
PATTERNS OF INTERACTION??
LINGUISTIC MARKETPLACE
Definition: The extent to which a speakers economic activity necessitates the use of a particular language variety. Example: Teachers, salespeople, or receptionists who are expected to conform to public expectations of standardness may use SE more than their SES* peers in other occupations.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Definition: The pattern of social relationships that characterizes a group of speakers. Example: Closed social networks characterized by repeated interactions (e.g. work, leisure, and church) tend to have a greater concentration of localized, vernacular dialect features. *SES = socioeconomic status
REGISTER
Informal
(or casual)
Neutral
(less formal)
Formal
Hello, Mr. Smith, Im pleased to meet you.
dine, consume, ingest stiffer (sitting upright), body pulled in careful enunciation
Address
Vocabulary
Hey dude!
scarf, chow down out
Hi John
eat normal, at ease normal rate and enunciation
Body language relaxed, sprawled Speech type Participants and turns Content
casual, fast speech generally dyadic freer choices of topic, changes of topic
generally dyadic stricter turns, longer turns neutral, topics somewhat constrained limited or even scripted
Informal speech is characterized by generic terms of address (dude, man), more slang, relaxed (or even sprawled) body stance, faster sometimes more slurred speech, turn taking between conversants, perhaps with rapid turns and overlaps, and the choice of topic is usually much freer. Neutral speech is slightly more formal. We tend to use first names in address, less slang, have a relaxed (but not sprawled) body stance, speak at a normal rate, enunciate more. Topics are somewhat more constrained, partly because conversants may not be as intimate Formal speech is characterized by ritualized forms of address: title plus last name, standard greetings. Slang is not normally used. Rather than every day vocabulary, more formal (high falutin) words may be used. Body stance tends to be more rigid and restricted (partly because of more formal clothing!). Speech is more carefully enunciated. Participants may use stricter turn-taking (no overlap), or there may be rules for who gets to talk when (think of a lecture, or job interview). Topics tend to be limited, or pre-determined, and the speech may even be scripted (say for a wedding).
Announcements
Upcoming
Essay
Assignments
#1 Friday, September 28th at 8pm (no late submissions!) Question of the Week #5 - Wednesday, October 3rd at 8pm
Exam
Agenda
Social
-in [n] vs. ing [] : USED TO INDICATE THE SOCIAL CLASS OF A SPEAKER
We were walkin down the street and we saw this car going out of control. The driver looked like he was sleeping at the wheel or somethin. The next thing I knew the car was turnin around and just spinning around. I thought the car was comin right at me and I started runnin like crazy. I was so scared, thinking the car was gonna hit me or somethin.
FREQUENCY (%) OF USE OF THE FEATURES in, 3RD PERSON -s ABSENCE AND /R/-DELETION FOR DETROIT SPEAKERS
Features
-in
(-in place of ing)
9.7%
56.9%
71.4%
38.8%
61.3%
71.7%
ETHNIC DIALECTS
Linked to the terms used to describe ethnic groups Ethnicity can be a key component in the definition of some English varieties Some ethnic American English dialects:
Italian English Jewish English Irish English Puerto Rican English Chicano English American Indian English Vietnamese English African American English
Language transfer: the incorporation of features into a non-native language based on the occurrence of similar features in the native language.
More generalized features that come from acquiring English as a 2nd language (not attributable to a specific language)
Absence
of marked tense forms, e.g. Yesterday he play at the school. Found in varieties of Native American English and Vietnamese English.
Ethnically correlated variation need not be traceable to previous language background at all. (Lumbee English)
LATINO ENGLISH?
Latinos/Hispanics
People
descended from the Spanish have populated the Americas since the 15th century Second only to Native Americans in their continuous habitation in the New World Diverse ancestry: Europeans, indigenous peoples, and in some cases Africans They are the largest group of recent immigrants to U.S. - 40 million
Southwestern US Mexican Spanish speakers California & Texas did not become states until the mid19th century New Mexico & Arizona until the 20th century
New York City & Hartford, CT stable populations from Puerto Rico for several generations. Huge Dominican population in NYC as well. Southern Florida (Miami) - Cuban refugees for half of a century Some of these areas have experienced a lot of immigration
Chicago long history of migrants from Mexico and Puerto Rico Rural and urban areas in the Southeast, Midwest, and Northwest immigrants from Central America These differences in migration and settlement history, social conditions, and community dynamics make it impossible to describe a generic dialect of Latino English Spanish-influenced English varieties may be linked by one heritage language, but theres no unified core variety of Latino English in the US
CHICANO ENGLISH
Definition
A
vernacular variety that has been influenced by Spanish but it is not dependent on bilingualism per se. (Santa Ana 1993; Mendoza-Denton 1997; Fought 2003)
variety spoken only by native English speakers that is to be distinguished from the English of second-language learners (Santa Ana
1993:15)
Many speakers of CE are monolingual in English. Although historically influenced by Spanish contact, CE exists independent of bilingualism. Code-switching, known as Spanglish, is separate from, and should not be confused with CE.
