Language Variation

The study of language variation is an important part of

sociolinguistics, to the extent that it requires reference to social
factors. Languages vary from one place to another, from one social
group to another, and from one situation to another
The variations can and do lead in time to language change. They
contrast with variations in language which are motivated by internal
factors (structural features of a language) which can also lead to change,
especially when this internal variation occurs during first language
acquisition.
Accent
Accent, in phonetics, is that property of a syllable which stands out in
an utterance relative to its neighbouring syllables. The emphasis on the
accented syllable relative to the unaccented syllables may be realized
through greater length, higher or lower pitch, greater loudness, or a
combination of these characteristics.

It is also a pattern or manner of pronunciation. An accent may

identify the locality in which its speakers reside (Geographical or regional
accent). It can indicate the socio-economic status of its speakers, their
ethnicity or social class. Accent can also allow determining the speakers
native language.
Accents typically differ in quality of voice, pronunciation of vowels and
consonants, and stress pitch (ex: intonation in Spanish and English
questions and the speech of people from Ecuadorian Coast and Sierra
regions)
Your accent results from how, where, and when you learned the language
you are speaking and it gives impressions about you to other people.
People do not have a single fixed accent which is determined by their
experiences. We can control the way we speak, and do, both consciously
and unconsciously. Most people vary their accent depending on whom
they are speaking with. We change our accents, often without noticing,
as we have new life experiences.

All languages are spoken with several different accents. There is nothing
unusual about English. And not everyone who comes from the same
place speaks the same: in any place there is a variety of accents.
Language changes over time. We get new words, there are grammatical
changes, and accents change over time. If you listen to recordings made
by people from your own language community 100 years ago, you will
hear for yourself that even over that time accents have changed.
A very frequently asked question is Is there a Standard English
accent? There is not a single correct accent of English. There is no
neutral accent of English. All speakers of English need to cope with many
different aspects and learn how to understand them. Some accents are
associated with social groups who have high prestige but there are also
many of these high prestige accents, all of them regionally based. The
accents that are traditionally taught to non-native speakers of English
are high prestige accents from various places.
The two most commonly taught accents (in the world as a whole) are
both rather artificial: 'General American' (more or less a Mid-Western
and West Coast accent, and used by some high prestige speakers
outside this region too); and the British accent 'RP' (which developed in
the private boarding schools of the nineteenth century, and is associated
with high prestige groups in England). Both these accents are used over
a wide geographical area, though in world terms both are regional
accents (General American is a US accent, and RP is an accent of
England). They are heard more, by more people in the country, than are
accents which are associated with a smaller area: so people are familiar
with them. These accents are the ones transcribed in dictionaries.
Because they are used over wide areas, and used by people of high
social class, they are seen as being suitable to teach to foreign learners
of English. For this reason, they are called 'reference varieties'.
English spelling is based on the pronunciation of the fourteenth century.
No one speaks in that way now. English spelling therefore represents all
accents of English equally well, or equally badly. As there are so many

accents of English, it is fortunate that we have such an old spelling

system which we can all use; otherwise we would be arguing about
which accent we should base our spelling on!
No modern English accent is exactly like any accent of the past. All
accents change over time. It has been suggested that some isolated
rural accents (such as in rural Virginia) preserve more features of older
accents than do cosmopolitan and mixed urban accents. This is
controversial.

2- Dialect
There is no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages
from dialects, although a number of paradigms exist, which render
sometimes contradictory results. The exact distinction is a subjective
one, dependent on the user's frame of reference.
Language varieties are often called dialects rather than languages.
The speakers of the given language do not have a state of their own,
they are not used in press or literature or very little and their language
lacks prestige.
The word "dialect" is sometimes used to refer to a lesser-known
language most commonly a regional language, especially one that is
unwritten or not standardized. It is often accompanied by the erroneous
belief that the minority language is lacking in vocabulary, grammar, or
importance. The difference between language and dialect is the
difference between the abstract or general and the concrete and
particular.
The number of speakers, and the geographical area covered by them,
can be of arbitrary size. A dialect might contain several sub-dialects and
it is a complete system of verbal communication oral or signed, but not
necessarily written with its own vocabulary and grammar. So a dialect is
distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation including
phonology and prosody. The "dialects" of a "language" which itself may

