Dialectology

Refers to the study of a particular

variety of language within a
language
English is not a uniform or
monolithic language
 Many national varieties exist
 American
 Australian
 British
 Canadian
 Irish
 New Zealand
 South African
English Varies

 From country to country

 Also varies within each country
 People refer to people in another part of
the country as speaking with an accent
different from their own
 To a linguist everybody has a dialect
Dialect

 We could define dialect as a mutually

intelligible form of a language that
differs in systematic ways from another
form
 We could define dialect as a variety of
language spoken by the members of a
particular region or social community
 Regional Dialect

Refers to a set of linguistic

features spread over a specific
geographic area
 Social Dialect

Refers to linguistic features shared

by speakers of a social grouping
Dialect differences

 We distinguish a one dialect from

another through (regional or social)
differences in:
 Pronunciation
 Vocabulary
 Grammar
Pronunciation Differences

 Regional Differences
 North /grisi/
 South /grizi/
 Inland North /ay layk frayd ʧɪkən/
 South Midland /a lak frad ʧɪkən/
Vocabulary Differences

 Inland North Bean field

 South Midland Pea patch
Grammatical Differences

 Black English
 I have live three years in Atlanta
(deletion of past tense morpheme)
 He be fooling around (Progressive form
is different from the standard regional
dialect)
Idiolect

 Refers to the peculiarity or

characteristics of an individual’s speech
patterns pronunciation, grammar, or
vocabulary
 My wife Julie pronounces vail as /vɛl/
sail as / sɛl/ and mail as /mɛl/
Dialectologist
 We define dialectologist as a scholar who
studies varieties of language- both regional and
social aspects
 Regional Dialects (Inland North, South
Midland, etc.
 Social Class (Upper class, working class,
male,female differences
 Ethnic differences (Black ,Hispanic
Yiddish,etc.)
Informant

 We define informant as a representative

speaker (specimen or guinea pig
metaphorically) used for dialect
information
Isogloss

 We define an isogloss as a line drawn

on a map to show the outer -limits of a
particular linguistic feature- or where a
speech feature is found
 We should not think of an isogloss as a
dividing line between two usages, but
rather the approximate outer limits of a
certain feature
Total Pattern

 We refer to a feature which is

apparently distributed throughout the
entire vocabulary- such as the loss of
the “r” in word medial and final
position in New England dialect
 Neighbor / nebə /
Partial Pattern

 Refers to the behavior of a speaker who

uses a variation in pronunciation which
is not consistent throughout the entire
dialect.
 The Midland speaker who inserts an “r”
as in worsh for wash will not carry this
feature into other analogous words
Jargon

 We refer to words used in a profession,

trade, or occupation- like morpheme,
allophone, syntactic category, or bi-
labial fricative in Linguistics
 Interface, boot up, format, down-load in
“computer talk”
 Identifies the user as a student or
practitioner in that field
Argot
 Refers to a variety of language used by
members of a socially marginal group
 Narcotics dealers refers to :
 Hash for Hashish
 Mainline for injecting directly into the
bloodstream
 Uppers amphetamines
 Downers barbituates
Euphemism

 Refers to a less offensive or more polite

word or phrase which replaces a taboo
word
 To pass away for die
 Powder room for toilet
Idiom

 An idiom is a fixed phrase or expression

consisting of more than one word whose
meaning cannot be inferred by knowing
the meaning of each individual word
 Set her straight
 Be here in nothing flat
 By and large