Other English varieties: because buhcause [bkz]; today tuhday [tdei] CE: [i] & [u]
(Mendoza-Denton, 1999)
Although these can be traced to the effects of original contact situation of Spanish and English, they are fully integrated into the English variety and no longer depend on bilingualism.
A combination of features:
Shared by other vernacular (non-standard) English varieties Resulting from the Spanish-English contact situation Items shared by neighboring regional and social dialects
Multiple Negation
a habitual occurrence, typically translated as usually or all the time e.g. The news be showing it too much.
Be
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Essay #1 Due TODAY on bSpace at 8PM NO LATE SUBMISSIONS (Your grade will be affected!)
Question of the Week #5 has been posted and is due Wednesday, October 3rd by 8PM. Study guide for Exam #1 will be available on Wednesday, October 3rd by 8AM.
AGENDA
All dialects combine features from sources (neighboring dialects) available to them. Chicano English in California is a distinctive, regionally situated variety of English that is symbolically linked to ethnic group membership.
CAJUN ENGLISH
of Acadians (French Canadians) from Nova Scotia Acadians were forced to leave Nova Scotia because they would not pledge their allegiance to the British rule
Phonetic traits
English varieties: late (layeet) [let] and boat (bowuut) [bot] Cajun English: [bot], [let] Although this is similar to French, this is found in monolingual English speakers as well as native Cajun French speakers
English: tahm [tam], laht [lat] A transfer feature from French but also found in neighboring regional varieties of Southern English.
Nasalization of vowels
Man and bone sound like nasal vowels (e.g. pain bread and bon good)
English: pat [phat], coat [khot] Caj. English: [pat] sounds more like bat and coat goat
Multiple negation: e.g. They didnt want no schooling. Different uses of irregular verbs in the past tense:
She seen it. She brung it.
We was there.
Distinguishing constructions
Making groceries for buying groceries Getting down from a vehicle for getting out
Copula absence
e.g.
CAJUN ENGLISH
the heritage language associated with Cajun culture has receded, Cajun English has become the primary linguistic symbol of Cajun identity. (Wolfram &
Schilling-Estes 204:2006)
Features associated with traditional Cajun French accent are being recycled and intensified in Cajun English.
For older speakers, these features are an effect of transfer from French Younger generations linked with Cajun identity Cajun cultural renaissance in the past several decades Gender, ethnicity, and social networks
Older generations (males and females) have similar levels of use Middle-aged and young generations males (0pen networks) lead in recycling these features. Connection between traditional Cajun male activities (hunting, fishing, music, and cooking) and tourism.
Shows how an ethnic group can reallocate language structures originally associated with heritage language to a variety of English.
Demonstrates how once-stigmatized, accented features can be recycled and reinterpreted to serve as symbolic tokens of cultural identity.
Shows how complex cultural identity, social networks, gender roles, and gender-based activities and its effect on use of Cajun English.
LUMBEE ENGLISH
Lumbee
An example of an ethnic variety thats been constructed independently of a language contact situation involving a heritage language. Native American ethnic group in rural Southeast Largest Native American group east of Mississippi River 55,000 members registered on tribal rolls Virtually unknown outside of Southeastern North Carolina Have no particular heritage language for at least 5 generations
Not sure what the heritage language might have been. Lumbee ethnic group came from multi-tribal aggregate with Iroquoian (Tuscarora), Siouan (Cheraw), and Algonquian languages. Linguists trace Lumbee English back to other (or older) varieties of English (not Native American languages) that may have influenced it.
Older use of be
I werent there. (vs. I wasnt there.) She werent here. (vs. She wasnt there.)
The above features are not found in neighboring dialects though regularization to werent is a wellattested trait of coastal dialects of NC.
LUMBEE ENGLISH
ellick cup of coffee with cream in it on the swamp neighborhood brickhouse Indian high-status Lumbee
Use of finite be(s), e.g. I hope it bes a girl or They bes doing all right.
Scots and Scots-Irish descendants used this feature but no longer by younger speakers. AAE-speakers use be in habitual contexts:
Older Lumbee English speakers dont restrict it to habitual contexts Younger Lumbee English speakers are increasingly restricting it to habitual contexts indicating an alignment with AAE-speakers.
shows how a cultural group can maintain a distinct ethnic identity by configuring past and present dialect features in a way that symbolically indicates and helps to constitute their cultural uniqueness even though the ancestral language has been completely lost. Language and ethnicity cannot be reduced to a search for the lingering effects of a heritage language.
Source: Wolfram & Schilling-Estes 208: 2006
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