be a "dialect" of a yet older tongue may or may not be mutually

intelligible
A parent language may spawn several "dialects" which themselves
subdivide any number of times, with some "branches" of the tree
changing more rapidly than others.
Italian and Spanish having a high degree of mutual comprehensibility,
which neither language shares with French, despite both languages
being genetically closer to French than to each other. French has
undergone more rapid change than have Spanish and Italian
It is generally assumed that Fula is a language is a single language with
a number of dialects. In this sense, a dialect is regarded as a
geographical variety of a language, spoken in a certain area, and being
different in some linguistic items from other geographical varieties of the
same language. This definition of dialect is in common use among
linguists, and differs from a usage found in several European language
communities among non-linguists, where dialect is often used about
provincial varieties that differ from the standard dialect, which is then
regarded as the proper language. The standard dialect is then
regarded as the non-dialectal variety of the language.
3-Idiolect
Idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested
by patterns of word selection and grammar, or words, phrases, idioms, or
pronunciations that are unique to that individual. Every individual has an
idiolect. The grouping of words and phrases is unique, rather than an
individual using specific words that nobody else uses.
Idiolects change through contact with other idiolects, and change
throughout their lifetime as well as from generation to generation
4- Isogloss
It is the geographical boundary or delineation of a certain linguistic
feature; the line marking this on a map

Isogloss is the combination of Greek word isos equal + glossa a

tongue. It is the geographical boundary or delineation of a certain
linguistic feature. The pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word
and the use of some syntactic feature are its main aspects.
It is also defined as the line on a map enclosing an area within which a
particular linguistic feature is found. Various types of isogloss are
distinguished: an isophone is a feature of pronunciation, an isolex an
item of vocabulary, an isomorph a feature of word formation, and an
isoseme a particular word meaning. The isogloss separates rather than
connects points of equal language

5- Jargon
Jargon is a literary term that is defined as a use of specific phrases and
words by writers in a particular situation, profession or trade. These
specialized terms are used to convey hidden meanings accepted and
understood in that field. Jargon examples are found in literary and nonliterary pieces of writing.
The use of jargon becomes essential in prose or verse or some
technical pieces of writing when the writer intends to convey something
only to the readers who are aware of these terms. Therefore, jargon was
taken in early times as a trade language or as a language of a specific
profession, as it is somewhat unintelligible for other people who do not
belong to that particular profession. In fact, specific terms were
developed to meet the needs of the group of people working within the
same field or occupation.
6- Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions to describe an object
or condition. It is vocabulary that is meant to be interpreted quickly but
not necessarily literally. slang words or terms are often a metaphor or
an allegory. Sometimes it is used only in a particular territory
Usage of slang expressions can spread outside their original arenas to
become commonly used. Some words eventually lose their status as
slang, others continue to be considered as such by most speakers

The processes by which words become slang are the same as those by
which other words in the language change their form or meaning or both.
... The English word trip is an example of a term that has undergone both
specialization and generalization
Carl Sandburg poetically but not comprehensively wrote, "Slang is
language which takes off its coat, spits on its hands and goes to work".
Slang words and phrases are highly colloquial and informal in type,
occurring more often in speech than in print. Slang consists either of
newly crafted words or of existing words employed in a special sense.
Slang often manages to make the abstract concrete and memorable, by
employing imagery. For example, the phrase chill out brings to mind a
hothead on ice--far more picturesque than compose yourself.

7- Register
In linguistics, register is one of the many styles or varieties of
language determined by such factors as social occasion, context,
purpose, and audience. It is also called stylistic variation. More
generally, the term register refers to degrees of formality in language

The term was originated by Thomas Bertram Reid in 1956. More

generally, the term register refers to degrees of formality in language
use. The different registers or language styles that we use are
sometimes called codes.
Crucial for our discussion of register in the context of multilingualism and
language policy is the fact that some languages lack certain registers: in
western industrial societies they may lack ethno-scientific registers, or
specialized poetic registers, specialized politeness systems, or registers
for speaking in a trance.
8- Sociolect
It is the variety of language characteristic of a social background or
status. A dialect which evolves from regional speech may also have
sociolectical implications.

For example the standard Italian is a dialect in that it is particular to

Tuscany; yet, being the national language of Italy, it is also a sociolect in
that it carries a certain prestige from being the lingua franca
throughout the country both in broadcasting, in the press, and by
people of high social status