Varieties, Dialects, Accents

Based in part on
Childs, Wolfram & Schilling-Estes, Smith, and Rickford

 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
We went to Boston for a vacation and

the people there sure do speak a

dialect.
Dialect here refers simple to those who

speak differently from oneself.

Some Popular Senses of

Dialect
I know we speak a dialect in the mountains,

but its 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.

Some Popular Senses of

Dialect
The kids in that neighborhood dont really

speak English; they speak a dialect.

Dialect here is perceived as an imperfect

attempt to speak correct or proper English

For example:
Three mile vs.
Three miles
Her ears be itching
vs.
Her ears itch
She done grew
vs.
Shes grown up

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

 In this definition, there is no inherently

good or bad dialects

Dialect is simply how we refer to any

language variety that typifies a group of

speakers within a language.

Socially favored or standard varieties

constitute dialects every bit as much as

those varieties spoken by socially
disfavored groups whose language
differences are socially stigmatized.

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

Dialects can vary with respect to:
Phonology pronunciation or the sound system
of a language, e.g. r-less dialects of East Coast,
pin/pen
Morphology the smallest meaningful units of a
language, e.g., He dont know. The house
needs painted.
Syntax grammar or the words are put together
to form sentences, e.g., We prevented the
house (from) being destroyed.
Lexicon vocabulary or the words of a language
(e.g., lift/elevator, truck/lorry, pail/bucket)

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.

Facts about dialects

Dialect variation is a matter of

difference, not deficit.

Nonstandard dialects are selfcontained systems, with their
regular phonological and syntactic
rules.
Nonstandard dialects of English are
close relatives to SE, sometimes
reflecting older forms of SE.

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.

American Dialects Discussion

Do you agree with the findings of

Prestons study that concludes that two

of the low-prestige dialects in the U.S.
are those spoken in NY and Texas?
As you were growing up, what dialects /
accents did you make fun of?
What were some of its features?
Why was it considered funny?

Dialect Variation Pragmatics

Dialects can also differ with respect to

pragmatics
The relationship between language

and the contexts / situations in which

it is used
Consider the contexts for these two

sentences:
Where are you GOing?
Where are YOU going?

Dialect Variation:
Pragmatics
Both have the structure of a wh- question,
BUT
The first in fact would be typically used as a

request for information (e.g. to a person you

know is about to leave for a vacation).
The second can also be a request for
information (e.g. when asking several people
in turn where each is going for their vacation).
But the second can also be used in another
way, to indicate that the person showing signs
of leaving should not be going anywhere.

What is Standard
English?
What it is not:
An arbitrary, a priori description of

English
The usage of a particular group
The statistically most frequently
occurring forms of English
A form imposed upon those who use it.
Peter Strevens

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.

Standard English
Strevens defines Standard English

as that dialect of English that is not

associated with any particular
locality, and therefore occurs in any
and every locality.
It is not paired with a specific 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.

Universal Acceptance of SE
Although SE dialect is universally

accepted as the educational target, no

single accent fills an equivalent
position.
The tacit acceptance of SE dialect for
educational purposes does not mean
that it is best in some universal
sense.

Standard English and Social

Class
Most, if not all, English users switch

between SE and some other dialect.

People vary their language according
to the social circumstances.
Non-conformity to the norms of
language use appropriate for the
context is often seen as
unacceptable behavior.

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.
SE has a common core negotiated among a a
variety of national standard varieties.

Dialects, Standards,
Vernaculars Wolfram & SchilingEstes

What do we listen to when we listen to people

talk?

HOW people talk

as much or more than to

WHAT people say

After listening, we usually make judgments

about people by the kind of language they use

Their
Their
Their
Their
etc.

regional background
social status
ethnicity
education

 So there are some who believe that

language differences serve as the single

most reliable indicator of social position in
our society:
When we live a certain way, we are
expected to match that lifestyle with our
talk;
When we dont meet peoples
expectations to match that lifestyle with
our talk (e.g., a teacher talking like a
punk), the mismatch between words and
behavior is itself a topic for conversation.

Language differences are unavoidable

in a society composed of a variety of
social groups.

Dialectologists
Position
Dialects are not deviant forms of
language, but simply different systems
with distinct subsets of language
patterns.

All language varieties are systematic

For any language feature, there are

contexts in which the form may be used

and contexts in which it is not typically
used.

Appalachian Dialect
Patterns
1a.Building is hard work.
b.She was building a house.
2a.He likes hunting.
b.He went hunting.
3a.The child was charming the adults.
b.The child was very charming.
4a.He kept shocking the children.
b.The story was shocking.
5a.They thought fishing was easy.
b.They were fishing this morning.

Further Patterns for

Appalachian a1a. They make money by building houses.
b. They make money building houses.
2a. You cant make much money fishing.
b. You cant make much money by
fishing.
3a. People destroy the beauty of the
mountains through littering.
b. People destroy the beauty of the
mountains littering.

More Patterns for

Appalachian a1a.
b.
2a.
b.
3a.
b.
4a.
b.

She was disCOVering a trail.

She was FOLlowing a trai.
She was rePEATing the chant.
She was HOLlering the chant.
They were FIGuring the change.
They were forGETting the change.
The baby was RECognizing her mother.
The baby was WRECKing everything.

So what is
Formal Standard English?
Formal Standard English is a variety (i.e.,
dialect) of English that
Is based on the written language of
established writers
Has been codified in English grammar
texts
Is perpetuated in schools
Is conservative and resistant to change

Then what is
Informal Standard English?
Informal Standard English is a variety (i.e.,
dialect) of English that
Exists on a continuum, rather than a
categorical notion
Is flexible with respect to specific features of
regional varieties
Employs specific criteria to judge speech as
standard
Is defined in terms of what it is not
Avoidance of socially stigmatized forms, e.g.,
double negatives They didnt do nothing.
different verb agreement patterns Theys o.k.
different irregular verb forms She done it.

Continuum of
Standardness
Standard--A---B---C---D---ENonstandard

Standard or non-standard?
Hes not as smart as I.
Hes not so smart as I.
He aint as smart as me.
He not as smart as me.

Standard or nonstandard?
Hes not to do that.
He not supposed to do that.
He dont supposed to do that.
Hes not supposed to do that.

Standard or nonstandard?
Im right, aint I?
Im right, arent I?
Im right, am I not?
Im right, isnt I?
Im right, isnt it?

Standard or nonstandard?
A person should not change ones

speech.
One should not change ones speech.
A person should not change their
speech.
A person should not change his or
her speech.

Vernacular Dialects
Varieties of language that are not

classified as standard dialects

Applied to spoken language
Exist on a continuum
Listener judgment essential in
determining social unacceptability
Usually characterized by presence of
stigmatized structures
Not all speakers use the entire set of
structures associated with that dialect

Labeling Vernacular
Dialects
Strong affective associations related to
particular labels

Negro Dialect, Substandard Negro English,

Nonstandard Negro English, Black English AfroAmerican 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?

Whats Standard?
Whats a Dialect?
Notice the different definitions of both

standard and dialect found in the

readings for this lecture.
Can you write a paragraph outlining the

differences siting sources read in class?